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chelle22's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Outing, Violence, Car accident, Alcohol, Death of parent, Blood, and Child death
gabi_w21's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
This is my first CoHo book, and I am completely and ridiculously simultaneously bored, underwhelmed, and disgusted.
Tate was the dumbest, most pathetic main character I've read about. She has no self-worth, self-esteem, or self-respect because, despite knowing how she feels about Miles, she agrees to a casual sex relationship and then turns around and whines about it. Over and over, she tells the audience how she’s a “strong, independent woman who doesn’t let men treat [her] badly,” yet she goes to insane lengths to excuse Miles’s behavior.
No matter what he did, she stuck around even while she acknowledged how her feelings were being hurt. She’s passive to the umpth degree, allowing Miles and Corbin to control her life, and we never learn anything about her. She’s a nurse and she likes orange juice and she’s not a virgin. That’s it. Oh and Miles. I didn’t understand her obsession with this guy who made it clear up front that he didn’t want a relationship. She was so pathetic that she hung around, hoping and wishing he’d change his mind on relationships, so how is she mad that he keeps her at a distance? She agreed to the friends-with-benefits arrangement so she has no room to be angry! Why stay? Is she that desperate for Miles that she lets him walk all over her? The answer is yes.
The amount of double standards and sexism in this book was insane. Corbin being over possessive over Tate left a really bad taste in my mouth especially since he sleeps around. He sees no problem with this yet has a conniption over any man sniffing around Tate. And the one instance that Tate calls this out, we get no response from the idiot. And why are they all warning Tate away from Dillon? If he’s such an awful person, why are you all friends with him? Tate never calls this out either, and the only reason he gets booted out of the group is—gasp!—he touched Tate’s hip. Also Corbin pulling the “you don’t get to tell me not to be mad! You aren’t a brother!” when he finds out about Miles and Tate made me want to VOMIT. Why would be friends with someone you don’t want your sister around? Hmmm.
Colleen Hoover couldn’t write herself out of a paper bag, let alone write something that doesn’t come across as trauma porn with overdramatic reveals thrown in for the sake of drama. Her style is mediocre, simplistic, and really, really childish. I could care less about Rachel and Miles and Tate, and while all the Booktok girlies were bawling their eyes out over oh my god, Rachel, mine were decidedly DRY. The drama was contrived, the characters unlikeable and bland, and the sex scenes were flat-out laughable.
Ugly Love is more like a bad sitcom only there’s no comedy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Abortion and Death of parent
kaitaylorsversion's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Car accident
Moderate: Incest, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol and Homophobia
caitlindoesntread's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
(SPOILERS !!)
Okay... so... the first like 70% of this book was... not good. sorry. But so much of it was just sex and the story wasn't progressing at all, we weren't learning anything about Miles' character and I was more interested in the Rachel storyline than the Tate one. I really really hated Miles throughout most of this book. He had no respect for Tate, he was rude asf, and he literally sexual abused her multiple times??? I didn't feel the chemistry between them, their dynamic was fucking strange. Did I cry for an hour straight reading this book? Yes, I did. Did I internally scream when Rachel revealed the name of her daughter? Yes, I did. Loved the ending but I can't get over Miles' character in the beginning bc it was incredibly strange and gross and misogynistic and IK ITS BC HE HAS TRAUMA but I can't get over it - he had no respect for Tate and I constantly felt like he was exploiting her for sex? bc he was. However, I gave it 4.25 stars bc I really liked the ending and Miles getting his closure. Okay.
xoxo, gossip girl.
Okay... so... the first like 70% of this book was... not good. sorry. But so much of it was just sex and the story wasn't progressing at all, we weren't learning anything about Miles' character and I was more interested in the Rachel storyline than the Tate one. I really really hated Miles throughout most of this book. He had no respect for Tate, he was rude asf, and he literally sexual abused her multiple times??? I didn't feel the chemistry between them, their dynamic was fucking strange. Did I cry for an hour straight reading this book? Yes, I did. Did I internally scream when Rachel revealed the name of her daughter? Yes, I did. Loved the ending but I can't get over Miles' character in the beginning bc it was incredibly strange and gross and misogynistic and IK ITS BC HE HAS TRAUMA but I can't get over it - he had no respect for Tate and I constantly felt like he was exploiting her for sex? bc he was. However, I gave it 4.25 stars bc I really liked the ending and Miles getting his closure. Okay.
xoxo, gossip girl.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Sexism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Car accident, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Bullying
toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
Right off the bat, Miles and Tate's "no strings attached" fling starts with two rules. One: don't ask about the past, and two: don't expect a future. Spoiler alert: it's all gonna go out the window.
