Book Review: Never Never: Part Two (Never Never #2) by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

Never Never: Part Two by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

“Never forget that I was your first real kiss.

Never forget that you’ll be my last.

And never stop loving me between all of them”

(Silas; Chapter II, Never Never: Part Two)

And we’re back with Charlie-Silas on Never Never Part Two!

I was so darn excited for this book I practically ‘screamed’ on my previous review of book one. Both Colleen and Tarryn (or only Tarryn based on Colleen. Lol..) were so cruel to give us such worst cliffhanger in history ever. Now five months later the sequel was finally released!

I’m going to warn you guys who haven’t read this book two of Never Never series. Please DO re-read the first book before picking up the second one. Just do it. Especially to those who had a weak long memory like me. I made a fatal mistake of going straight into Part Two without re-reading the first one and I ended up…

… like all the time.

I remembered where the cliffhanger took place last time but apparently with Silas and Charlie not remembered anything about themselves and people around them, I had a hard time following the story as well. Silas didn’t remember Annika. That’s the plot. But it made two of us because I didn’t remember who she was as well. It happened again and again with the other characters I ended up become all so depressed in less than 10 minutes. Trust me, you’ll need your mind all clear and prepared and full of memory of book one to read this Part Two.

Compared to book 1, this one had a more complicated plot. If in book 1 it still seemed like an introduction of strange experience happened to Silas and Charlie, this time they started to take a forward step to break the mystery. But even though they were able to gather some more important information, there appeared some people who kept blocking their progress. Book two filled with much more twists and also much more of odd things and mysteries as well. I was still figuring things out when I didn’t realize that I hit the last page and there… the cursed three words sitting all neatly there like some innocent puppies. I nearly had a mini heart-attack right that moment I dropped my jaw and my e-reader all at once. Bloodyhell.

What I liked the most about book two was several things finally got explained here revealing true characters of Silas and Charlie.

“I’d rather love you at the bottom than despise you at the top” 

(Silas; Chapter VIII, Never Never: Part Two)

I loved Silas on book 1 but I despised him a bit for being a bit of a jerk. Book two went all out to show just how much Silas loved Charlie.

“If it were possible to hear a smile, hers would be a love song.” 

(Silas; Chapter XVII, Never Never: Part Two)

My heart melted witnessing Silas went from not-remember-anything-including-himself-and-Charlie to still-not-remember-anything-but-cared-so-much-about-Charlie. My heart died a little seeing him fall in love all over again with Charlie. Oh mother father… even in whatever circumstance, his love managed to blossom quickly again for Charlie. It was as if the point of all these odd experiences were to prove again and again that their love would never die no matter just everything that happened to them. Dude, I seriously wanted them to figure things out so they could get their happy ending soon!

“I would give anything to have that memory back –to see what it was like between us when we loved each other enough to believe it was forever.” 

(Silas; Chapter XVII, Never Never: Part Two)

I’m ready to begging on my knees so that Never Never Part Three will be the last book of the series. I’m serious. I hope every mystery would be unraveled on the next book because it started to get creepy here.

Well, hopefully Colleen will understand that but I doubt it with Tarryn. Lol.

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Confess by Colleen Hoover

Confess by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

I confess,

‘I buried my face on both of my hands and cried for good ten minutes during last chapter of Confess before continued reading’

OMG, thank you Colleen for introducing me with this boy OMG.

Everybody, meet my newest bookboyfriend, OMG.

OMG, you’re confused right?

Let me tell you in a bit, OMG…

OMG… lol I cracked too much when reaching the scene where the OMG mystery was revealed. So, OMG is actually the initial of the hero’s name: Owen Mason Gentry. And yes, as usual Colleen had created a very lovely good guy in her book. Just like with Will Cooper or Ridge Lawson or Dean Holder, I fell in love instantly with Owen. But Owen has just become my most favorite now because of he’s too freaking good to be true. OMG, you should see the sacrifices he’d done for his beloved ones…

“I don’t feel lost in him at all, because it’s the first time I’ve ever felt like someone truly found me.”

