Tag Archives: Colleen Hoover

Without Merit — Colleen Hoover

“With or without Merit?”

Author: Colleen Hoover
Narrated By: Candace Thaxton

Genre: Romance, Young Adult Fiction
Actual Rating: 2.5 stars
Spicy Meter: N/A, it’s clean (although lots of talk about spicy stuff)
Narration: 4 mikes
Content Warning: Describes a suicide attempt, depression, sexual assault, accidents, hypochondria, terminal illness, and very very toxic family relationships.

“Without Merit” follows the Voss family, a dysfunctional family living in a repurposed church out of spite, but it specifically follows Merit Voss, as she deals with being a teenager in love dealing with depression and a lowkey estranged twin. In this coming-of-age novel, you’ll get to live through adolescence over again—with its ups and downs and its indecisiveness and struggles.

I… kinda hated this book? It’s weird because I loved the audiobook narration and I love Colleen Hoover as a writer and I like YA clean romance novels once in a while—but this was something else entirely. I am part of a dysfunctional family and love reading about them as much as the next guy but, damn, was the Voss family above all that. There is dysfunctional and then there is that family, holy. It was all so weird it was distracting. This is as fiction as fiction can get. In no way could this family exist in real life, I swear.

Anyways, I would not recommend this book as your first or even fifth Colleen Hoover read, but if you’ve got nothing else to do and are looking for a filler novel then you could hypothetically grab “Without Merit”, I guess.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

“I used to feel like I was on the top of the world. Then one day, I noticed that it felt like I was no longer on the top of the world. I was just floating around inside of it. And then eventually, it felt like the world was on top of me.”

That’s what depression is.

Reminders of Him — Colleen Hoover

“Now that I’ve forgiven myself, the reminders of him only make me smile.”

Genre: Romance
Actual rating: 5+ stars
Content warnings: Car accident, death, grief, and suicidal thoughts.

“Reminders of Him” follows Kenna Rowan, a young mother who just spent 5 years in prison, as she looks to be reunited with her daughter. Kenna was separated from her daughter, Diem, as soon as she gave birth and she lost custody to Diem’s paternal grandparents. Then in comes Ledger Ward, a retired football player who was best friends with Diem’s father and who cares for Diem as if she were his own daughter. In an(other) emotionally charged romance, Colleen Hoover has once again torn our hearts and pulled them back together.

No review I could ever write will do this book justice. “Reminders of Him” is so so sad. I would dare to say sadder than most CoHo books. It was perfectly paced, which made it even more enjoyable. It was fast enough that you wouldn’t get bored but slow enough that the anticipation alone made the romance much better.

Then you have a bunch of likable but imperfect characters. Kenna and her grief and perseverance, Ledger and his guilt, the Landrys and their anger. There was so much character growth in this book—sometimes even in unexpected ways. Colleen knows just how to build up tension, and oh was this book tense.

I always say my favorite CoHo book is always the last one I’ve read, and this holds true for “Reminders of Him” one too. This book was all I didn’t know I needed.

I would recommend this book without a shadow of a doubt that the reader will be entranced by it. If you’re looking for a romance book that’ll make you swoon and cry and love and heal, then this book is for you.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

“It proves that time, distance, and devastation allow people enough opportunity to craft villains out of people they don’t even know. But Kenna was never a villain. She was a victim. We all were.”

Regretting You — Colleen Hoover

“Right after something tragic happens, you feel like you’ve fallen off a cliff. But after the tragedy starts to sink in, you realize you didn’t fall off a cliff. You’re on an eternal roller coaster that just reached the bottom. Now it’s gonna be up and down and upside down for a long, long time. Maybe even forever.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Content Warnings: Discusses racism and discrimination.

This is the first Colleen Hoover book I’ve reviewed on this blog, but this is not the first Colleen Hoover book I’ve read, far from it actually. Oh gosh, I don’t even know how to describe this book after finishing it. I am shattered, but let’s move on… “Regretting You” is written from two perspectives: Morgan’s and her 16-year-old daughter Clara’s points of view are explored after a big life-altering event (in the form of a car accident) changes their family dynamics forever. Filled with love, friendship, family, and heartache, this book will absolutely tear you apart and pull you back together in about 350 pages.

And even when I didn’t think Colleen Hoover could wreck me even more than she’s done in the past, she goes and does it again. I broke for Morgan. I cried for Clara. I hurt for Jonah. I fell for Miller. It was all too much.

I don’t even know how to recommend this book. Just read it. Please. Do yourself a favor and read it. This book is a romance, but it’s also so much more, it explores familial love and sickness and friendship and adoration. READ IT READ IT READ IT. Add it to your TBR. If you don’t trust me, trust its 4.23 stars rating on Goodreads (from more than 120,000 readers).

p.s. It’s settled now. I will never have a favorite Colleen Hoover book. My favorite Colleen Hoover book will always be the last Colleen Hoover book I’ve read.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.