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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
Without Merit lives up to the expectations I have going into a Colleen Hoover book. What are those expectations? To expect nothing and love the ride. Colleen always gives you things that you don’t expect, makes you laugh at the most random stuff (statues?? I’m still laughing!), and even the ending made me side eye the hell out of her. However, I still loved the book so much. It touches on important issues in our world and Merit is a character that many can relate to on some level. Thanks, Colleen!
I am a loyal colleen hoover fan and will swear by her every time I recommend a book to someone. However this one didn’t hit all the feels that I normally get when I read her books though. This had more of a downer vibe than her other books and seemed all over the place. I had no idea where the story was going until about 50% through. I thought it was still a good book and talked about heavy topics in a way that made the feelings and characters relatable.
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another great CoHo read. I see lots of complaints about this not being a "typical" Hoover read, but I like when authors branch out and try new things. And, honestly, this is a typical Hoover read to me - she tackles romance (yes, I do think this is a romance) that takes place with odd angles. There's always twists and they are typically dark or at the very least, quite different from what I'm expecting as a reader.
Now, it isn't only a romance and the main character is definitely struggling with more than just her current love interest. I would even say that the main topic of the book isn't the romance, but it is there and it is a focal point.
Did she try to cover a LOT in one book? Yes, but life has a LOT in it to deal with and many people do struggle between many of these hot topics at once. Why do authors have to stick to one sticky subject at a time? Why can't there be some background characters with issues that don't get fully resolved?? I guess I just don't understand some of the limits readers place on authors.
I thoroughly enjoyed it :)
Now, it isn't only a romance and the main character is definitely struggling with more than just her current love interest. I would even say that the main topic of the book isn't the romance, but it is there and it is a focal point.
Did she try to cover a LOT in one book? Yes, but life has a LOT in it to deal with and many people do struggle between many of these hot topics at once. Why do authors have to stick to one sticky subject at a time? Why can't there be some background characters with issues that don't get fully resolved?? I guess I just don't understand some of the limits readers place on authors.
I thoroughly enjoyed it
It was an easy read. It takes you through a topsy turvy ride and doesn't stop until all ends meet. It also talks of a lot of different issues like sexual abuse, mental health issues, and strained relationships. But. Colleen Hoover seems to have taken up so many issues at once that she messed it all up. She didn't treat any of the issues with the sensitivity that they deserved. There were traces of homophobia and biphobia which I personally hated. People being ridiculed for dressing up differently, assuming a person's sexuality solely by the basis of his wardrobe, being cruel to someone with mental health issues, and mansplainers made their appearances as well.
Let's just say while I hated a lot of things, I liked some, too.
Let's just say while I hated a lot of things, I liked some, too.
I have no clue how this won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance of 2017, because this installment of nonsense is so far from "romance," that I barely know what to say.
In the same vein as the letter/list of grievances Merit aired out to her family members, here is my own list of things that made me stop in disgust and/or disbelief while reading this book:
1. The twins' names are Merit and Honor, and the brother is named Utah, while the uncle is named Luck, and the mother and the father's affair partner are both named Victoria. What.
2. This whole book is drenched in such OoOoOoOhhhhh I'm so ~*~Quirkyyyy~*~ energy, you simply can't escape it.
3. Sagan kissed Merit *without knowing who she was*, because he confused her with her identical twin sister, but he wasn't ever even dating the sister, so why did he spontaneously kiss her????
4. Sagan got a whole entire tattoo dedicated to the exact location (coordinates) of where he first kissed/met Merit a mere TWO WEEKS into knowing her, and he straight up told her that the more he got to actually know her as a person, the less he liked her. Bruh.
5. The father shacked up with his affair partner and knocked her up while his first wife was severely ill, and the three of them somehow coexist in the same house.
6. The father still loves his first wife, and regularly goes down to the basement to bang her, and his affair partner is okay with this arrangement???
7. Uncle Luck told his niece Merit that he had already pictured her naked only a few minutes after they first met.
8. Uncle Luck agreed to his 17-year-old niece Merit's pleadings to help her lose her virginity, and they got *so close* to actually engaging in intercourse.
9. Uncle Luck set his sights on banging his nephew Utah instead, and they seem to have entered into a legit romantic relationship.
10. Merit wanted to buy that old beauty pageant trophy for the sole reason that it was expensive, not because it was pretty or any actual normal, understandable reason.
11. The dad put in a good solid decade of his life into hating a sweet, innocent good doggo to the point where his hatred greatly contributed to the destruction of his family unit.
12. Uncle Luck, upon finding out that Merit has clinical depression, compared being depressed to getting a sunburn.
13. Sagan is an official tattoo apprentice, yet he gave Merit a tattoo in an unsanitary bedroom and did not provide a single piece of aftercare instructions to her, letting her touch the fresh tattoo with her bare, unwashed hands a mere two days after its completion.
14. The twins have that barf-worthy, Tswift "she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts; the boy belongs with meeeee, the plain Jane loner nerd, not with the peppy cheerleader type" dynamic.
15. Merit steals and stockpile's her sick mother's medication to the point where she knows exactly how many pills (28) she has, and when she takes them all in one sitting in a so-called suicide attempt, barfs them up due to Sagan's intervention, and he takes it upon himself to sift through her vomit in order to count out exactly 28 pills.
16. Merit *dressed up in her twin's clothes and did her hair the way Honor does* and when Sagan walked in and believed Merit to be Honor, Merit decided the best course of action was to up the ante on her charade and kiss him.
17. Utah, in a desperate attempt to cure himself of being gay, grabbed the only girl he could think of and forced her to kiss him. That girl was Merit, his own flesh and blood little sister. EXCUSE ME???
18. Utah spent the next five years coexisting with Merit and never apologized or attempted to make up for his disgusting actions, because he'd simply hoped that she'd forgotten about the whole incident and had moved on, despite the fact that she spent that whole time afraid to ever be alone with him in the same room again for fear that he would assault her again.
19. Sagan has this whole tragic backstory of his parents and younger sister being left behind in Syria and he has no clue whether they're dead or alive, and this never has any sort of resolution or answers or elaboration on it??
20. Merit forgives Utah for forcing himself onto her, his own sister, with basically zero effort after he gave her one single apology in front of the whole family...
21. Merit dropped out of high school, but not in a "school really isn't the place I'm meant to be, so here is the official paperwork" way; she simply stopped showing up to school because a girl mistook her for her twin and she "realized" that if she disappeared, no one would miss her. Boo hoo.
22. The mother doesn't have cancer like all the children believed for years, but she is severely ill after a debilitating car accident. This was the big reveal, and after all the instances of incest in the narrative, this *gasp* what a tWiSt ""reveal"" barely registered as anything to take note of.
23. The pain pills that Merit swallowed like they were candy were all placebos, so in the end it didn't matter one lick how many she took them, they would not have killed her.
24. Merit wished she could go back in time to *KILL THE PASTOR'S DOG* that her father hated so much, just so that her life would become easier.
25. Merit just *happened* to run into Uncle Luck at the store and he asked her for a ride, not knowing who she was, that she's his niece, or that she lives in the same place as his sister Victoria. The sheer level of suspension of disbelief that this encounter takes in order to be credible is simply too much.
26. Uncle Luck has an entire notebook dedicated to how many people he's had sex with, and how many times. His niece Merit was entered into this notebook with the note "DNF" meaning "did not finish." The grand total is more than 100 sex partners, and over 300 instances of sexual encounters.
In conclusion, reading this horrendous mess of effery made me wish that I had been buried alive instead of deciding to endure this CoHo garbage.
In the same vein as the letter/list of grievances Merit aired out to her family members, here is my own list of things that made me stop in disgust and/or disbelief while reading this book:
1. The twins' names are Merit and Honor, and the brother is named Utah, while the uncle is named Luck, and the mother and the father's affair partner are both named Victoria. What.
2. This whole book is drenched in such OoOoOoOhhhhh I'm so ~*~Quirkyyyy~*~ energy, you simply can't escape it.
3. Sagan kissed Merit *without knowing who she was*, because he confused her with her identical twin sister, but he wasn't ever even dating the sister, so why did he spontaneously kiss her????
4. Sagan got a whole entire tattoo dedicated to the exact location (coordinates) of where he first kissed/met Merit a mere TWO WEEKS into knowing her, and he straight up told her that the more he got to actually know her as a person, the less he liked her. Bruh.
5. The father shacked up with his affair partner and knocked her up while his first wife was severely ill, and the three of them somehow coexist in the same house.
6. The father still loves his first wife, and regularly goes down to the basement to bang her, and his affair partner is okay with this arrangement???
7. Uncle Luck told his niece Merit that he had already pictured her naked only a few minutes after they first met.
8. Uncle Luck agreed to his 17-year-old niece Merit's pleadings to help her lose her virginity, and they got *so close* to actually engaging in intercourse.
9. Uncle Luck set his sights on banging his nephew Utah instead, and they seem to have entered into a legit romantic relationship.
10. Merit wanted to buy that old beauty pageant trophy for the sole reason that it was expensive, not because it was pretty or any actual normal, understandable reason.
11. The dad put in a good solid decade of his life into hating a sweet, innocent good doggo to the point where his hatred greatly contributed to the destruction of his family unit.
12. Uncle Luck, upon finding out that Merit has clinical depression, compared being depressed to getting a sunburn.
13. Sagan is an official tattoo apprentice, yet he gave Merit a tattoo in an unsanitary bedroom and did not provide a single piece of aftercare instructions to her, letting her touch the fresh tattoo with her bare, unwashed hands a mere two days after its completion.
