Ugly Love has got to be one of my fave reads by CoHo. It depicts the themes of PTSD, trauma, and emotional detachment really well. We follow the story fo two characters, Miles and Tate. Tate is a free reign girl that wants to start a fresh life, whilst Miles is an introvert that is very cordoned off from the beginning. Throughout the book, wee the development of both characters and how their lives part and collide with each other. We also get to find out why Miles is always very shy and not as energetic as Tate, and how him and his then wife Rachel had lost their baby in a car crash in water. It shows us the impact of memories and the guilt that Miles had to go through to believe that it was his fault whilst it was the opposite. We also see their personalities going in the reverse direcation to each other. For example, Tate at the start is a very eager girl and when she meets Miles, she feels like her life is going smooth, until we find out that Miles has a lot of trauma behind his past. Furthermore, we see Miles going in to opposite direction. He starts off as being very private and not meddling with anyone else's lives if they don't meddle with his, until he meets Tate and opens up to her about his guilt and his horrific past. We also see Rachel, who was Miles's ex, POV which I felt like was needed in this type of story, and how Miles was very developed and happy during his time with Clayton, their son. It also shows how impactful some post-trauma can be and how Miles blamed himself for the whole accident until he met with Rachel and she consoled him. Ugly Love deals with neglect and shows how even though there are some parts that are bad, it is the happy moments in the book and the lives of Tate and Miles that make up for the ugly love
Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Torture, Alcohol, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship