Colleen Hoover

Confess: 

"There are people you meet that you get to know, and then there are people you meet that you already know". 

Author: Colleen Hoover

Release date: 2015

Edition: Atria Books

Genre: Novel

Number of pages:  320

Synopsis: 

"Auburn Reed is determined to rebuild her shattered life and she has no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn't expect to become deeply attracted to the studio's enigmatic artist, Owen Gentry. For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way tp get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it-but can she do it?"

My opinion: 

This book perfectly mixes romanticism with art. The story is so gripping. Unlike Colleen's other books, Confess tells a totally different story, one that captivate the reader. 

What I like most about this book are the characters. Owen is a free, creative, adventurous and sensitive man. He is an artist not only in the professional way but also in his life. He interprets the world in his own way and does not follow any convention. He is unique and a true being. 

Auburn is a reserved, shy girl who keeps everything to herself. She has difficulty expressing herself due to events in her past. However, she is a woman that respects herself, she knows what she wants or does not want in her life. she is strong of character and carries the weight of her life on her shoulders without asking for help from anyone. 

The relationship between Auburn and Owen is special. They found themselves without looking for each other. They found themselves at a time when both were not well and needed something else in their lives. That something else was love, an unintentional love, a love stronger than the trials of life and a love that began with art. 

What I really like about Colleen's books is the fact that the first chapter brings the reader a series of questions that will not be answered until the end of the book. Which puts the reader in suspense. The plot of this book is unusual and the fact that is related to art brings a touch of sensibility to the book. Because art is the mirror of the soul and paintings reflect our feelings. 

What I like the most about this book is Owen's profession. The fact that he is not only a painter to show his talent to others and reveal a part of himself but also to encourage others to participate in his art. Indeed, he exhibits his paintings without giving them a title. He therefore suggests that spectators choose the title of the painting themselves. Art is in this book an exchange between the painter and others. An exchange of perceptions of the world, an exchange of different feelings. Art becomes a means for everyone to express themselves through the art of others. 

FUN FACTS: 

• Confess won Goodreads choice award for best romance in 2015. 

• In this book, we can see different paintings made by Owen alongside the confessions that inspired them. But, they are illustrations of real paintings based on real anonymous confessions sent in by readers. 

Hopeless: 

“The sky is always beautiful.Even when it's dark or rainy or cloudy,it's still beautiful to look at....it'll be there no matter what...and I know it'll always be beautiful.” 

Author:  Colleen Hoover

Genre: Novel 

Release date : 2012

Edition: Atria Books

Number of pages:  410

Synopsis:  "Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies... That's what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes afters 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 ha 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." 

My opinion:

I discovered this book thanks to a recommendation from a friend of mine. I do not regret having read it at all. It is a very touching book despite the summary which does not reveal the heavy past of Sky. 

What I liked most about this book is the way the story is written. Indeed, each time we read a chapter on the present, it is followed by a chapter on the past, which gives an effect of suspense. 

I really liked the story between Sky and Holder. It is not at all a cliche love story, on the contrary, it's a story that we discover little by little. It's up to the reader to discover Holder's past and the fact that Sky has the impression to know him. It is a very original plot given that the reader immerses himself completely in the mysterious life of Sky. 

What I really liked in this book are the characters. Sky, is a lonely, reserved, intelligent and gentle girl. Holder, in the other hand is a sweet, handsome, funny, sarcastic, fearless and courageous boy.

This two characters complete each other perfectly. Sky needs the comfort of Holder in her life and the security that he can provide her and he needs her in order to survive because of the heavy events that have taken place in his life. 

Finally, this book is one of my favorite from Colleen. For me, it opens a door to other perspectives that I have never read elsewhere. The events from Sky's past described in this book are very realistic events that can happen to anyone. These are events that the books do not often repeat because they are hard to describe. 

FUN FACTS:

• In 2013, Hopeless was the first self-published novel to reach the first place in the New York Times for several weeks. 

• Hopeless was in the top 20 of the books most read on ebooks. 

It Ends with Us

 This article was written by my friend, Yasmina Fakhry, who is a fan of Colleen Hoover books. 

“Just because we didn’t end up in the same wave, doesn’t mean we aren’t part of the same ocean”

Author: Colleen Hoover
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release date: 2016
Edition: Atria Books
Number of pages: 385

Synopsis: “Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up
— she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So, when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.”

