Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and it features books that we are eagerly awaiting to be released.

Synopsis

Best friends since they could walk. In love since the age of fourteen. Complete strangers since this morning.

He'll do anything to remember. She'll do anything to forget.

*** *** ***

Why am I waiting for this? - The blurb is rather short but quite intriguing. I haven' t the latest books by Colleen Hoover but I did enjoy her of her earlier stories (Slammed) and Tarryn Fisher is a new to me author but I keep hearing great things about her. So, two popular authors collaborate, a mysterious blurb, how can I pass that up?

Title: Finding Cinderella (Hopeless #2.5)

Author: Colleen Hoover
Date of publication: 14 October 2013
Genre: Young Adult / New Adult / Romance

Author's links: Website / Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 2.5 stars








This is a spin-off novel of the Hopeless series and it is available for free on the major bookseller sites. It tells the story of Holder's friend Daniel and Sky's friend Six.

I think the presence of Daniel was one of the good things in Losing Hope which I found overall disappointing (my review). We met Six in the first book of the series, Hopeless, and I can't say I was much of a fan of hers.

Daniel provided a very much needed comic relief from all the tragedy and drama in Losing Hope. I liked his quirky sense of humor and his loyalty to Holder at his worst moments. I was naturally curious to read more about him, even though it was pretty obvious who his Cinderella was back when he first told this story. 

I liked the easy flirting between Daniel and Six, it was fun and felt natural. Their relationship happened way too fast and it had the feel of some cosmic I-can't-breathe-without-you kind of love, still I enjoyed it a lot. It was over the top but cute and heart-warming in a way. 

Daniel was still the same funny, care-free guy from Losing Hope and I still liked him a lot. Six was completely different, though. Something happened to her in Italy that took her from the girl who didn't do relationships and boyfriends to someone who was ashamed of her previous frivolous behaviour and was trying to hard to make amends for it. 

I was enjoying the story up until a plot twist was thrown in about 80%. I didn't see it coming and it totally ruined the book for me. It is a big spoiler so I am not divulging it here but you don't mind spoilers, you can read my review on Goodreads where I will include it in spoiler tags. 

It is a very serious issue and it didn't fit with the light, casual tone of the story. It changed the whole situation for the main characters and I felt its importance was played down. On a personal level I am not comfortable at all with the way the whole issue was resolved. 

What was a sweet, albeit a bit sappy story of high-school love turned into a mess of mixed messages. An important issue was introduced in the story but it was poorly treated and just swept under the rug en route the the Happily Ever After for the Daniel and Six.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by the publisher via NetGalley.

Goodreads Blurb

Still haunted by the little girl he let walk away, Holder has spent his entire life searching for her in an attempt to finally rid himself of the crushing guilt he has felt for years. But he could not have anticipated that the moment they reconnect, even greater remorse would overwhelm him…

My Review

I read and liked Colleen Hoover's Hopeless, so I was excited about reading Losing Hope which tells the same story from Dean Holder's POV. It was an OK read for me, but I was disappointed since I expected much more of it.

The emotions, the drama, the tragedy we know from Hopeless (and some more) were all there but they were already familiar and lack the excitement of unravelling of a new story.

The novel starts with events preceding the meeting of Holder and Sky, including Les's suicide. All this was new and interesting, giving a useful background the Holder's character.

I liked Holder in Hopeless but here his friend Daniel stole the spotlight. He was funny and entertaining and I really enjoyed his presence in Holder's life. He provided a much needed comic relief in contrast to the gloomy and depressing tone of Holden's musings.

I didn't not like very much the idea with the letters Holder wrote to Les. I am not really fond of the letters being used as a literary device for plot development. In this particular case Ms Hoover used the letters to present Holder's feelings which created a distance between the character and the reader and made it difficult for me to fully connect with him. The letters were also used for the introduction of major plot developments thus giving them the same weakness - lack of connection and a feeling that these events were not genuine to the plot but somehow they were superimposed on it. 

It is Holder's book, but still I think Sky/Hope should have been more prominently placed in it. She had such a strong presence in Hopeless and was an intriguing heroine to follow, but here I felt like she was missing from the story completely. 

Although the book does have a sweet happy ending, it felt too sugary sweet to be real. It was like both Holder and Hope recovered from their past overnight and everything suddenly felt into place. I am also not happy with the things shared in Les's suicide letter and the way her family handled the whole situation. It just didn't seem right to me and came in conflict with some personal beliefs of mine. 

