Title: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Pages: 408

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult

Published by: Atria Books (May 7, 2013)

Summary

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

That’s what seventeen-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 all in the span of just one encounter, 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.

What I Thought

Hopeless is the second Colleen Hoover book that I’ve read.  The first one was Maybe Someday, and you can check out my review for that one here, and while it was good, I didn’t love it.  Because of that I was a bit more tentative going into this book.  There were parts I loved about Hopeless, and other parts that, quite frankly, I didn’t like at all.

Okay, I don’t want to be super negative, so I’ll get what I disliked out of the way first.  Honestly, I didn’t like Holder – especially in the beginning of the novel.  Keeping it spoiler free, he comes off as incredibly creepy and controlling.  In the beginning of Sky and Holder’s relationships, all sorts of red flags were going off in my head about him, and it bothered me how those issues were never truly addressed.  Holder was just written off as “passionate.” Umm…no thank you.  Call it whatever you want, but I’m going to tell you it was abusive.  I almost didn’t finish this book because of him.  His character does flip about halfway through the book, and he no longer comes across as abusive, but his behavior in the beginning of the book really turned me off of his character, and quite frankly, part of the story.

That being said, I’m glad I did stick around to read the end!  The rest of the characters are quite interesting.  I really did like Sky and her best friend.  I wish Six, her friend, had been in the story more.

Also, this book had so many plot twists and unexpectedness that I was fly through the pages after the halfway point.  My emotions were all over the place while reading it!

Just a head’s up though, this book is very intense!  There are a lot of heavy topics in this book, and honestly, it was almost too much for me to read at time.  Don’t go into this book expecting something romantic and fun.  No, the whole book isn’t heavy, but when it is, it really is.

Overall, this is another Colleen Hoover book that I liked, but didn’t love.  The ending of this book really redeemed the entire story for me, but I don’t like romance books where I don’t like the love interest, and I didn’t like Holder.  I wish I liked her books more, but I don’t think I’m on the Colleen Hoover train just yet.  I think if you’re a fan of romance novels, but are looking for more depth, and don’t mind some heavy themes, then Hopeless is definitely the book for you!

Follow me on:

Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Litsy (@thecalicobooks)

Buy from:

The Book Depository