Friday, September 26, 2014

Book review: Hopeless

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Description from Goodreads (below) can be found here along with other reviews. Add me on Goodreads!

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.

I hadn’t heard anything about Hopeless when I picked it up -- I saw a tweet that it was free for Kindle and downloaded it for my trip to the Pacific Northwest. Hopeless falls into a new category of fiction you may have heard about -- New Adult. This isn’t a technical definition, but from what I’ve heard/read, New Adult is like Young Adult’s big sister. The characters tend to be in their late teens or older, the themes are a little more mature, and the romance is a little steamier / more explicit.

I enjoyed Hopeless. Sky’s relationship with Holder was -- not going to lie -- a little creepy at first, in the kind of way that if she was my friend in real life, I think I’d be worried for her safety. But if you can ignore that, their relationship had my stomach jumping. The ramped-up romance is definitely more than you’d see in a YA book, but definitely less than you’d see in 50 Shades of Grey (I assume).

I’m not going to lie, Hopeless is a little cheesy. But the plot is twisty and surprising, the characters are fun, and it’s a quick read.

I gave Hopeless three stars, but it’s probably more like a two and a half. It got me through my flight -- I’d recommend it for a four hour flight for sure, but maybe not if you’re in the mood to, you know, actually think about things.

Have any of you read Hopeless -- or any New Adult fiction? What did you think?


1 comment:

Kate said...

I hadn't heard about "New Adult" until recently. I have so many mixed feelings!

I'm hoping that it means Young Adult will become less... graphic? I mean, generally YA isn't toooooo bad, but I do think some authors take it a little too far. It's hard for me to put certain books on the shelf just because I'm too afraid of parents boycotting.

But at the same time, I feel New Adult is a little weird. I think it's a true sign of the times. Our generation doesn't want to "grow up". We move out from our parents later. We start careers later. We marry later. We have children later. So we create a new genre of books called New Adult because we're not quite old enough for "Adult Fiction"?
I get the idea. Just seems typical of us mid- to late- 20 year olds. :P

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