When Jade Eby Isn't Writing...

Originally posted at my blog Chasing Empty Pavements

Oh my word. I'd been seeing this book on EVERYONE'S list. It was endorsed by my mentor Tracey Garvis-Graves and the cover was done by Sarah at Okay Creations which happens to be my cover artist as well. So needless to say, I absolutely HAD to get this novel. Let me tell you. It was a I'm-going-to-stay-up-until-I-finish-this-damn-thing kind of book. I could. not. stop. reading. Colleen Hoover has the art of addictive writing down to a science and I couldn't believe how quickly I tore through this book.

I just want to be honest for a minute.... though I often employ my English Major analysis skills when I read novels, and though I've been reading/reviewing books for a very long time...there is one thing that I believe is most important above every single thing when it comes to reading. And that is how it makes you feel. This goes all the way back to the books we started reading when we were younger. For example, I love the Goosebumps series. Going back and re-reading it though, for today's youth--I believe it isn't the best written series around. There are far better novels out there for that particular age group, but you know what? I remember vividly how it made me feel. I don't remember thinking the sentence structure was poor or that the characters sucked. No, I remember the way it felt while I was reading it and afterwards. The point of my rambling is that this book made me feel SO many things. It made me happy, sad, lustful and heartbroken. It made me laugh out loud, it made me want to rip my husbands clothes off. I don't care what anyone says about the writing, characters, etc, this book made me feel more alive than a lot of books have lately. And to me, that's really the only that should matter. I only hope my novels make someone feel half as alive as Colleen Hoover made me feel.

So, on with the good. First, I LOVE the characters. Even when they irritated me or I wanted to yell at them, I loved them. I adored their names. I know that some people were all "ah, what stupid names, blahity blah." Dude. It's fiction!!!! That's the beauty of fiction. You can pick any goddamn name you want! Sorry, I just think that's a really invalid complaint but anyways, I love the names anyway. They are different and totally represent the characters. I thought the friendship between Six and Sky was fabulous, but more importantly, it felt like a friendship that's familiar to me. That's one of the things I've loved most about this novel is the relatability factor. I actually wish we would have gotten more from Six and Sky but I can settle for what was given. One of the strengths of this novel is the steamy relationship between Sky and Holder. Holy shit ya'all. I literally had to put the book down at certain points because the steamiest got too...well you know...steamy. I really like that Colleen didn't stray away from the steamy, dirty, gritty, messy parts of life. I love the sex, the cussing, the dark and depressing parts. I love it. Because it feels REAL. I also loved the "big reveal" or "big twist" when everything comes together. I have to say that while it's not necessarily fun to read about issues like Sky faces in the novel, but for some of us who have a very real, very personal experirence with the same thing...it's hard to describe how it feels to read about a character that understands or goes through the same stuff. I've never been able to explain why I sometimes felt numb when it came to boys but this book just makes it so. easy. to. understand. Honestly, I just really loved this book. It played out like a movie, a hauntingly, beautiful story.

I have to be honest when I say that my loving relationship with Hopeless didn't start immediately. I had some major issues with the first couple chapters. I felt that the writing wasn't that strong and I had section highlighted where I felt like another round of beta-readers or editor would have caught the problems and made it stronger. I felt the writing got much stronger as the book progressed. I'm not saying this to discount the book or Colleen Hoover's writing but this not the type of book you read to get a deep, intellectual, thinking read. But that's not really what it's being marketed as, so you should know that going in. There's A LOT of sex. Too much? Maybe. I can see where it would be too much for some people but I, personally enjoyed that aspect of the novel.


Overall, I enjoyed this book and it was an incredibly addictive and fast read. I think it's definitely worth your time if you want a book that makes you FEEL something. Probably not for the younger crowd due to language and sex.