My opinion: 

There is no denying it, Colleen hoover is a great author. If I were to describe my relationship with her books, I'd say you either fall in love with her stories or you don’t. I've read 6 of her books and this one is by far my favourite. And if I’m being honest, I could say this is one of my top 3 favourite contemporary romance novel and I’ve read a lot of them 

I found this book in my bookshelf a long my collection of Colleen Hoover books the day after New Year’s Eve 2020. I hadn’t really been reading that many romance novels then, so I thought why not. 

We are guided through the story by Lily bloom's point of Vue. Lily is a business major graduate who just moved in Boston. Because everything is "Better in Boston".

For half the book though we also get to discover her past through a journal she used to keep writing to Ellen DeGeneres. 

For once I say that being inside the heroine's head felt great. Lily is smart companionate and ambitious. 

Ryle  is the perfect man. Lily met him on her first night in Boston, on the rooftop of a high building. He’s perfect for her, or so it seems. A successful surgeon, smart, and funny. But I just could bring myself to like him. 

Atlas. In the Greece mythology, Atlas was mythical Titan who bore the weight of the world on his shoulders. We are introduced to Atlas in the journal that Lily kept writing to Ellen. Atlas is a representation of most teenagers, victim of an unfair system. Left by his mother l, unknown father, Atlas is alone struggling. Until he and Lily found each other. 

I can say without hesitation that my favourite parts in this book were the flashback. The chapters are just heart-warming and at times revolting. Atlas found a way to my heart and is my favourite character in this book.  

The books offer us a powerful love story and the power of true love. Yet it is not immature and cliché. This book is not a fairy tale. It brings out serious topics like homelessness and domestic abuse and it really delivers a powerful message.

The book left me questioning twice: What would I have done if I were lily. 

Don’t worry no spoilers;

-     If I was in her position when I figured Atlas’s situation and given the circumstances of her strict parents, would I have done the same?

-       Given the circumstances and advanced stage of Lily and Ryle’s relationship would I have had the force to do what Lily did? 

I read the book in one day. I just couldn’t put it down. This is the kind of book that stays with you long after you’re done with it. I felt like rereading it again. And I never ever reread a book. 

FUN FACTS:

• "It ends with us" won the Goodreads Choice Awards best romance 2016

Ugly Love

 This article was also written by my friend Yasmina Fakhry. 

 “God gives us the ugliness in life, so we don’t take the beautiful things in life for granted”

Author:  Colleen Hoover
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Edition: Atria Books
Release date: 2014
Number of pages: 337

Synopsis:

“When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.”

My opinion:

I read this book in 2017, it had been proposed to me by a friend. It was my second book by Colleen Hoover. 

The story is told thorough Tate’s point of Vue.

Tate is an ambitious nurse, who just moved in her brother's apartment building, in the hope of finding new opportunities. On the night she set foot inside this new life, while opening the door and finally trying to get her stuff inside the apartment, she is faced with an unexpected obstacle. 

 That’s when she meets Miles. Although it’s not what it seems. 

Miles, Tate's brother's best friend. The best pilot in his airline, dedicated for his work only. He is pictured cold and unemotional. Although the first scene instantly gave him away. No unemotional person goes though that much pain. He’s just great at hiding it. The first scene really gives us a powerful intel of how hard and bad he's got it. He's a person in a lot of emotional pain, blame and regrets. He represents what the weight of grief and self-blame can do to a person. How it can both destroy them and bring them down. 

The more we go into the story the more we get to learn who Miles used to be and how much he changed. His past is such a mystery and a rather tortured one you just can’t wait to discover and share it with him, try and understand him in ways Tate craved to. 

Understand why he's acting the way he is.

Why is his past such a dark place?

Why are emotions set aside for him? 

 But then we get to learn his story and we get to understand what happened. 

And it suddenly all makes sense. 

Everything falls into place. 

We finally understand why Miles is who he is. 

Tate and Miles attraction to one another is both physical and emotional despite Miles best effort to make her despise him. He was kind and caring to Tate. He might have hurt her at times, but it was all in a quest of self-punishment which is why he tried to get her to stay away from him. He knew he couldn't make her happy, at least not before trying and make peace with what happened. 

 But Tate finally breaks through his armour and helps him in his search for redemption. 

In the end, the connection he established with Tate overtook all of this and he finally allowed himself a glimpse of happiness and what his life could be like with the women he has now fallen in love. 

 Once again, Colleen Hoover delivers us a powerful and addictive love story. A real page turner. 

 FUN FACTS: 

•  "Ugly love" was nominated for Goodreads Choice Awards best romance 2014