(Auburn Reed; Chapter XXI, Confess)

Auburn Reed was twenty-one years old when her life was already hanging by the thread in the edge of a cliff. One mistake would cause everything she had to lose in a blink of an eye. Thus, she could not afford risk of making one. But then came Owen. Good guy, amazing artist, sweet, handsome Owen Gentry. Both Auburn and Owen couldn’t deny the attraction pulling each other’s poles. Auburn knew Owen would definitely be the ‘mistake’ in her struggling life but she debated herself that for once, she wanted to believe that Owen would not be a mistake. When they finally let themselves melting in each other’s arm, that’s when the big secrets standing between them unraveled. Owen was sure a mistake that caused her life firmly planted in the middle of a railway ready to be hit by a trainwreck. The only way to save it was by cutting the tie with Owen. Surely Auburn could do that, right? While her whole life was at a stake? But heart was one enigma in every one’s life. When cutting Owen should be the right thing to do, Auburn felt hollow everyday without his presence, leaving thousand questions flying in her messed-up mind. Was Owen really a mistake for her? Or maybe Owen was the savior in this knotty circumstance of hers? If only they knew the right thing to do… If only they were willing to confess their darkest secret for once…

Once again, Colleen combined story with another form of art. First, she used poetry on Slammed. Second, she used music on Maybe Someday. And now, she used painting on Confess. This is why Colleen is my favorite author. Her creativity is over the top. She was not just simply combine two forms of art together, she blend them in a very original way. The idea of using confessions as a bridge that connect the story with the painting amazed me big time. It was really genius and like nothing I’ve ever seen in any books.

The characters she created for Confess were all so realistic. Even though it was a bit difficult for me to connect with Auburn (maybe because of I have yet to be in her ‘circumstance’) but slowly I found her character awesome and her illogical act understandable. As for Owen, God, is that possible to find a man like him in real life? The sacrifice he’d done was so… I cried cried cried for everything he’d sacrificed for his beloved persons.

“I laugh, and the tenderness that enters his eyes at the sound of my laughter makes me realize that this is what I want. Selflessness. It should be the basis of every relationship. If a person truly cares about you, they’ll get more pleasure from the way they make you feel, rather than the way you make them feel.”

(Auburn Reed; Chapter XXI, Confess)

Oh, I just love what Owen said about people lying!

She stops reading the confession in her hands and her eyes meet mine. “You’re amazed that people can lie so well?”

I shake my head. “No. Just relieved to know that everyone does it. Makes me feel like maybe my life isn’t as fcked up as I thought it was.”

(Chapter IV, Confess)

And this… don’t you want to agree with his saying below so much? Because I do. So much.

“In order to be embarrassed, a person has to care about the opinions of others first.”

(Owen Gentry; Chapter II, Confess)

Colleen must be so blessed in her life because whenever I was about to declare one of her books as my most favorite, she went out releasing another one and completely ruined it. She did it (again) this time with Confess. Now I’m afraid to read her next book because I don’t want my feeling for Owen to fade away so soon. Owen is and should be on the top list of my favorite hero forever or I’ll just spend my entire 2015 reading Confess over and over again. Or I might just do it anyway…

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Maybe Not (Maybe, #1.5) by Colleen Hoover

Maybe Not by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

After reading Maybe Someday which didn’t meet my expectation I had before reading the book, Maybe Not was pretty much a light and enjoyable read. Colleen’s previous novella of Hopeless series, Finding Cinderella, was successfully won my heart and changed my opinion toward novella generally. I was hoping Maybe Not would give the same vibe.

Maybe Not is a spin story starring Warren and Bridgette whom we already met during Maybe Someday. Unlike the previous book, Maybe Not has quite a lot of steamy scenes between the main characters but not to the point of hardcore. But what I like the most was the banters between Warren and Bridgette. God, this couple is so unbelievably weird! Bridgette is so damn mean and Warren is charmingly okay with that. Love how Colleen showed the other side of Bridgette through the scene of her playing with Warren’s nephew. It was so cute!

Maybe Not might not make my heart swelling and blooming like Finding Cinderella, but I really enjoyed reading it. Especially, if you love funny reads, you'll surely love this one :)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Maybe Someday (Maybe, #1) by Colleen Hoover

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 3.6 of 5 stars

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

So as I planned before, I’d filled up my February reading list with ALL of Colleen’s books and this week I successfully finished them all in less than 2 weeks. I fell in love with Slammed series, and then fell in love with Hopeless series ―thanks to Losing Hope. I expected myself to fall in love with Maybe Someday too. I’ve been eyeing this book for weeks. I was hooked by the cover and the title. I also contemplated to skip Slammed and Hopeless in order to read Maybe Someday first as the opening read but ended up sticking with the order (year of released it was). And when I finished reading three days ago, I was expecting I’d write a glowing five-stars review of this book but…

I seriously don’t know what to say about this book.

