A review by stormessed
Without Merit by Colleen Hoover

previous rating: 4 stars

i generally don't ever go back to my previously read books and change the rating unless i'm rereading then, but i have recently been spending an awful lot of time thinking about colleen hoover. i was a fan from her very first book - i read everything she published on day 1, and i own first edition copies of everything she published until 2016 (!) i did turn 18 in 2016 and realize that nothing she'd put out after it ends with us had been something i enjoyed, so i essentially stopped reading her books

there is a ton of discourse and criticism going on around her nowadays, some of it unfair, most of it true and necessary, but i have no need to reread anything and figure out what 25 year old me thinks of her now. i'm happy to keep my memories of her books as i read them at 14

i will be removing the ratings just because i can no longer stand by them - i've forgotten almost everything about these books (except that confess and without merit were the reason is topped reading them) and i'm often caught off guard when someone tells me they saw i enjoyed the book and would like a review. i don't want to have to tell everybody the story of 16 year old me reading it ends with us and bawling my eyes out, or 14 year old me reading hopeless and feeling wholly understood, for the first time ever

i'm glad i fell out of love with her before everything went down, but i will not be supporting (through ratings or anything else) this author any further (not that anyone cares about me though)