Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Ugly Love

Let me just say that just like every other CoHo Book, this one also made me cry a little bit. At first I didn't know if I would have to cry bc honestly, the plot was very predictable and for most of the time I didn't feel like I could really connect with the characters bc of that. Of course, the last chapters got to me, even if they were some of the sappiest, cheesiest ones i've ever read - and don't get me wrong, I am a sucker for dramatic lines, but I physically cringed at some of them in this one. (And what was that one scene with the balls about?!? Why, Colleen, why???)

I actually liked the main characters, even though they were annoying af inbetween bc they were so aware of the struggles/problems but just didn't do anything about it. Some things just didn't feel thought-through, for example that Tate is supposed to be "so focused on her career that she doesn't have time for love". I think I can count the times her "career" was mentioned besides constantly saying she had a lot of homework and wore scrubs on one hand. I liked Miles' story, but MAN was he technically a walking red flag. To the point where I just could not fully support Tate anymore, like girl, please. We 👏🏻 are not 👏🏻 rehabs 👏🏻 for broken 👏🏻 men 👏🏻. (but also same girl). Like that man was fully gaslighting her and just bc he was also gaslighting himself doesn't make it okay lol.

Most of the side characters were nice, I wish we had seen more of Ian. But they all seemed quite one-dimensional and cliché (aka overprotective brother, wise father figure, funny sidekick friend,...) All in all the story and characters did not seem that fleshed out like I expected them to be, which took a lot of the emotional side of it away. So: made me feel something but with a better plot and developed characters it could've DEVASTED me.

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abbyreadsbigbooks123's review against another edition

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1.75

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laurelscout's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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sylverbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

chaitai00's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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emmamortjones_5's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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arys_library's review against another edition

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3.0

Not my favorite Colleen Hoover book but it was still decent. It was a fun read at first but as you think a little more the more you realize it wasn’t as great as you think. I just feel like the character traits and growth was inconsistent and that really messed with the plot. For example, (no spoilers don’t worry) Miles, one of the main characters used grief and panic as an excuse for many many things that shouldn’t have an excuse. Grief is very prominent in this book but other characters simply forgave and moved on. It was never addressed as how badly certain actions hurt others or how people and actions/things needed to change. And this book would have been liked more if that had changed. Other than that I like the two main characters relationship towards the end. But in the beginning again, their relationship felt uncomfortable. Like somehow manipulation or gaslighting was involved, even though it was never directly stated or somewhat brought up. Maybe it was just me that felt uncomfortable by parts of their relationship, but I didn’t like many parts of it which made my liking for the book go down. It wasn’t a horrible book, just don’t one of my favorites.

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