Okay, I’m not going to write a brief synopsis as usual ‘cause I would probably give too many spoilers. Let’s say Maybe Someday is a unique love story with undeniably attractive hearts-snatcher hero and majority plot is love triangle with a background of music. Really, the story is unique and original. I love the opening scene and the way our two main characters met for the first time. I also love every single song lyrics in this book. They’re all so beautiful and were different than those I’ve seen in other books. But Maybe Someday somehow made me realize that I’m really not a fan of any romance story which has love-triangle issues within. As much as it tries to appear ‘innocent’ in any book with good plot. I just… I don’t know, I just can’t believe that people could love two people at the same time even if in the end they admit they mistaken one of it as a love but still… they said those three words to two different people at the same time (not technically the ‘same’ time but… well, you know what I mean)!

I love the hero, Ridge so much. I do, really I do. It’s just unfortunate of him to be put on that situation. I love the way he played music. I love the way he loved music. I love what he chose to react to everything and everyone around him. I love his silly pranks. I love the way he wrote songs with Sydney. I love HIS SONGS. And I sure love his loyalty to his girlfriend, Maggie. But Colleen Hoover cruelly wrote his every moment with Sydney very very beautifully. GAH. Was it possible that I just fell in love with their moment together but not with them as a couple? Because it’s pretty much what I felt about them.

It’s ironic that I don’t like Sydney as much as I like Maggie. I understand that the power of attraction could be so strong and mercilessly made people weak in their right minds, but I also wished that Sydney would consider ‘talking’ with her mind first before letting her heart took a step forward. Also considering the situation she was in before meeting Ridge, it should be a good lesson to be a careful with love. No, I don’t hate Sydney. I just a bit annoyed with her never ending internal debate of should I/should I not be in love with Ridge. Just like with Ridge, I also felt sorry for her to be put in this situation.

And Maggie might be the only character that I like here. Well, maybe if Sydney and Ridge were put in a whole different circumstance, I am so sure that they’ll be my top favorite book couple… *sigh* well this is life, we cannot just always get what we want… *please ignore my drifting-mind*

Maybe Colleen tried to show us that after all we don’t choose who we fall in love with but I just am so DISPLEASED with this love-triangle plot.

BUT!!

… well, then again this is why Colleen is my favorite author.

As much as I disagreed with this book, Colleen managed to write a heart-wrenching ending scene which I loved so much. And that pretty much eased my disappointment toward the whole book. And it also reminded me again how much I loved Ridge and all heros whose ‘circumstances’ (not referred to the situation he was put in) are kind of similar as Ridge.

So, people, meet Ridge Lawson, my newest book-boyfriend (yeah boo me, everybody, just boo me all you want…).

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Finding Cinderella (Hopeless # 2.5) by Colleen Hoover

Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

“I constantly have to bite my tongue when I’m around you because all I’ve been wanting to do lately is tell you how much I love you”

-Daniel Wesley-

THIS!!!

BEST! ROMANCE! NOVELLA! EVER!

Oh God, seriously I never found a novella with a very complex and intriguing plot before. Finding Cinderella is a novella yet the story is not like what novellas mostly have. With 90 pages, it successfully grabbed my heart, made it bloom and squeezed it then pump it again before put it back up on its place. I never fancy reading a romance novella before because I think no romance stories could be delivered via such short plot within less than 100 pages. But Colleen Hoover, everybody, yes that favorite author of mine, she always knows what to do to make me fall in love deeper and deeper with her (lemme smooch you up messily like a baby panda.....)

Daniel Wesley never knew that his habit to hide during fifth period at school’s maintenance closet would lead him to meet a Cinderella. Well, not literally Cinderella actually. He made up the endearment for a mysterious girl who he ‘accidentally met’ on the maintenance closet during fifth period. The said girl unknowingly entered the dark closet and fell on him. And she cried. Seconds passed by then turned into minutes until an unexpected kiss in the dark happened between them. She left after that leaving Daniel with a hope for her to come back again. A week later on the same dark place, they met for the second time. After a brief awkward conversation without any intentions of finding out whom each other actually was, Daniel and ‘Cinderella’ had a deal to play pretend as a long in love couple in 45 minutes. She left again after that, for good this time. And Daniel once again was left committing every single thing about her to his memory. 