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I expected initially and now having read it and also having read This Girl, I can definitely say that I am not a fan of separate books telling the same story from different POV. Even though I did like This Girl (see my review) more than Losing Hope, I still feel it is better to have single book with dual/multiple POV.

I have decided to participate in a weekly bookish meme, called Teaser Tuesday. It is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. I learned about it from my friend Nix at Unraveling Words. Here are the rules: 

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

I have modified them slightly for my Teasers. It will not be two sentences from a random page but two sentences from the pages I have read so far that have struck me as most interesting, original or that I just happen to like a lot.

My teaser this week comes from This Girl by Colleen Hoover. This is the third and final book in the Slammed series (Slammed and Point of Retreat). This series tells a beautiful YA/NA story about love and suffering, growing up and taking responsibility. This Girl offers the story of Will and Lake we already know from book 1 and 2 from Will's POV.

"I walk away, fully aware of the fact that the forehead kiss was probably crossing the line, However, the fact that she slept in my bed last night has already muddled the waters. The line isn't so black and white anymore. I'm pretty sure gray just became my new favorite color."

This Girl by Colleen Hoover


You can also check my review of This Girl on the blog.

This Girl is the third and final book of the Slammed series by Colleen Hoover. I read the first two books, Slammed and Point of Retreat and enjoyed them, so it was natural to go for the grand finale of the series. I have not written reviews of Slammed and Point of Retreat, but I rated them with 3 stars on Goodreads even though I liked the first one a little bit more. 

This Girl tells the story of Will and Lake which we already know, but this time we see how things happened  from Will's POV. I was a bit worried how it would feel to read an already familiar story but ultimately I have to say I enjoyed it as much as the other two books. Still, I find it rarely justified to repeat things we already know. Ms Hoover, however, managed to pull it off by adding the whole now (honeymoon) aspect with new events and emotions.

The whole story is tightly condensed in honeymoon weekend where Will tells Lake his version of their story. I find it believable that he has not shared all his thoughts and emotions, despite the fact that they have been together for two years now. Yet, at times it seemed over the top and could not really see how they never discussed some of the issues before. 

This book is all about Will. I really liked his voice. He was the same sweet and loving guy we already know, desperately trying to do the right thing in a very though situation. At times he sounded really mature (I guess, life forced him to be this way), at other times, he was just like any other 21 year-old boy in love with a girl.

I also enjoyed the slam poetry which was strongly present in this book, in very much the same way as it was in Slammed (it is one of the things I liked best about it). It is a big part of Will's life and its presence felt natural and convincing. It was through slam poems that both Will and Lake expressed themselves best and I really liked how strong and emotional these poems were.

What I liked most in this book was the happy end which Ms Hoover gave to Will and Lake after all the loss and suffering they had to endure. The epilogue was heart-warming and it completed the story in the best possible way - with a slam poem. 

My main concern with this book remains the familiarity of the story. Reading This Girl felt like reliving the ups and downs of the characters all over again - it was bitter sweet. Still, I missed the excitement of not knowing what will happen next. 

Having said that, I would highly recommend this book to any one who has already started the series. It is  a beautiful completion of a heart-warming love story. For those who still haven't started the Slammed series, go, check it out and share what you think of it. 

And before I go I just want to mention the next series of Ms Hoover - Hopeless. I already read it and really liked it. The second one, Losing Hope (again the guy's POV, though it is not really the same story) is coming out on 9 July 2013. 

Author's links: Website / Facebook / Goodreads

I was provided with an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley. 

There is just one new release for me this week, but it is one that I am really looking forward to. It is Colleen Hoover's This Girl. This is the story of Will and Lake which we read in Slammed (I totally loved this one) but this time it is told from Will's point of view. It will be the first time for me to read the same story in a separate book told from the other person's POV. I have some concerns that being familiar might make it repetitive and boring but we will have to wait and see how it will go.

Just a quick note on the cover. I don't know what it is about it but I really don't like it. It seems too bright, colourful, overall not a good fit for the story. I loved the cover of Slammed and expected something more sophisticated.

30 April

This Girl      (Slammed 3)

Colleen Hoover

Young Adult Romance