Colleen Hoover - Hopeless (Hopeless #1)
3.5⭐
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 408
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Date Published: 18th December 2012
Book Blurb:
That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.
Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.
My Review:
I usually love CoHo books,
especially the twists and how her stories are built and carefully crafted but
Hopeless was just a bit too much for me. This book had too many subjects and
traumas explored all in one, and it was too much…Besides the multitude of
subjects explored in this book, it was way too long and quite slow, especially
in the first half. I just felt it wanted to be everything, a romance, a YA
book, a book about traumas, but ended up with too much to chew. However, I
still very much enjoyed CoHo’s writing, as it is still brilliant how she
managed to explore her characters and come up with these crazy yet unexpected
twists.
The book follows Sky who on her
first day in public school, after being home-schooled for all of her life,
meets a mysterious, damaged but very attractive Holder. Holder is also straight
away attracted to Sky since she reminds him of Hope. Holder and Sky both
realise that they are not only attracted to each other but are also both
equally damaged and complex. Thus, slowly throughout the book they are opening
each other’s hearts, even if that might unlock secrets, horrible pain,
devastating traumas and pasts that none of them wants to remember. Although
they are both unlocking those hurtful memories, especially the ones about Sky
and her past, their love and commitment to each other are stronger than
anything.
I didn’t like that this book was
so slow-paced. I am used to Hoover’s books being the all-quick pace and quicker
romances. This, however, was a slow-burn romance and the plot also moved quite
slowly, until the very last 100 pages where everything hit the fan.
As I mentioned before, this book
was quite long and covered soo much. It talked about and explored different
traumas that both Holder and Sky had throughout their childhood, it portrayed their
romance and connection, and looked at the family’s relationships and traumas,
too. For me (without spoiling this book) it just felt that CoHo wanted to pack
too much into this book and failed to do it. Also, the twist that usually makes
me so surprised and even more gripped to Hoover’s books, this time made me
disgusted and so sad for the main characters. The twist and all the subjects
explored in this book…it was rather hard to take it all at once.
I really liked both main
characters, and I think Hoover did an excellent job portraying them both,
including their flaws, traumas, damage, and then subsequently love and healing.
I also really liked the side characters, as they also were very well-written
and definitely add substance to the story line.
Overall: Again, excellent writing
and excellent portrayal of a variety of damaged, young, loving and yet rather
complex characters. However, this time the subjects explored in this book were
a bit too much for me. I believe if Hoover chose to explore one of the subjects
in this book or at least two, it would have made this book less traumatic,
devastating and triggering to read. Additionally, the pacing of this book was
quite slow, which I am not used to in Hoover’s writing, and which made this
book quite repetitive and hard to read. I am still going to be reading the rest
of the Hopeless series, as I want to see if the book from Holder's POV is a
better and easier read.
About the Author:
Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-two novels and novellas. Hoover’s novels fall into the New Adult and Young Adult contemporary romance categories, as well as psychological thrillers.
Colleen Hoover is published by Montlake Romance, Grand Central Publishing and Atria Books. Colleen also has several indie titles, including Heart Bones.
In 2015, Colleen’s novel CONFESS won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance. That was followed up in 2016 with her latest title, It Ends With Us, also winning the Choice Award for Best Romance. In 2017, her title WITHOUT MERIT won best romance.
Colleen founded The Bookworm Box, a charity subscription service and bookstore, with her family in 2015. The Bookworm Box is a subscription service that provides readers with an exciting opportunity to receive signed novels in the mail each month from authors all over the world. All profits from the subscription service are donated to various charities each month. To date, The Bookworm Box has donated over $1,000,000 to help those in need.
https://www.colleenhoover.com/about-coho/
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