Hopeless by Colleen Hoover, published May 2013 by Atria Books.

Read: February 2015
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary/Romance/Issues
Source: Gifted
#Pages: 406
Get It Now: Wordery

Goodreads Synopsis: Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what 17 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, 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.

The Review

I’m working my way through Hoover’s backlist and building up my collection of her books nicely! This was a gift from Brandie for my Birthday (thank you again!) and I started it as soon as it arrived. Hoover just continues to amaze me with the wide variety of subjects she touches on in her novels, and usually in the most gut-wrenching, heart-breaking and swoon-worthy way possible for her readers. CoHo is my Queen.

This book started as a bit of slow burner for me. I’ve loved Hoover’s more recent releases but I’ve been scared of reading her backlist in case they didn’t work for me. I need to welcome her into the Circle of Trust, because she never disappoints, though I have to say I can definitely see the improvement and development in her writing style from Hopeless to her more recent releases.

The characters in this novel are complex, and the revelations are simply gripping, they’re “car crash” revelations – you don’t want to witness them, but you can’t look away. The chapters alternate between present day and 13 years earlier (this is clearly identified – which I love), and although I guessed early on what the revelations were going to be, they were no less heart-breaking or amazingly well-written when I got to them! Speaking of well-written, Holder. I love the book boyfriends CoHo writes, in all of their unrealistic, emotional and damn-I-wish-they-were-real beauty.

There were one or two things about this book that did… annoy me, or at least upset me. This is a trend for me in CoHo novels, there’s always that one thing that throws me off course, but it’s usually done in such a way that it’s real, and therefore I deal with it, and it’s never enough to put me off the book completely, at all.

Quotables:

“Fuck all the firsts, Sky. The only thing that matters to me with you are the forevers.”

“Not everyone gets a happily ever after. Life is real and sometimes it’s ugly and you just have to learn how to cope.”

“I need a chapter break.”

The Rating

4/5

This book is longer than the typical contemporary read, but by the end of it I wanted to know more. I wanted more of an insight into Sky and Holder’s relationship post-revelation, and I wanted to spend more time in this world!

Luckily, Brandie was amazingly wonderful enough to send me Losing Hope too, and the review for it will be up tomorrow!

Have you read Hopeless? Are you CoHo obsessed like I am? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!