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UGLY LOVE

Book Review

UGLY LOVE BY COLLEEN HOOVER

HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER!!!! MY HEART IS SO PERFECTLY BROKEN! I DON'T THINK I TOOK A BREATH THE WHOLE TIME I READ THIS BOOK! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME COLLEEN HOOVER!!! I HATE YOU BUT I LOVE YOU! YOU RUINED ME AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH!

IF YOU CAN'T GUESS IT BY MY NON-STOP CAPS THEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO THAN SCREAM "I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!"

WOW JUST WOW! I DON'T KNOW HOW OR WHEN I'LL GET OVER THIS BOOK HANGOVER.

Ugly Love was nothing like I expected it to be. I excepted it too be like a 50 Shades of Grey fan fiction with just a butt ton of thrown together steamy scenes... No, it wasn't it was so much more. I knew I was going to like Miles (because he sounded so hot), but I had no idea that I was going to love him. That he was going to have an actual back story... That he was going to be actually interesting in a realistic way... I had no idea he was going to break my heart.

All that being said I have a few bookish confessions to make before I really get into the review, I choose to read this book 1) because I heard it was becoming a movie and if there's anything I love nearly as much as reading it's seeing movies 2) because this is who they have playing Mil

and 3) I also need to admit that I didn't get what was so appealing about this book that it was actually going to become a movie... I get it now. I get all the hype and talk surrounding this book. I have NEVER, EVER, EVER cried so hard in a book. That's the very last thing I thought this book was going to make me do.

The characters in this book felt so real. Tate was naive and normally that would make me want to punch a B, in her case it made me love her. Unlike most leading ladies she isn't overly sassy, or has incredible lol rebuttals, she was realistic. Her brother Corbin, OMG CORBIN, I loved every single thing about him. He has to be one of my favorite sub characters ever. He was what I imagined a brother would be and even with him not being a constant character just his presence had me. Then there's Miles and he is hands-down the star of this book. The moment you meet him you hate him. He is a mysterious mess and I thought he was going to annoy me fast. He won me over once they started going into his back story. The further they went into it the more I could feel what was coming... Yes, I knew where this story was going and what was going to happen but in no way, shape, or form was I actually prepared for it. I was a blubbering weeping ball of emotions.

The switch between time and POVs was done flawlessly and revealed the perfect information at the perfect time to keep you hooked and wanting more. Colleen set up this story so at first you would only like Miles because of his looks (which I've already made clear I was guilty of) ...

"His shirt isn't buttoned. I'm staring at his stomach. Oh, my word he has the V. Those beautiful indentations on men that run the length of their outer abdominal muscles, disappearing beneath their jeans as if the indentations are pointing to a secret bull's-eye."

And yes, he is a looker, but by the end I could have cared less about what he looked like. He could have worn a bag over his head for the last half of the book and my heart would have still been his. The relationship between Tate and Miles is like nothing I have read before. It was something else that really surprised me about this book. Saying it was complicated would be an understatement. I thought that the steamy scenes were going to take up most of this book, but it didn't... Yeah that's something that would normally make me rank a book lower, but the scenes were so well written and again realistic. They were well placed and well thought out. Just enough to make this book not "too much" which is what had me falling hard for this read way harder than I anticipated. The scenes are hot though like dump a bucket of water on your head hot. Miles and Tate's conversations roll so smoothly and the moments between them are so; I don't even know a word for them, they're just perfect (that word really doesn't do justice). Not only is he romantic but he made average things so hot.

Orange juice is hot, rugs are hot, scrubs are hot, and curtains are so so hot. whoosh.

Honestly though the scenes that turned out to be my favorite were just "average scenes", like when they all go and visit Tate and Corbin's family for Thanksgiving. That whole section had to of been my favorite. I loved how I thought this story was going to be Tate's but turned out to be Miles'. I love how I thought this book was going to be a light sexy read but turned out to be a heartbreaking love story. I just loved how everything came together while falling apart... Because when all Miles story is finally shown and is laid out in its fullest, I was basically like this...

I want to rant and rave even more about this book, but this is something you really need to read and experience for yourself. Ugly Love might just be the biggest surprise read I've had all year. I can't express enough how impressive the characters, plot, and play out of this story are.

I didn't think that this book was going to be so hard on me... And yes,

it hurt. And yes, it was a total sobbing fest, but that ending... Good golly miss molly. That ending was perfection. I don't know if I can ever forgive Colleen Hoover for what she did to me, but God dang it I love her so much for it. I didn't see this coming, and I've never been so happy to be emotionally slapped in the face like I was reading this.

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IT END WITH US

Book Review

Want the naked truth about It Ends with Us? Reading this book will change your life. It’s so different from any of Colleen Hoover’s other books. You can tell it’s heavier, more personal, just more. This book is deep. It’s profound. It’s a book that needs to be read. I'll repeat: THIS IS A BOOK THAT NEEDS TO BE READ!

This story is moving. It will make you think about things that are uncomfortable to think about. It will lift your heart, devastate you at times, make you proud, fill you with sorrow and make you smile. It will move you. It’s powerful and intense in the best way, but also has hopeful and lighter moments. The story itself is one that has been heavy on my heart from the moment I finished it.