A year later Daniel met Six ―Sky’s best friend who just came back from exchange program in Italy. After one simple dinner date, Daniel couldn’t be any more convinced that Six was nothing like every girl he’s ever been with. Six was bold. Six was so blunt. Six didn’t do everything that Daniel knew as girls’ shits. And Six fist-bumped him, that’s the coolest thing a girl ever done to him. Less than 24 hours, Daniel and Six had turned from strangers to exclusive lovers. Whatever it was between them; it was so intense, it was unusual, it was so damn fast, it scared them both. But they really couldn’t deny the attraction each other radiated. When they thought things couldn’t be more intense and any scarier, they were faced with shocking truths repetitively in one night. Could they still hold each other’s hands and keep going in this intense relationship afterward?

I always liked Six ever since she appeared for the first time on Hopeless. Her protectiveness toward Sky was something of her that grabbed my attention. And then Daniel was the one who made my feeling while reading Losing Hope lighter and happier. His funny personality and his specialty in making (rather disgusting) endearments were what made him adorable in his own way. He’s so likeable, loveable even, so adorable!

The plot is simple but still… the shocking feels are intense. The other characters were interesting as well. Loved reading little moments of Sky and Holder here! Oh, and I love Wesley family so much! Such a cool family… no wonder the son was so loveable <3 I laughed a lot reading this novella. Like really A LOT. And when the climax came up… bam!

I almost had a mini heart-attack and had to bury my face on my pillow for five good minutes to muffle my scream. That was wow! I loved it that Colleen didn’t think of over-sweetening the ending… always take the realistic path. BUT IT MAKES ME CRAVING MORE DOSES OF DANIEL AND SIX SO BADLY!!! Oh, how I hope they gonna have their own book someday… *directing a mass of puppy eyes toward Colleen* *please ignore my inner-romance-crave*

I’m starting to love reading romance novella now knowing that a novella could give me such a roller-coaster feeling too. Thanks so much for Colleen Hoover :)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Losing Hope (Hopeless #2) by Colleen Hoover

Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!

AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

OH-MY-GOODNESS!!!

Colleen Hoover is utterly amazing! This book OMG, this book!!

I super love her for writing Losing Hope! Seriously. Well, I told you about how I feel about the first book of this series on my previous review of Hopeless. I really wanted to love that book but sadly due to the issue that was brought up on the book, Hopeless didn’t become my favorite. But Colleen! God, Colleen is my forever favorite author and I know she would never let me down and DAMNIT she proved it again this time!!!

A lot of author nowadays decided to rewrite their books into the whole new book with different POV of the main characters. But only little of them could hit it like Colleen. What Colleen did was she brought us into an angle where we could perceive the story in completely different way to deepen our understanding of the whole issues inside. She did more than just rewrite them with different POV! I could not be more thankful that Colleen decided to write Losing Hope. It feels like she knew that there are people (like me) who really wants to love Holder and Sky but can’t do that because of the discomfort we feel caused by the certain issue inside the book so she presented this book to show us the different way to understand it all.

From Holder’s POV I felt more at ease while reading the whole story. I used to think that Holder showed a lot of non-sense acts to Sky during Hopeless and I’m glad it wasn’t like that at all now that everything was explained here. The scenes were all so freshened up. I caught myself laughing a lot while reading this –thanks to Daniel! And Holder and Sky’s moments here were way way sweeter knowing what Holder thought of her all those times. I totally fell in love with Dean Holder here. He’s real gentleman and even though he’s been through a lot of worst things in his life, he could always manage to find his own way to fix the scar while keeping his faith and giving his never-ending patience to those whom he loves in life despite the scar they’d left him with in the first place. In fact, his love grew even deeper and he loved them more fiercely.

“In order to miss someone, that means you were privileged enough to have them in your life to begin with.”

-Dean Holder- 

I love every single letter he wrote to Les here… even though most of the times it looked harsh but it was just his way of accepting Les’s decision. I swear I cried like a newborn baby when I read Les’ letter. It was just so heartbreaking yet relieving in the same time. And then again when I read Holder’s last letter to Les… God, his love for Les was all over the place. His every word was so damn beautiful.

“F*ck all the firsts, Sky.

The only thing that matters to me with you are the forevers.”

-Dean Holder-

His constant understanding toward Sky was over the top. I found myself fell deeper and deeper to him pages to pages. I kept wondering why I couldn’t see this side of him in 

Hopeless

. Well again, it’s all about the angle. Losing Hope has an angle where I could understand the whole story way much better than those of Hopeless. I am really glad I told myself to read this book anyway despite what I felt during Hopeless.

