Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
Book One of the Hopeless series
Publisher: Self-published, soon to be published by Atria Books
Publication Date: December 19, 2012 (again on May 7, 2013, with Atria Books)
Rating: 4 stars
Source: Bought from Amazon
Summary (from Goodreads):
Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…
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.
What I Liked:
This review is not going to be very long because there is not much I can say about how incredibly powerful and intense this book is. I believe that to understand it, you need to read it. This book is complex on so many levels, and throws so many curveballs at readers.
Hopeless has many parts, but the romance is definitely a good one with which to start. I love Sky and Holder together. Their relationship is rocky, undulating, and so sweet. I like that it was not love at first sight, and that they really explored their feelings once they acknowledged them (which was pretty quickly). There is no love triangle (YAY!), which adds to how much I love the romance in this book!
Sky is an amazing herione. She so psychologically complicated. She lives with basically no social life, no internet, no connections. She is homeschooled. Basically, she is cut off from society, until her senior year of high school, in which she begs her adoptive mother to let her go to school for one year.
I love learning about Sky's past, and why the stars on the ceiling are so important (trust me, they appear many, many times. Watch out for that). When her past finally came, it hit me hard. Terrifyingly hard. I did NOT expect any of that. Well, when I heard about her father, then yes, a little. But everything seemed so real and astonishing when I got to it. I know this sounds super vague, but you will understand if/when you read Hopeless!
Holder is... well, not many words can describe Holder. Intense is how Sky describes him. He lives life passionately, and throws himself into whatever he wants with a fierce drive. Oh, and he's definitely a yummy male hero. I like him alot, but not because he is a pretty face. By the end, you cannot help but like him, after all the time he has stuck with Sky.
Just read the book, guys. Trust me. You will not regret it.
What I Did Not Like:
Sky's decision-making processes boggled me sometimes. Again, you have to read it to know to what I am referring, but sometimes, I just had to put the book down and shake my head. BUT. There are so many reasons why she reacts the way she does. I understand. But I do not necessarily agree with her.
You are probably wondering, why then, if you had barely any problems with this book, did you knock off a star? Well, to be honest, it just did not feel like a 5-star book to ME. I love this book, but I am not sure if I would read it again. At least, in the near future. It is so powerful, and so good, and it has that lasting effect on me, but it does not feel like a 5-star book. Again, to ME.
Would I Recommend It:
TOTALLY! Anyone could read this book and love it. It is a great contemporary read, light at the beginning, but complicated and heart-wrenchingly amazing from the second half and to the end. Great romance, great plot, fantastic writing. Colleen Hoover has it all in this book!
Rating:
4 stars. WARNING: this book may make you cry :)
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