Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - November 9

Fallon and Ben meet for the first time when they’re 18. She's been a promising actress until a fire ruined her appearance 2 years ago. He's an aspiring writer. The day after their meeting Fallon will move from LA to New York in an attempt to make it to Broadway. They spend the whole day together and Ben gets inspiration to write a book about them. They decide to meet at the same date every year for 5 years - November 9.

Colleen Hoover really is a master when it comes to writing emotional books! The characters are well thought out and easy to relate to, regardless of their background and personality. Fallon has visible burns and scars from the fire, something she always thinks about, and it has made her lose her self-confidence. Ben sees the person behind the scars and he's doing everything he can to build her confidence up again. Emotional roller coaster guaranteed if you have a heart - just like in "Ugly Love"!

Content Warnings

pikaellie's review

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I read this book about a month ago, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about it. Holy heck this book was not great. I like CoHo's writing style, for the most part, and that's the only reason that I would say that this book was alright. The romance in this story was gross. The ending was disappointing. I wish that more people would reread the first intimate scene between Ben and Fallon and realize that it was not okay. The entire relationship between these two was not okay. If I had read this book when I was eighteen, or worse, younger, I might have thought that the relationship between Ben and Fallon was okay and not... toxic. It is not a good model for a healthy relationship. Let me go over why:

1. Lies. SO MANY LIES. Ben did not Fallon ANYTHING that she should have known. She had to find out for herself the truth about his past, and in my opinion, she should have left him right then and there.
2.

Spoiler

"He lied to me. He was the reason I was insecure about my body. He was the reason I couldn't act anymore. He was the reason that I suffered. But, he did tell me I was beautiful. He told me I shouldn't be insecure! Now I feel great. He's now the reason that I feel confident. I also don't blame him for what he did to me because he didn't mean to!! He was suffering too!! His suffering MUST come before my own so I'll forgive him, marry him" absolutely disgusting. My friend, who hadn't read the book, pointed out that one description of the book says that it ends in heartache. And I responded with, "it should have."

3. The sex scenes. YIKES. Ben crosses Fallon's boundaries many times, and it's awful. That is not what a healthy relationship looks like.

Spoiler

He cheated on her, forced her to undress when she clearly isn't comfortable, makes her wear what he thinks will look pretty on her, forced her to reconcile with him because he didn't want to be the woman he CHEATED ON HER WITH, practically assaulted her in the nightclub because he claimed that she wanted him, no. No. No. That's not okay. If a man or woman does this, it's NOT OKAY. You cannot convince me that Ben was a good partner, and not a creep. FUCK that.

4. If you need a more detailed explanation, check out this reddit review. It spoils the book, but explains exactly why it sucked. https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/vjalms/why_november_9th_by_colleen_hoover_is_one_of_the/

I need someone to give me a legitimate reason to enjoy this book again, because I can't see it. The writing is fine, but the story was awful. Ben's "redemption" was awful.

Spoiler

If I had known why his brother punched him during year 2, I would have fucking cheered him on.

Content Warnings