So, to those who find themselves not liking Hopeless 

please please please 

hear me out: I DO RECOMMEND YOU TO READ LOSING HOPE THIS INSTANT. You’ll definitely love Holder and Sky and their story here. In fact, you’ll regret it if you already read Hopeless but you don’t read this book, trust me.

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Hopeless (Hopeless #1) by Colleen Hoover

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

This is the second series of Colleen Hoover’s that I read this month.

I’ve read three of Slammed series last week and really really loved them. I’ve had the same high expectation on this series to begin with. But sadly this book didn’t grab my attention as hard as what Slammed did. I do find the story is good and heartbreaking, really. But I just don’t love this book like I loved Slammed. And I have my own reason for this.

Linden Sky Davis thought herself wasn’t like any other normal teenagers. When girls her age liked having intimate moments with boys, Sky couldn’t feel anything but numb whenever she’s making out. Maybe she did it with the wrong boys, but she’s been making out with several of them and the feeling was still the same. When the last boy she made out with decided to take a step beyond the line, Sky put a halt on wasting time with all those stupid boys. 

Sky’s been attending home school on the past thirteen years before her best friend slash neighbor Six, confronted her to join public school this semester. Sky was pretty nervous, added it with Six leaving abroad for 6 months, and the already-spreading rumors about her record making out with lots of boys, Sky knew the first day of school would be a total hell. Until she met Dean Holder. The first guy who strangely made her ‘feels something’ just by his stare. But he also happened to be the most evitable guy at their school. 

Just like her, Holder was also surrounded by floating rumors: the violence act he’d done at some guy at school which resulted with him being arrested last year, his disappearance for a year afterwards, the negative rumor about her sister’s suicide, some saying him was also suicidal. All of that should be enough reason for Sky to back off. But the more she knew him, the more he seemed less like what was being rumored about him. And Holder seemed had no intentions to stay away from Sky despite what rumor said about her. 

When Sky for the first time could experience the feeling of ‘something’ –thanks to Holder, and when Holder for the first time could feel ‘hope’ in his life –thanks to Sky, something from the past brought them down to the darkest part of their life. Something that Sky never imagined could ever happen. Something that Holder thought would never been discovered. Knowing their path had been tied with some black scarf once, could they fix whatever damages they got and moved on? Or would they just stay being hopeless and give up?

Colleen’s writing style is amazing. Even when I didn’t find my joy while reading this, her writing style was an enough reason for me to keep going. The characters, Sky and Holder were good, too. Sky’s behavior might be a bit confusing at first. I just had no idea why would she make out with all those walking testosterone if she couldn’t feel anything from the actions. If it was because her past, I don’t think that’s the right step to make. I mean, shouldn’t she have some panic attack or something like that? But when Sky met Holder, I began to like her slowly bit by bit. Holder might not be my favorite hero of Colleen’s but his determined act made me attracted to him. Every slow step he took toward Sky proved just how gentleman Holder was. Sadly, something inside the story made me couldn’t love this book completely.

As much as I tried to enjoy the story with all the likeable characters, I’m just not okay with certain issue that was brought up in this story. No, it’s not the suicidal act (I read several books with suicidal issue as the main focus and okay with that) and it’s definitely not the stalking act (this is what I read from the negative reviews about this book, they said something about the main character was creepy stalker but seriously it was not like that at all). This had something to do with their past. Some people might be okay having this issue on their reads, but I personally felt disturbed about that issue. It’s really the worst inhuman thing a human could ever do. Well, yes, I once heard about this on the local news and I am truly aware that that kind of thing did happen somewhere around us but I just don’t feel comfortable talking about it moreover having it on the book that I read. And sadly due to my uncomfy feeling toward the issue, I couldn’t thoroughly enjoy the romance in the book :(

But don’t let this stop you from reading Hopeless. After contemplating myself whether or not I should read the next book on the series: Losing Hope (it’s Hopeless story from Holder’s POV but we all know Colleen always do more than that in reverse POV book), I finally decided to read it anyway. Surprisingly so far I liked it and didn’t feel disturbed yet... hopefully I could completely enjoy the next book!

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: This Girl (Slammed #3) by Colleen Hoover

This Girl by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!

AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

“You want to know my sweet?”

“You. Always you.”

-Will Cooper-

TEN THOUSANDS STARS FOR SLAMMED SERIES AND TEN THOUSANDS MORE FOR MY FAVORITE AUTHOR COLLEEN HOOVER!

