Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Title: Slammed
Author: Colleen Hoover
Blurb:
Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope.
Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.
Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.

Links:
Slammed on Goodreads

Slammed on Amazon

Colleen Hoover's Website
 
 Kala's Review:

I read this book a week ago. I re-read it the same day. I have read about seven books since I read this one, but for some reason I still can't stop thinking about it.

Slammed isn't perfect. The prose isn't all beautiful and flowy and amazing. The trope of teacher/student is probably a little cliche at this point and overdone. The name of the main character is awkward and I didn't like it at all.

But the characters... they will grab hold of your heart and just won't let go. I fell in love with Will and Lake after their date. I fell in love with Lake's mom Julia when she acted like a real mother (something so rare in YA novels these days). I absolutely fell in love with Kel and Caulder, the younger brothers of Lake and Will who steal the show throughout the book.

And the poetry... I hate poetry. In most novels if there is poetry I just skip it over and ignore it. It seems a common thing these days to make heroines of YA novels all about poetry and classic novels. I was sure I would hate a book where the characters are so emotional about poetry. Instead, I found myself sucked in by it. For the first time I actually read the words and liked them.

The last chapter of this book, including the last two poems, just moved me. That's such a cheesy way to say it, but I'm not very eloquent and I can't think of a better way. Over the past week I've re-read the last chapter of this book every time I've felt a little down because there's no way to read that last chapter and not sit there with a huge grin on your face.

Just writing about this book as me wanting to go read it again. Which I think I will do as soon as I hit save on this review. READ IT!

5 of 5 stars.


Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13372690-slammed