Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Hopeless

Just...I don't have words

This actually was an incredibly difficult read. I didn't read any trigger warnings before going into this one, and OH BOY do I wish I had.

I don't know how Colleen Hoover writes what she does and if she's experienced some of the completely heartwrenching topics she takes on in her books, but she sincerely does an amazing job creating characters and writing these plots to help people relate to characters that feel REAL.

At this point, I'm just throwing around 5 star ratings like it's going out of style, and though this book was quite slow at times, which I don't often experience with a CoHo book I still really enjoyed it.

"He reacts the way he does because there’s only one side to Dean Holder.

Passionate.

He’s passionate about life, about love, about his words, about Les. And I’ll be damned if I wasn’t just added to his list. The intensity he conveys isn’t unnerving…it’s beautiful. I’ve gone so long trying to find ways to feel numb any chance I get, but seeing the enthusiasm behind his eyes right now…it makes me want to feel every single thing about life. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the pleasure, the pain. I want that. I want to start feeling life the same way he does. And my first step to doing so starts with this hopeless boy in front of me who’s pouring his heart out, searching for that perfect word, wanting desperately to help me add feeling back into living.

Back into living."

"He fills me with his honesty, his love for me, and for a moment…he fills me with a piece of our forevers. I grasp his shoulders and move with him, feeling everything. Every single beautiful thing"

"We wrap our arms around each other and we cry. We cry mother to daughter. We cry aunt to niece. We cry victim to victim. We cry survivor to survivor."

“You know sometimes when your daddy makes you cry?”

I nod my head and try not to cry just thinking about it. I don’t know how Dean knows that my daddy is always the reason why I’m crying, but he does.

“Will you promise me that when he makes you sad, you’ll think about the sky?”

I don’t know why he wants me to promise him that but I nod anyway. “But why?”

“Because.” He turns his face back up to the stars. “The sky is always beautiful. Even when it’s dark or rainy or cloudy, it’s still beautiful to look at. It’s my favorite thing because I know if I ever get lost or lonely or scared, I just have to look up and it’ll be there no matter what...and I know it’ll always be beautiful. It’s what you can think about when your daddy is making you sad, so you don’t have to think about him.”

Spoiler

Content Warnings

bookowl88's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

I know I’m In the minority here but I really had a hard time finishing this book. I really didn’t like it at all and I have read a lot of Colleen Hoover books so I’m sorry to say this is my least favorite.
First: It is excruciatingly slow. In the beginning we meet Sky, a homeschooled teenage girl who sneaks boys into her room at night to make out with them but doesn’t feel a thing.
Second: The male love interest is a secretive moody guy who randomly has rage attacks and treats Hope like crap and she never questions him. It’s maddening to watch a female character just go along with a guy she doesn’t know very well and completely not questions his moods or how he treats her in them.
Third: The dialogue is very childish sometimes and wayyy to cheesy to be believable.

Spoiler

Fourth: What this book really end up being about is childhood sexual trauma and the entire way it’s handled is very frustrating. Basically if you find yourself a moody, angsty hot teenage boy who will have sex with you the moment you find out something traumatic you will get through anything life throws you. You don’t need mental health counselors or professional help, just get a horny teenage boy and whoops there goes all that trauma.
I really love Colleen Hoover and I’m sad that I couldn’t like this one. But it really was just unbelievable and I just couldn’t like this book for the fourth reason alone.

Content Warnings

libraryofcacw's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

I liked it. everyone deserves a Dean Holder.

changed the rating from 4 stars to 3.5 because i hardly remember it

Content Warnings

amberlinanderson's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

WOW! Such an emotional experience. Once again, Hoovers ability to take horribly tragic events and turn them into such beautiful stories will never cease to amaze me.

Content Warnings

pompii's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Es la primera novela que leo de esta autora, y la verdad que no me ha decepcionado. No suelo leer mucho género romántico porque todos los libros me parecen casi iguales, pero este me ha sorprendido bastante. Le cogí cariño a ambos protagonistas y me gustó la forma en la que estaban conectados. Tal vez me esperaba algo más de acción y drama, pero tampoco está mal. Me ha gustado.

Content Warnings

shelbybowers20's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

More...