Tag: colleen hoover

Book Review: Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 337 pages
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: August 5th, 2014
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.

SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING.

This is my 13th (wild?!) CoHo book. You would think by now that I should be fully prepared to have my soul ripped in half, to cry a bit, and then have it knit back in the best way. Once again, I was NOT and so a puddle of tears I became.

I love how absolutely raw this was. On both sides there were so many emotions and stories to discover. I loved how the way Miles chapters were written. They conveyed a sense of what was most important to him and in telling his story of how he became who he is today. I love how Tate brought him out of his secluded space and helped him realize that he had the choice to move on. I even love how Rachel’s story played out too.

There was just so much LOVE here. Even if it was ugly. There’s such power in love and there were ample connections here that showed love in many forms and in many ways. This was painful as much as it was hopeful. I couldn’t put it down and it was another CoHo book I finished in a day.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses to open door scenes
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a child, car wreck, depictions of grief and depression

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Book Review: Layla by Colleen Hoover

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Paranormal Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Montlake
Release Date: December 8th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Leeds meets Layla, he’s convinced he’ll spend the rest of his life with her—until an unexpected attack leaves Layla fighting for her life. After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they arrive, Layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. And that’s just one of many inexplicable occurrences.

Feeling distant from Layla, Leeds soon finds solace in Willow—another guest of the B&B with whom he forms a connection through their shared concerns. As his curiosity for Willow grows, his decision to help her find answers puts him in direct conflict with Layla’s well-being. Leeds soon realizes he has to make a choice because he can’t help both of them. But if he makes the wrong choice, it could be detrimental for all of them.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love. 

INTERESTING.

Well, that was unique. Paranormal anything is a hard genre for me. So I can’t say this is my favorite Hoover book, but it did keep me invested and really dang curious where it was going.

This was completely different than any romance I’ve read. From the get-go I already felt the pull to Leeds and Layla’s relationship. I love the way this kind of connection was written (and proves that yes, I do love some insta-love/attraction sometimes). Then it took off in a incredibly far right field direction. And I spent the next several chapters trying to grasp what just happened.

While a romance book, this is also not a romance book. I was nervous in how it was starting to play out and was feeling like my rating was slipping between my fingers. The deeper I got into the book and the more revealed did satisfy any issues I was concerned with. Did take me by surprise though.

I didn’t love how the back and forth layout went and wanted a better progression. It made the characters motivations seem really skewed and was causing a lot of doubt that things were going to work. It’s a trippy ending (not as wild as Verity though) that left me with some questions, but also okay enough with everything.

Overall audience notes:

  • Paranormal Romance
  • Language: some strong throughout
  • Romance: kisses/make-outs; a handful of brief open door scenes, and quick closed door scenes
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: gun violence, near drowning, emotional cheating

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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: December 2020

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We’ve made it to the end of the year! I wrapped up the year with 250 books and am excited to see what a new year holds. I know I won’t hit that high of books again, but it was fun to expand genres and authors I’ve read.

Happy New Year y’all.

Favorite Reads: Forever Wild, A Sky Beyond the Storm, Skyhunter, and A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow
Least Favorite: Winterkeep, The Christmas Swap

  • Forever Wild (The Simple Wild #2.5) by K.A. Tucker
  • A Match Made at Christmas by Courtney Walsh
  • Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1) by Jessica Townsend
  • A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) by Sabaa Tahir
  • The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
  • A Christmas Spark by Cindy Steel
  • Keeper of the Lost Cities (Keeper of the Lost Cities #1) by Shannon Messenger
  • Layla by Colleen Hoover
  • [ARC] A Captain for Caroline Gray by Julie Wright
  • On the Second Day of Christmas by Deborah M. Hathaway
  • Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #2) by Jessica Townsend
  • Firefight (The Reckoners #2) by Brandon Sanderson
  • [ARC] The Lion of the Sea (The Maiden Ship #2) by Micheline Ryckman
  • Skyhunter (Skyhunter #1) by Marie Lu
  • The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
  • [ARC] Winterkeep (Graceling Realm #4) by Krisin Cashore
  • Exile (Keeper of the Lost Cities #2) by Shannon Messenger
  • A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey
  • A Princess for Christmas by Jenny Holiday
  • The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
  • [Gifted] Ex on the Beach (The Extra Series #11) by Megan Walker and Janci Patterson
  • Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan

How was your reading this month? Did we read any of the same books? Lets talk in the comments!

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Book Review: Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: New Adult Contemporary romance
Length: 251 pages
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Hoover Ink, Inc.
Release Date: August 19th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Life and a dismal last name are the only two things Beyah’s parents ever gave her. Forced to carve her own path alone, Beyah is well on her way to bigger and better things, thanks to no one but herself.
With only two short months separating her from the future she’s built for herself and the past she desperately wants to leave behind, an unexpected death leaves Beyah with no place to go during the interim.
Forced to call her last resort, Beyah has no other option than to spend the remainder of her summer on a peninsula in Texas with a father she barely knows.
Beyah’s plan is to keep her head down and let the summer slip by seamlessly, but her new neighbor Samson throws a wrench in that plan.
Samson and Beyah have nothing in common on the surface. She comes from a life of poverty and neglect; he comes from a family of wealth and privilege.
But one thing they do have in common is that they’re both drawn to sad things.
Which means they’re drawn to each other.
With an almost immediate connection too intense for them to continue denying, Beyah and Samson agree to stay in the shallow end of a summer fling. What Beyah doesn’t realize is that a rip current is coming, and it’s about to drag her heart out to sea.

NO SURPRISE, I LOVED THIS.

I’m a Colleen Hoover fan for life, this is a fact.

Once again, I’m here with a broken heart, that has been stitched back together by the kind of soul-searching contemporary romance I didn’t know I was craving. This had the lows and highs and all the inbetween.

I adored these characters and felt for them in their struggles and trials. I won’t be able to ever understand the choices and reasons that they made them, and that really pulled on me. Desperation for hope and a step forward had me tearing up. I cared for everyone involved (even the side character) and just felt this entire book.

For Samson and Beyah to have a romance over the summer and for be to not even feel a *twinge* of insta-love is all I ever want in a faster-paced romance. They truly connected and came together in more ways than one. I loved their relationship, and even when it was making me frustrated, I understood, and that’s the important part.

The ending was beautiful and romantic, and I let out the biggest sigh and broke out in a huge smile. For 250 pages, this book will hit you hard, and make everything positive in the end.

Overall audience notes:

  • New adult contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses / make-outs; a few open door, mild-detailed scenes
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a parent, death by drug overdose, sexual assault and harassment (including that of a minor), extreme poverty

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