I don't think that any book of CoHo's is going to do it for me the same way that Verity did, but all the same, this woman's books are addictive and I eat them up with every new one I get. This one was...A LOT, in a lot of ways, but as always, I'm going to start with everything I liked about "Ugly Love."
This book has the same addictive and readable quality that the rest of CoHo's books have. The pacing is really good, and picking this book up never felt like a chore even though I have been feeling a little slumpy lately. I thought that Miles, though a questionable person in my opinion, was a really interesting character and I enjoyed the chapters that unraveled his past for the reader, a past that Tate, for most of the book, is unable to know. I didn't quite understand why they were written the way they were written, but I don't think that was a bad thing. I also thought that the parallels between Miles' chapters chronicling his past were really interesting. They weren't too in your face, but they also weren't so subtle that you couldn't pick up on them. The themes around love being messy and complicated, ugly - if you will, but still being worth it to have the beautiful aspects that come along with it, really resonated with me. Oh! Also, loved the Character of "Cap."
My negative thoughts are this: Tate. Too much Tate. She just kept repeating herself and it made me tired. I also got so frustrated with her at times even though it might have been unfair. She was already in love with him when they made their arrangement, and still went along with the arrangement, and I understand that sometimes if you want someone to love you, you'll do things that you never thought you would, but being in her head while she went THROUGH IT was really draining at times. I also didn't care for how misogynistic and annoying her brother was, like, bro... The culture of "Keep your hands off MY SISTER!" while well meaning, is so toxic and misogynistic. Like, she's a grown up, dude. These are just petty annoyances that I had within the narrative - it's still a decent book and I can see why it's so beloved among CoHo fans. My next CoHo romance will be It Ends With Us....pray for me lol
I don't think that any book of CoHo's is going to do it for me the same way that Verity did, but all the same, this woman's books are addictive and I eat them up with every new one I get. This one was...A LOT, in a lot of ways, but as always, I'm going to start with everything I liked about "Ugly Love."
This book has the same addictive and readable quality that the rest of CoHo's books have. The pacing is really good, and picking this book up never felt like a chore even though I have been feeling a little slumpy lately. I thought that Miles, though a questionable person in my opinion, was a really interesting character and I enjoyed the chapters that unraveled his past for the reader, a past that Tate, for most of the book, is unable to know. I didn't quite understand why they were written the way they were written, but I don't think that was a bad thing. I also thought that the parallels between Miles' chapters chronicling his past were really interesting. They weren't too in your face, but they also weren't so subtle that you couldn't pick up on them. The themes around love being messy and complicated, ugly - if you will, but still being worth it to have the beautiful aspects that come along with it, really resonated with me. Oh! Also, loved the Character of "Cap."
My negative thoughts are this: Tate. Too much Tate. She just kept repeating herself and it made me tired. I also got so frustrated with her at times even though it might have been unfair. She was already in love with him when they made their arrangement, and still went along with the arrangement, and I understand that sometimes if you want someone to love you, you'll do things that you never thought you would, but being in her head while she went THROUGH IT was really draining at times. I also didn't care for how misogynistic and annoying her brother was, like, bro... The culture of "Keep your hands off MY SISTER!" while well meaning, is so toxic and misogynistic. Like, she's a grown up, dude. These are just petty annoyances that I had within the narrative - it's still a decent book and I can see why it's so beloved among CoHo fans. My next CoHo romance will be It Ends With Us....pray for me lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Child death
Moderate: Infidelity, Acephobia/Arophobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Terminal illness, and Medical content
Minor: Excrement and Incest
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