Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Ugly Love

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.

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lovealwaysadi'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

4.5

Content Warnings

chooper454's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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meaghanslibrary's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

1.75

Like a hallmark movie in book form, predictable yet somewhat entertaining. The writing style leaves lots to be desired.

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thriftedmemories's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

< spoiler> Lots of unnecessary sex <spoilers>
I felt bored reading the book, it didn’t grab my attention. Nor was I a fan of Tate being emotionally used by Miles. There was no growth between the two characters. The growth didn’t happen throughout the story either.

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littleacorn10's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.0

SPOILER REVIEW:

First Colleen Hoover book. Figured it was time to see what all the hype was about. I certainly wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.

Although the writing itself, minus the explicit content, could be considered YA in dialect and style, I didn’t find myself too distracted by it. I was invested in the story, not the writing.

The switching POVs was enjoyable and kept the plot moving at a good pace as it allowed for time gaps between chapters. I also enjoyed the prose inspired chapters. Some might say it was a tad overdone, but I liked it because it got to the *point* of those moment. It told us exactly what we needed to know without buffering it with unnecessary details.

The happy ending was a tad corny, but I wouldn’t have liked a non-happy ending. I just personally didn’t think we had to see the proposal or any of that, it could have been open ended.

Finally, I did like the message of the book

that love is worth the pain.

That part resonated for me and will certainly stick with me.

All in all, I enjoyed my day binge-reading this book. Maybe I will pick up another Hoover book sometime in the future.

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avie_j's review against another edition

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emotional medium-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

0.25

For all the "I can change him" girlies. No you can't, this isn't realistic. You deserve better.

Tate was a complete and utter door-mat.

Content Warnings

literallysam's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

The dialogues and writing style felt so juvenile and forced- It was like a fan fiction or a Wattpad story. It's like a heightened teen infatuation story involving adult characters who behave absolutely immature for the most part except when they're having segs.
What Tate and Miles had was solely based on quick hookups and nothing substantial enough to even come close to legitimate feelings of love. The only kind of chemistry they seem to have is lust.

I didn't like how Rachel's character just took away Miles’s focus on Tate. It would've been nice to know more about Miles's feelings for Tate.

Tate was head over heels for a guy she had just met. I didn't like how Miles wouldn't even admit that he likes her and it made me so angry at times. I get the whole no strings attached thing but I just don't get why Tate was still with him. She had great potential to be a feminist icon and stand up to someone who's clearly using her but her self-respect was crushed so many times.

Also the kind of trauma and depression that Miles was going through was massive and all he needed was therapy and anyone could see that but the craziest part is that Tate, who is a registered nurse, couldn't see that.-

My only favourite character in the book was Cap. The ending was the only part that I liked in the entire book where miles's past was revealed. That was really heartbreaking and I found myself sympathising for him. I also liked it when Miles's poetic self came back to life in the end.

You can go for it if you want but overall I would describe this book as not worth the hype.
However, I will give Colleen Hoover the benefit of the doubt and will definitely read her other novels!

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