This Girl is the third and the last book on Slammed series. So sad that my encounter with Layken and Will had to stop here but I’m truly happy for them both. My lovely couple!

In this last installment, we got to see everything happened on book 1, Slammed, from our hero’s point of view, Will Cooper. Yay! 

Well, I read a lot of books that was a reverse POV of its predecessor. But what made This Girl stand out is how Colleen delivered the reverse POV here. She’s not just writing the book all over again from Will’s POV so the reader would be a crying mess again, but she actually put every part in between the happy scenes so at least I was just crying a bathtub instead of crying a river… how did she do it? Read the book, alright! ;)

And we got an epilogue here for Layken and Will! Ah… it’s really beautiful ending… and the last poem in the end titled ‘My Final Piece’… LOVED IT! 

Really thank you Colleen Hoover for writing this beautiful series.

I really had an amazing reading list this month! :)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Point of Retreat (Slammed #2) by Colleen Hoover

Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!

AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

“Sometimes two people have to fall apart, to realize how much they need to fall back together”

THOUSANDS BUTTERFLYING BEMAZING STARS FOR THIS BOOK!!

God, oh God, my emotion for Layken and Will here is ALL OVER the place. I finished this book in one sitting past midnight and seriously cried non-stop from chapter sixth to the last page. I was so so happy that there are two more books for this couple but I just don’t expect there will be conflict between them (duh, of course, there will be, if there’s no conflict sure there’s no story to tell…). But then the long suffering really worth it, the ending was epic! 

Now that Layken and Will finally found their way to be together, this couple was faced with another bitter reality on their life. Last few years had been a long storm going. Layken with Kel ended up having the same life as those they’ve been seeing of Will’s and Caulder’s. And now four of them were sailing on the same boat, they’re more than ready to fight the possible storm and rough waves coming on their way in the future. But when the little rock from the past hit their boat, Layken and Will never thought that it would affect their future plan… and moreover, left Layken to second-guessing everything between them. In the end, they were reminded that in a relationship it was not always just fighting the storm together, but it was also about holding each other hand while fighting the storm together.

Well, this might be the shortest synopsis I ever wrote. I tried my best not to spoil much because in case someone who hasn’t read Slammed come across this review, then they won’t find out much about what happened in Slammed.

So, I finished this book in one sitting as well (just like Slammed!) and I am really proud about this fact because I think I’m getting better in increasing my reading speed because of this series. In this book, Colleen tested Layken and Will’s love once again through so many hurdles. One thing from Will’s past finally made its way between them. I liked that the conflict was not entirely focusing on that something; it was more like internal conflict between them. Here, Will’s love was proved to be stronger than it seemed. Just made me fall deeper for him… and that journal Will wrote every day… oh God, is there any other guy who’s as romantic as Will Cooper? I loved every piece, but here is my favorite:

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

The heart of a man

Is no heart at all

If his heart isn’t loved by a woman.

The heart of a woman

Is no heart at all

If her heart isn’t loving a man.

But the heart of a man and a woman in love

Can be worse than not having a heart

Because at least if you have no heart at all

It can’t die when it breaks apart.

-Will Cooper-

I feel like hugging him in my arms when I read this…

What I liked best from this book is the appearance of other characters that very interesting. Beside Kel and Caulder (who hooked me up with their funny personality ever since book 1), there was their friend, Kiersten, who’s so witty just like Eddie, Layken’s best friend. Just look what this little girl said to Gavin about life:

“Sometimes things happen in life that you didn’t plan for. All you can do now is suck it up and start mapping out a new plan. ”

Isn’t it just so butterflying awesome?! :)

And a little advice from Will’s grandma is the best advice every guy could ever ask for:

“A guy can tell a girl he’s in love with her until he’s blue in the face.

Words don’t mean anything to a woman when her head’s full of doubt.

You have to show her.”

Oh, I just loved every one in this book!

During the first 5 chapters, the story ran smoothly and I laughed all the time while reading it. Seeing how Layken and Will played the role parents to Kel and Caulder was so damn interesting. And then the conflict came along… with a heartbreaking climax… Colleen just made me put Layken and Will on my ever after favorite book couples!

This series is seriously amazing! Hell, I think this is the best YA romance book for young couple out there. Like I said, this story is so realistic and would be a great reference about what to do for those who think they are about to have such true love in young age (or just everyone who think they are about to have true love in their life). I loved this series so freaking much. I just can’t wait to read what Colleen is going to present on book 3... 

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Slammed (Slammed #1) by Colleen Hoover

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!

AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Read also:
Review of Point of Retreat (Slammed #2)!
Review of This Girl (Slammed #3)!

Well, Colleen is officially my favorite author now.

No explanation needed.

So last month I made a plan to devour all of CoHo’s books on February after I read Ugly Love and Never Never. I went around her website to find the reading order of her series. And Slammed series happened to be on the first line on the post so I decided to begin with this series. If Ugly Love was the one that made me fall in love with Colleen’s writing, then Slammed is the one that makes me totally deeply in undying love with Colleen’s writing. Really. I’m that in love with hers.

“You can’t run to another town, another place, another state. 
Whatever it is you’re running from –it goes with you. 
It stays with you until you find out how to confront it.”

Layken was having a very rough year in life through the death of her father. Being the oldest child in the family, Layken had to be the anchor to her mother and her 9 year old brother, Kel. As crushed as her heart, she should stay strong so their family could totally move on. Moving to Michigan was their next step to begin a new start. It could be a bad step. It could be a good one. Layken couldn’t guess it would be the latter, well, more like she wouldn’t want to. But maybe life was not that unfair to her after all. She only had to find out first.

The first time Will Cooper laid his eyes on the girl who just moved to the house next door, he knew that his life would be different start from this year. The first time he held her hand, he knew that he wouldn’t want to hold another girl’s hands. The first time he went out with her, he knew that she would be the only girl he ever really wanted in life. But who knew that life had this cruel habit of revealing the worst part in last minute. Just when he thought life would stop giving his rough years, it proved that life was really unfair to him after all.
Layken must be damned if life brought her up to the sky… only to slammed her down to the dirt, again. Meeting Will was the most beautiful gift she ever got. But what if her beautiful gift was bundled under sharp spikes? She knew that after one date that night with Will, she could see happiness for the first time after losing her dad. But then something –something that she could never imagine in her entire life- got on their way, leaving her heart broken for the second time that year.

Love could be the cruelest thing ever happened to ones’ life. Or that’s what Layken and Will could think of it now. When seeing each other every day was no longer give them happiness but sorrow. When holding on to each other seemed impossible now.

Layken and Will might be the unluckiest couple in the history of love. But surely nothing could get in the way, when the love itself was stronger than the storm that came. It would be up to them, whether they just chose to be slammed or they chose to slam them all in return.

God, I love this book so much. I read this book in one sitting! (Rarely happened these days… It’s the first on 2015). It’s kind of difficult for me to find a realistic love story in a book these days. Well, I must have been searching in wrong place… because (Where have I been in my life?) CoHo wrote this masterpiece years ago! Love love every single thing on this book! The poetry was all beautiful and heartbreaking. I’ve never been so heartbroken by poetry before. Loved Colleen’s writing style so freaking much. She had this thing to make every scene seemed alive with those little details. How she put young love in a very realistic situation that made me think that true love could really come just anytime. Loved how she made a damn heartbreaking scene looked not that heartbreaking, I mean it surely made me cry but I cried in acceptance, somehow. Loved every single lyric of The Avett Brothers’ songs written here. The characters of both Layken and Will were very well built. And what I love the most of this book was the storm that came between them was not in a form of ‘third person’ (I meant this not as a spoiler, alright? Just a little preview, I guess. You don’t think so? Well, sorry then…). When I thought things couldn’t get any better, it did perfectly. Colleen could not stop surprising us in this book.

Layken was really one of a kind for me. Even though sometimes I got annoyed by her stubbornness, I, in the same time, adored her as well. She’s so damn realistic, I loved her! And Will… ADSFKJDASFJHASFH!!!!!!!!

Okay.. okay…

Will is THE BEST BOOK BOYFRIEND EVER HAPPENED TO ME! How could he not?

He’s tall, handsome, and gorgeous.

He loves fiercely.

He is the best brother any sibling could ever have.

He has a good sense of humor.

He’s so responsible and polite.

Sounds common? Just wait.

HE IS A POET!!!!! A FREAKING POET!!

*dies momentarily*

OH DAMNIT JUST GIVE ME A WILL COOPER RIGHT THIS DAMN MINUTE!!!

God, guy who does poet is like a biggest turn on for me…
Will Cooper is the biggest turn on for me.

