Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Title: Hopeless
Author: Colleen Hoover
Blurb:
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.
Links:
Hopeless on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:Colleen Hoover is so ridiculously talented. Slammed was, by far, one of the BEST books I read in 2012. The sequel wasn't as good, but still miles and miles ahead of almost everything else I read this year. As soon as I found out about Hopeless, I put it on my to-read list and bought and read it the day it came out.

SO GLAD I DID.

This book is amazing! I'll admit, I liked Slammed better, but only because Slammed was a little more innocent and fluffy compared to this. Hopeless tackles much bigger obstacles and Colleen Hoover handles them beautifully.

SOME MINOR SPOILERS BELOW

There is another book with a slightly similar premise - The Boy Who Sneaks in my Bedroom Window. When I got it, I was looking forward to reading a book about a girl dealing with the aftermath of childhood molestation. That author completely screwed it up. When I started reading Hopeless and realized that it was also about a girl dealing with the same issues, I was a little worried... but I shouldn't have been. It was handled so perfectly, and so realistically.

The main character of Hopeless, Sky, is a messed up 17 year old girl. She has been home schooled her entire life and her mother has finally agreed to let her go to a real high school for her senior year. Unfortunately, Sky's best friend, Six, has helped her get a reputation as a slut.

Sky has made out with several of the local boys, but she mostly does it to try and feel something. Unfortunately, she doesn't feel anything but numbness when she's with them. She spends the entire time staring at her ceiling, bored out of her mind.

Because of this, Sky is surprised to meet Holder, a guy who sparks something in her that is new and scary and exciting.

As Sky's relationship progresses, the secrets about her past begin to unfold and WOW. I wasn't expecting some of it! The molestation part isn't a big secret - that is pretty obvious from the first or second flashback. But the rest of it? Definitely wasn't expecting!

I absolutely fell in love with Sky and Holder. They're both flawed but likable, something so rare in YA/NA these days. I'm constantly hating the main characters of novels but in this case, I adored both of them.

Pretty sure Colleen Hoover was already on my auto-buy list, but if she wasn't she has definitely solidified her spot there now!
 
5 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/461069569

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

 

 

Title: Something Like Normal
Author: Trish Doller
Blurb:
When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero. 

Links:

Something Like Normal on Goodreads

Something Like Normal on Amazon

Trish Doller's website
 
 Kala's Review:

I read this book so fast! As soon as I started it I was completely hooked! I love that it has a very realistic male protag with a first person point of view. So often in YA when we do get a male protag, he ends up sounding nearly as cheesy and sappy as the females. Travis is completely different and I bought into him 100%.

Travis has just returned from a stint in Afghanistan and has suffered a traumatic loss over there. He's currently got PTSD, though he doesn't want to admit it. He also has changed a lot from who he was before the military to who he is now, and he has to deal with that while interacting with his old friends who haven't changed or moved on at all.

I thought his relationship with Harper was also really well done and realistic. They were not professing their undying love and claiming to not be able to live without each other forever and ever after their first date. Their relationship progressed naturally and I liked that.

While the romance is a big part of the book, overall this book seems to be about dealing with loss. I thought Trish Doller handled this so well. I recently read another book where the main character was supposed to be scarred and emotionally disturbed because of her past and it was handled so poorly. Doller knocks it out of the park here. Travis was tortured and real and so believable. I love how she handled his PTSD and the slow healing process he went through during the novel.

I also loved the end. I was worried when he had three years left of active duty that she would cop out and find some way for him to stay local and be with Harper, but she didn't and I love it. The book has a happy ending, but a real one. When I finished this book I was happy and satisfied and immediately went searching for more books by this author. I can't ask for much more than that!

5 out of 5 stars :)

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/406005794