Hopeless by Colleen Hoover - Review

Title: Hopeless

Author: Colleen Hoover

Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone

Pages: 391 (ebook)

Publisher: self published

Date Published: December 19th 2012

Genres: New Adult, Romance, Abuse, Drama (and lots of it), Contemporary

(Description of book from Goodreads.com)

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.

Part 1 of My Thoughts (Spoiler Free)

I've debated for quite a while on how to rate this book. Hopeless was not a bad book per se and kept me entertained for a while, but I guess a few things rubbed me the wrong way.

Like many others, I got something that I wasn't expecting. I started reading this book with the idea that this was a some what light-hearted romance. Which is true, but there's also a mystery embedded within the plot. 

The book would have been great but I felt that the plot was overly dramatic and a few things weren't necessary. I'm pretty sure it was the overly dramatic plot that kind of made me not like the book.

I've read Colleen Hoover's Slammed Series and I'm not really a fan of those either for the same reason: the overly dramatic plot. However, the plots in Slammed and Point of Retreat were no where near as dramatic as the plot in Hopeless and the plots in the Slammed series were a bit more believable.

I wasn't crazy about any of the characters and didn't particularly enjoy reading about them. Sky was a rather ordinary teenager and Holder was totally whipped by Sky. 

On a separate note, I'm surprised by how little Sky and Holder have to school wise. I get that Sky doesn't have access to the internet or TV, so she probably has time to do her homework and such after school. However, she (and Holder) seem to have a lot of time on their hands to kill and leave town for a couple of days. They're seniors and don't seem to get much homework. My school's semestered, I get 4 classes a day, and I do homework from the time I get home to late in the night. Not to mention, if I decided to skip town for a few days, it would take forever to completely catch up. I don't know, maybe I'm being weird and picky (probably), but I always notice how teenagers in books never seem to have any homework to do (especially compared to my own life). Sky and Holder are seniors (correct me if I'm wrong) and I remember being 16, in my junior year of high school, and staying up late until midnight - 2 in the morning to finish assignments and homework (and I didn't goof off either!).

Anyways, I think I've spent long enough being crazy and talking about that.

Part 2 of My Thoughts (With Spoilers)

It turns out that Sky Davis was abducted as a kid and her real name isn't even Sky. When I got to that point in the book, I thought, "Wow, what a great plot twist. Definitely did not see that coming." Then, there was another twist and it turns out that Sky was abducted by her aunt because Sky was molested by her father when she was younger. So I thought, "Okay, seems like something like that could happen...and that explains why she was abducted." Then Sky and Holder decide to skip town and that leds her to confronting her father. The really dramatic part happens when Sky`s father commits suicide. I mean, was it really not enough that she was abducted as a kid and was molested?

My Rating: 2.5/5

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin - Review

                       

 

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Series or Stand Alone: Series

Next Book: The Evolution of Mara Dyer

Pages: 452

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Date Published: September 27th 2011 

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Suspense, Paranormal, Romance, Contemporary





 

 

 

 

Mara Dyer survives the collapse of a building that kills her bestfriend, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's sister. Since the accident, Mara was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and starts to experience visual hallucinations and nightmares. To help get past the whole ordeal, Mara suggests to her parents to move. Thinking that it'll help, her parents agree and move from Laurelton, Rhode Island to Miami, Florida. There, Mara starts school at Croyden, a private school, where she meets Noah Shaw. Strange things start to happen around Mara and death seems to have followed her to Miami. Since the accident, Mara no longer trusts her mind and questions her sanity.

 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer has a very unique storyline and plot that makes it stand out among the other young adult paranormal books. It's is a hard book to describe and review without spoiling to much.

 

The book has paranormal elements to it without the use of vampires, zombies, werewolves, fairies, or anything like that. Without giving too much away, I will say that Mara acquires a mysterious ability and she tries to figure out the extent of it with Noah's help.

 

This book was a real page turner and I found myself staying up late to finish it because, I really wanted to know how things tied together. Though I wouldn't say this book is action packed, many striking events happen throughout the course of the book that make you want to read on. As well, small pieces of information about the night of the collapse and what's happening to Mara are slowly revealed as you read. As I was reading, I was trying to connect the dots and formulate theories on what the hell was going on and how the book was going to end.