Sometimes, I read a book and it’s so beautiful, influential and emotional I will cry just thinking about the characters and their story. Not in a bad way necessarily, I just get that moved and that emotional while thinking about it. That is this book. Trying to find the words for this review is bringing me to tears. It’s hard to explain the story completely spoiler free, but this isn’t a ‘sad’ book. It’s a strength book. Because dealing with the issues in this story took so much strength.

I’m not going to talk about the actual story at all, but I will speak a bit about the characters. Lily. Speaking of strength, Lily may be the strongest heroine that I’ve read about. Your strength is really tested when you are put in a hard situation where your choices are impossible. I loved Lily so much. I was proud of Lily and the choices she made. I want to be Lily when I grow up.

Fifteen seconds. That’s all it takes to completely change everything about a person. Fifteen seconds that we’ll never get back.

There are two men in this story, but please don’t think this is a triangle book. It’s not. It’s hard to explain, but it’s not. Ryle is a charming guy. He’s a giving person. He’s got a lot of great attributes. I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt so conflicted over a character as I did him. Atlas is the type of man I always have a soft spot for as a reader. His story gutted me at times, but he is also a character with a lot of strength and so much beauty. I loved Atlas from the second I met him and that love never stopped throughout the book.

“Lily?” he whispers, looking at me sincerely. “You just might be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Aside from the three main characters in the story, Lily’s mom played a prominent part. Their relationship played an even bigger part. Ryle’s sister and Lily’s best friend Alyssa was one of my favorite characters in this book. When things got hard, she was there. One line she said in the book, to Lily just solidified the type of woman she was. Coleen always writes that one side character that you love so hard in her stories, and Alyssa was that character for me. I can’t not mention Ellen, because, well, it’s Ellen. That part was brilliant. It made me smile every time Ellen was mentioned.

When reading this book, there were moments I struggled between not being able to tear my eyes away from the page, and others I had to take a breather because I couldn't handle what was going on. Parts of this story left me so heartbroken, and others lifted me up so high. There are some parts that are just so powerful I could only read them in awe. This is it. This is why I read. Books like this.

All humans make mistakes. What determines a person’s character aren’t the mistakes we make. It’s how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses.

Colleen Hoover is an author who truly has a way with words. She killed this book. I’ve read and loved all of CoHo’s books. Some of her earlier books are some of my all-time favorites. I’ve enjoyed all of her latest books, but this is by far the best book she’s ever written. And it’s tied with Hopeless as my own personal favorite book by her. And that is saying a lot, because Hopeless is one of my top books ever.

If you only read one book this year, let it be It Ends with Us. Everyone needs to read this book. 5+ star favorite. Completely unforgettable and highly recommended!

“It stops here. With me and you. It ends with us.”

PURCHASE HERE

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IT STARTS WITH US

Book Review

Let me start by saying this: there’s going to be a lot of hate for this book for the sole reason people just want to dislike this author for their popularity and there’s this hate train going on for the littlest things this author does so I already know people are going to just come out of the woodworks and find the tiniest thing to hate on this. That is not to say that this book is perfect or that your review will be disingenuous. Books are subjective-- therefore there can be books that I love you hate, and books I hate that you love. I just don't understand or stand for the unwarranted amount of hate that goes into BASHING books just for the way they are written. I have been reading Colleen Hoover since 2012- Slammed was my first book by her. I have had many misses with her along with many hits.

With that being said; I read It Ends With Us in 2016. I truly loved how it ended, I thought it was the end. I did not ever expect it starts with us and yet I could not think of what a beautiful and necessary addition this is.

It Starts with Us shows the after effects of abuse in every form. It shows how realistic, how tragic and how even a happily ever after is still shadowed by the ache and reminder of abuse.

I know people are going to be mad at how often Ryle shows up here but that’s the reality of how abusive situations are, they don’t just die or leave you alone— colleen did a fantastic job at showing how realistic this situation is, at how much of a gaslighter he is.

For the Ryle apologist and stans: I’m so glad Colleen wrote this book because there’s NO room for y’all’s bullshit. He is an abuser. This isn’t a dark romance. This is a contemporary romance where an abuser stays abusive, continues to be abusive in the tiniest ways and the cycles are broken. He truly and will forever be a terrible person and I’m so glad that this book continuously highlighted that. Abusers don’t “change” and even if they do, the cycle should be broken forever.

We get to see Lily and Atlas as an unit and we get to see them really fall in love with their love. I so deeply appreciated that aspect. We really do get to see them find their way back to each other and then fight for their love. This is THEIR story now.

I also want to add, I loved the side characters. Every single one of them. Theo and Josh stole my goddamn heart. The only thing I rolled my eyes at was Lily writing to Ellen still but alas a book can’t be too perfect.

Atlas has always been book boyfriend material but this book really cemented him as one of the good guys, and if not one of the top 10 book boyfriend’s in existence. I was not expecting this to get 5 stars from me, my favorite book by Colleen Hoover is Reminders of Him but this really deserves five stars for how thoughtful, realistic and just downright beautiful this was.

It ends with us was about Lily and her journey to end the cycle of abuse. It starts with Us is about Lily and Atlas navigating life after ending their own cycles.

PURCHASE HERE