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It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
WARNING: Spoilers will follow. Booklish Reviews ©2016
First off, I think it fitting to tell you/those reading this, that I am in no way, shape or form a Colleen Hoover supporter. I wasn't that impressed with Hopeless or Someday Maybe. (And yes, I am fully aware that there are people out there who will swear a testament to Holder and Ridge's greatness *SWOON*)
But I'm not one of those people.
In fact, it would 100% accurate to say I'm the most Anti-Colleen Hoover Reader out there. Anytime someone praises her books, I dust that shit right off and try to jump into another conversation ASAP.
I don't have anything against this author. But I have nothing for her either.
MOVING ON....Here's the review of It Ends With Us. :)
You've got Lily Bloom, the female narrator of the book. Over the course of 23 years she's witnessed her father's ill-abuse toward her mother, and she's glad he's dead. So glad that she won't say anything nice at his funeral. She likes Gardening and Ellen Degeneres...
Then you've got Ryle Kincaid. Aka, one of two love interest in this book. (Yes, there are 2 male leads!) Ryle is a neurosurgeon with a haunted past that he can't escape. He meets Lily and sparks fly, but he only wants a one night stand.
And last BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST....You've got Atlas Corrigan. The 2nd love interest, whom Lily has known for a long time. He was homeless at one point and she took care of him. :) They shared a special connection during their late childhood, and haven't seen each other in years. But he's always thought about her, always tried to better himself to be the man she deserves. (I have inserted a Johnny Depp GIF, because that is how I envision him lol. It was the best I could find on short notice!)
The Good, Bad, and Ugly...
1) I really enjoyed the diary segments of this book and the Ellen Degeneres witty banter. I know some probably think it's immature, but it really flowed well with the story and toned down the overwhelming drama. Nice touch!
2) Ryle. I am so OVERJOYED that Colleen showed who he really was (an abuser), but justified WHY he was the way he was, while not making excuses for his behavior. That earned brownie points from me! Ryle became the EXAMPLE of a bad significant other, instead of the bad boy most author's spent 3+ books trying to defend. I respect Colleen Hoover for that!
3) Atlas. Though he wasn't in the book as much as Ryle, I feel like his presence was strong enough to really show the readers why he was the better man; to show them what a Good man could be if given time and the opportunity. :) He really was the underdog of this mess! At one point I was absolutely certain he was going to get the shit-end of this deal...But he came out of this with guns blazing!
4) The abuse. I didn't really like the explanation given regarding Ryle's abusive behavior: He shot his brother by accident as a child and killed him, ect...That's why he blacks-out and goes into tantrums. I would've rather read that he was Bi-polar? I'm not saying the killing couldn't happen, but obviously he isn't psychologically stable, yet somehow managed to get a medical degree? That didn't add up to me.
He's around death all of the time at the hospital, and never "blacked-out" then? After all, death was what brought him to the point of abuse in the first place. (His brother's death...) Yet he can do surgery, witness people die, and walked away from it unscathed, with no nurses needing stitches...
I just couldn't believe that.
Overall, I thought it was a solid 4 stars. It kept me entertained and sucked me in from the start.
The characters were very well developed. The plot was on-point.
I really enjoyed it.
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Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I couldn't get a visual of Sydney in my mind.
Ridge:
This is one of those stories you love to hate. I've read one other book by this author and I didn't like it because of the repetitiveness. This book had similar issues (aka, repeating perfectly 6 times in one paragraph ect...) but I pushed it away and forged ahead. I gave it a shot.
Things I couldn't stand
1) Maggie. Oh lawd I know this girl isn't to blame. I get it. But even with the illness and deafness I couldn't find it in my heart to sympathize with her when the truth about Syd and Ridge finally came out. Honestly, she was annoying as hell. "I will never leave Maggie for you"... "He will never leave Maggie for you..." I know how bad this is going to sound, but I have to say it: I feel like her disease was the one thing she had over Syd.
At first I thought Ridge had a connection with Maggie because she was deaf too. (To a certain degree.) But then after reading a few more chapters, I just knew there was more to it. And when it was revealed that she had Cystic Fibrosis, I was mentally telling Sydney to pack it in. Maggie had 5 years on her, a disease, deafness-basically, a long laundry list of sympathy and history that no one could compete with.
And yea, I know that's not how I'm supposed to think, but I can't help it. It's one of those moral dilemmas, understand? You want the lead guy and lead girl to be together, but there's this sweet, innocent, person standing in the way...And as innocent as that person may be, you see them as nothing but a problem, which is how I saw Maggie.
POINT BLANK: It's almost like Maggie's situation was created to justify the cheating.