He’s so damn romantic and so dedicated to poetry world. I seemed couldn’t stop grinning during their every moment. I had to several times cover it up with awkward laughs so that people could not see how pathetic I was, keep grinning at a book (but then they thought how silly I was, keep laughing at a book. Oh, well, whatever.)

I could not wait to ‘devour’ the next book on this series: Point of Retreat (on my way, now). I knew it; my tbr February list must be so very blessed… :)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Never Never (Never Never #1) by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

Never Never by Colleen Hoover

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!

AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

This book is SICK!

And the cruelest book I ever read in 2015. Seriously. I’m not kidding.

I’m not going to dwell on the story ‘cause there’s a huge possibility that I might give spoilers. And people should not write any spoilers about this book because it will just break the spell!!!! Except, if you are those kind of people who’s fine with spoilers hitting you from every direction ‘cause you still can feel the intensity of the book. BUT I AM NOT THAT’S WHY I DECIDED TO READ IT ONCE NEVER NEVER WAS RELEASED!!

Okay, first, I’m going to make the lamest confession of the year (and it’s even still January..........).

"I confess that I have never read any of Colleen’s books. Or Tarryn’s."

Gosh, I suddenly cringe after I said it out. But really, I do. I never read their books. It’s not because I dislike them. Strangely, I followed them both on twitter and instagram. I even joined email-subscription to Colleen’s blog. But I never read their books. Like ever. Not even one. I don’t know why. Maybe because my monthly to-be-read lists are always full and I happened to always forget to put any of their books to the lists (and am pretty strict with my own list. Idk, it’s just a habit). Then news about Never Never came out and I (literally) made a biggest mental note to read this book once it’s released on 2015. I must be blessed. I read it and I REGRETTED IT THAT I NEVER READ ANY OF COLLEEN AND TARRYN’S BOOKS! BIG TIME! Omg, where have I been all these time........... ;;AAA;;

Never Never is awesome! I might have some (stupid) confused moments in the first two chapters of the book. I had to read it back and forth to match some scenes and names. But God, this book is bloody addictive! Every page keeps making you wanting for more. The idea of the story is real unique. I might have read stories with slightly same idea but there were some parts that made it different and stood-out than other books. And damn, I’ve never felt so dang curious to the level that I felt so depressed (but in a good way) (Gosh, my words must be confusing but that’s just what I feel after I finished it). Every word was beautifully written. The sweet scenes was so darn sweet I had this stupid grin that I should literally pressed my face to the pillow to stop it. And the writings were so hilarious!!! I laughed at several scenes that were damn funny which were EVERY PAGES. The POV is alternating by both characters and I LOVED IT! The main characters, Charlie and Silas were so cute!!! Somehow this couple reminded me on Margo and Quentin from Paper Towns. Tough girl and so-damn-caring boy. But in a whole better version! Even though Charlie appeared cold, the moment Silas showed his affections, she couldn’t help but feel touched by them. I really really liked both characters!! And Silas, Oh God, Silas!!! Gimme Silas Gimme Silas Gimme Silas FREAKING GIMME SILAS!!! I don’t care about anything that he’d done, I just care about what he do now (Nope. Not going to say anything more than this…)!! He’s just the sweetest, cutest, wittiest, big time flirty boy in the world !!!!!!!!!!

I may not remember anything about her, but I would bet her smile was my favorite part of her
-Silas -

My heart ached for everything that happened to them. I almost shed some tears during last chapter when Silas wrote the last point on his letter… Omg that’s just breaking my heart into tiny little pieces that was ready to be swept by ocean waves...

HOMG, I WOULD BEGGING ON MY KNEES IN FRONT OF COLLEEN AND TARRYN FOR GIVING THEM A BEAUTIFUL HAPPY FREAKING ENDING ON THE NEXT BOOK!! Wait.. next book? FREAKING GIMME NEVER NEVER BOOK TWO OH YOU BOTH!!!! YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME!! YOU CANT JUST PUT THOSE BLOODY ‘TO BE CONTINUED’ THING IN THE END OF THIS BOOK AND EXPECT ME TO BE OKAY AND PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THE BOOK 2 TO BE RELEASED GOD KNOWS WHEN!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m going to warn you, okay. This book has the worst cliffhanger in the history of ever-existed-books and you couldn’t even hate the authors for that. Trust me. That’s pretty much what I feel for them right now.

So please help me God, my only hope is that me and my heart can survive until the day Never Never book 2 is gonna be released. Until then… *smirks*, hope you feel depressed as much as I do. Lol! Kidding. Or not. Hahahaha...

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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