 

The book is told from Mara's perspective and what's interesting is, Mara is an unreliable narrator and you can't always trust whether what she just experienced actually happened, or if it was a hallucination. Being diagnosed with PTSD, Mara expects to have hallucinations and often questions her own experiences and what she thinks she sees. Reading the story through Mara's point of view will have you thinking, “Did that really happen?”, “Did she just imagine it?” and “Was it just a dream?” throughout the book.

 

Though a bit mentally unstable, Mara is witty and sarcastic and I instantly liked her for her sense of humour. Mara is a very relatable protagonist who's just trying to put her life back together after a tragedy. Though she's not entirely sure how to take control of her life, she's no Mary-Sue and can stand her ground when need be.

 

Bad Boy. British. Accent. Tall. Protective. Witty. Handsome. Sexy. Who am I talking about? None other than, Noah Shaw. His physical description is nothing I haven't seen before in YA literature, but Noah stands out among all the cookie cutter clones. If you're like me, when you first read about Noah, you'll probably roll your eyes a few times. I HATE comparing things to Twilight and all things related to it, but that's what I mentally did – and I mentally slapped myself for it. After his initial introduction, we gradually learn that Noah was adopted, he plays the guitar and composes, and he's rich. A certain character from Twilight came to mind, but that quickly went away as the story progressed.

 

Like Mara, he is also witty and has a sense of humor and I loved the romance between them. Between them, Noah and Mara have perfected the art of banter. Many scenes between Mara and Noah were very sweet and he was there for her when she had few or no one she could turn to.

 

I was a tad let down when I found out what was going on with Mara. Not that I was disappointed, but I think I mentally built myself up for a bigger (more complex?) answer/reason to everything that was going on. No biggie though, the story was still enjoyable after the revelation.

Mara Dyer is an interesting and enjoyable read that will appeal to many people as it has a little bit of everything – mystery, suspense, humor, and a great romance. Mara Dyer ends with a cliffhanger and you'll probably want to pick up the next book right away.

 

My Rating: 4/5

 

 

“Did I just see you litter?'

'I'm driving a hybrid. It cancels out.”

 

 



“Is there any point asking what you're going to make me do on Sunday?"
"Not really."
Okay. "Is there any point asking what you're going to do to me?"
He grinned wickedly. "Not really."
Fabulous. "Does it involve the use of a safe word?"
"That will depend entirely on you." Noah moved impossibly closer, just inches away.

 



 

 

A Hello From Canada

Hi. So, in all honesty, you're probably not wondering who I am. But, I'm going to say a few things about myself anyways. If you're bored, maybe reading this will kill a few minutes of your time. And who knows, maybe I'll be able to entertain you.

So, what is the purpose of this blog, you may wonder. Well, as soon as I have time, I will slowly, but surely, start to transform this blog into a book blog. I've always liked reading and I think I'm creating this blog more for myself than anyone else. I read so frequently that, I find that I often forget what happens in a certain book after a few months. This blog will act like a log of all my reads throughout the years. And hopefully, if I ever want to remember what happens in a book without rereading it, maybe reading my post about it will refresh my mind. However, I'm also hoping that this blog will allow me to share my thoughts on certain books that I've read.

So, about me. What better way to get to know me than 11 random facts about me?

1. I was born and raised in Canada.

2. I grew up addicted to anime and manga. I eventually grew out of it, but I still enjoy it from time to time. I loved Naruto, Vampire Knight, and Death Note.

3. Growing up, I was convinced that the world of Pokemon would come to life one day. I really wanted to become a Pokemon trainer.

4. I've wanted to be a pharmacist since grade 4 (you can tell I'm Canadian because I said grade 4 instead of "fourth grade"). I can't really remember why I wanted to be a pharmacist, but I don't anymore.

5. My favourite food is sushi.

6. Reality TV is my guilty pleasure.

7. Friends is my all time favourite TV show.

8. I love cheesecake.

9. I secretly like to watch romantic comedies (though I'll never admit it in real life)

10. I've never cried during a movie, TV show, or while reading a book. Don't get me wrong, I do get sad sometimes while watching or reading something, but I can never actually cry.
11. I never learned how to properly use a comma. When I was learning about punctuation, my teacher told the class that you use commas whenever you want your reader to take a break. So, my work always has a lot of commas in it (because I'm generous. jk).

Well, Ciao for now.

Until next time,

Sally.