2) The repetitive writing. I knew her style going into this, but still I cringed every time I read certain paragraphs that were meant to be emotional breakthroughs. Example: I liked such and such. I liked that he was this or that way...I liked that he could run and jump....ect...
Those sentences damn near killed me.
3)The speeches that would last up to 3 pages. Or as I like to call it: info dumping/E! True Hollywood Story material. I know you have to ask questions to get to know someone, but the way it was done in this book...Damn. After a while I just started skimming through pages.
4) The songs. In this case I think it would've been better to let the reader imagine what the lyrics were.
All and all the story wasn't bad. I liked Ridge and Syd in the beginning. But as the story progressed I found myself reading just to see how this author was going to make it all work. FYI: How she was going to bring Ridge out of this looking like the good guy.
Honestly, I never believed Ridge when he wrote that letter to Syd telling her she had his heart. I couldn't. If he had dumped Maggie I would've had a different opinion. But since he didn't, the audience is left wondering if Syd was second best/spare. Ridge breaking up with Maggie would've proved something to me. Loyalty, perhaps? I'm not sure. I do know if I had been in Syd's shoes and found out that my lovers girlfriend didn't accept his apology, I would've been iffy if he showed up at my door and claimed he wanted me.
No matter what Ridge says, it will always be in the back of Syd's mind. Would he still be with Maggie had she not broken up with him? Yes. Is he always going to love Maggie? Yes. No matter what these questions will always be in the back of Syd's mind. Whenever it got to the ending and he professed his love I didn't believe a word of it. Could've been because the ending was rushed, but I doubt it.
In the end I wound up disliking Ridge, hating Syd, despising Maggie for simply breathing. (I'm just being honest here, okay?)
There were times when I wanted more for certain characters and the author didn't deliver. (Primarily the ending.) I just never felt like Ridge cared about Syd as much as he claimed. I didn't believe it. This is where the Maggie thing comes into play. When I read the chapters were he's talking about Maggie, there was such passion...And then when he talked about Syd it seemed like she was more of a problem.
It was a clusterfuck ladies.
Conclusion: 3 stars for the plot and Warren. It would've been 4 had the ending been better. Was this redemption for "Hopeless". No. But I wouldn't knock reading something else by this author.
UPDATE:
I've had time to digest this book and I'm taking away a star. Just knowing that Syd was Ridge's second choice doesn't sit well with me. And I'm kinda starting to question what the purpose of this book was in the first place. What was the point?
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Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Here we go....
Honestly, this book was really good until I reached the halfway mark. That's where the author lost me. When the big confession was made known, aka Sky is Hope, I just lost all interest. I thought it was too cheesy and unrealistic. And that really sucks because I actually liked Holder's character up until that point. He was funny and charismatic. I liked Sky too. Some of her inner thoughts and dialogue were hilarious. Especially her views on certain things like the slut notes ect...But after the confession both of them turned into something else and I started to regret reading this book all together.
First off, the confession was just a bust. Ugh. Once it was made known that Sky was Hope, Holder turned into this emotional wreck that was so unattractive. And Sky virtually turned into a weak character that I didn't recognize.
I am frustrated because the first half of this book was so GREAT. It was AMAZING. This author had me turning the page, eager to see what was going to happen next. I was giggling along with Holder's witty banter and his text messages. Sure, his behavior was somewhat immature, but it held my attention. Both characters did. But that confession just screwed up the entire book. There could have been a better plot for this. It would have been better if they didn't know each other and he had the dark past ect...You know what I mean? The sheltered girl falls in love with the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks or whatever. Yes, that's very cliche but it would have worked out better, I think. Some of the stuff didn't make sense once that confession was brought into light. It was like I was reading a completely different novel.
I give this book 2 stars because of the following:
1) The detail was terrible. By the time I decided to stop 85% into the book, I still didn't have a clear image of what Holder looked like in my mind. There was a lot of inner thoughts that I think could have been edited out and replaced with detail.
2) Not really understanding Six's purpose in this book, at all.
3) No internet, cell phone, ect....What are they Amish? (No offense, just sayin...)
4) Holder was doing so much shit that would have had any other girl running for the hills. He lied and acted like an ass. The list for him is endless, and yes, having said that I still adore the Holder from the first half of the book. It's weird...
5) I thought the "feelings" issue that Sky had was a rather lame and boring excuse to just kiss any guy that gave her a lopsided grin.
CONCLUSION: I was very disappointed. I actually thought I would finish this one...But the moment the confession was revealed, the book lost most of it's spark for me. I just couldn't continue. It get's 2 stars because of how Holder was in the first half of the book.
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