14. The twins have that barf-worthy, Tswift "she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts; the boy belongs with meeeee, the plain Jane loner nerd, not with the peppy cheerleader type" dynamic.
15. Merit steals and stockpile's her sick mother's medication to the point where she knows exactly how many pills (28) she has, and when she takes them all in one sitting in a so-called suicide attempt, barfs them up due to Sagan's intervention, and he takes it upon himself to sift through her vomit in order to count out exactly 28 pills.
16. Merit *dressed up in her twin's clothes and did her hair the way Honor does* and when Sagan walked in and believed Merit to be Honor, Merit decided the best course of action was to up the ante on her charade and kiss him.
17. Utah, in a desperate attempt to cure himself of being gay, grabbed the only girl he could think of and forced her to kiss him. That girl was Merit, his own flesh and blood little sister. EXCUSE ME???
18. Utah spent the next five years coexisting with Merit and never apologized or attempted to make up for his disgusting actions, because he'd simply hoped that she'd forgotten about the whole incident and had moved on, despite the fact that she spent that whole time afraid to ever be alone with him in the same room again for fear that he would assault her again.
19. Sagan has this whole tragic backstory of his parents and younger sister being left behind in Syria and he has no clue whether they're dead or alive, and this never has any sort of resolution or answers or elaboration on it??
20. Merit forgives Utah for forcing himself onto her, his own sister, with basically zero effort after he gave her one single apology in front of the whole family...
21. Merit dropped out of high school, but not in a "school really isn't the place I'm meant to be, so here is the official paperwork" way; she simply stopped showing up to school because a girl mistook her for her twin and she "realized" that if she disappeared, no one would miss her. Boo hoo.
22. The mother doesn't have cancer like all the children believed for years, but she is severely ill after a debilitating car accident. This was the big reveal, and after all the instances of incest in the narrative, this *gasp* what a tWiSt ""reveal"" barely registered as anything to take note of.
23. The pain pills that Merit swallowed like they were candy were all placebos, so in the end it didn't matter one lick how many she took them, they would not have killed her.
24. Merit wished she could go back in time to *KILL THE PASTOR'S DOG* that her father hated so much, just so that her life would become easier.
25. Merit just *happened* to run into Uncle Luck at the store and he asked her for a ride, not knowing who she was, that she's his niece, or that she lives in the same place as his sister Victoria. The sheer level of suspension of disbelief that this encounter takes in order to be credible is simply too much.
26. Uncle Luck has an entire notebook dedicated to how many people he's had sex with, and how many times. His niece Merit was entered into this notebook with the note "DNF" meaning "did not finish." The grand total is more than 100 sex partners, and over 300 instances of sexual encounters.
In conclusion, reading this horrendous mess of effery made me wish that I had been buried alive instead of deciding to endure this CoHo garbage.
I picked this quickly and randomly from the library while driving 6 hours roundtrip to retrieve a forgotten license before an early morning flight. I had no idea what it was about, but it was about the length of my drive and I liked the title and cover art. It's a weird read - quirky characters, dark themes, but it doesn't feel heavy or feel like a romance. I was surprised to see it shelved as the latter when I came to write this review.
There were a lot of plot points; it almost felt like the author used a bunch of random ideas leftover from other stories and just dumped them all in here. Overall, 2 stars for me.
There were a lot of plot points; it almost felt like the author used a bunch of random ideas leftover from other stories and just dumped them all in here. Overall, 2 stars for me.
This is one of the weirdest reading experiences I’ve ever had. My rating fluctuated back and forth from 1, 2, and 3 stars. Had I read this as a 16-18 year old, it would probably be a high rating. But now? Meh. 2 stars will do. Perhaps my rating is unfair because I didn’t initially realize this was YA, so along with YA drama comes… well, just that. This was quite a rollercoaster, though. I love Colleen Hoover. I also love romance and mental health, but the two didn’t really work in this case. Yet somehow, this author has some weird voodoo magic touch and made me feel compelled enough to keep going and -kind of- like it. I do appreciate the overall message, though; as someone who recently began therapy and values mental health care, I hate giving this book a low rating. It’s just too corny not to, though.
The story premise and family dynamic itself is interesting, and stayed interesting enough for me to make it to the end. It has so much potential. Plus, it’s a short and fast read. It could’ve been more enjoyable had it not been for how many things were both implausible and inconsistent. There were so many inconsistencies that I was like “wait, is this really a novel by Colleen Hoover?” And the characters are mostly pretty unlikable, albeit quirky. The best way I can describe a lot of their interactions is imagining myself at 16 years old, wandering off to la la land to make up wild scenarios and conversations with classmates in my head while I’m washing my hair in the shower. I can’t fathom Colleen Hoover writing this novel any other way.
I’m not saying don’t read it, but I’m also not suggesting to read it either.
I’ll end this just by pointing out a few of the head scratchers/eye rollers. These aren’t really HUGE spoilers, but I have to point them out so I guess don’t read on in case you’re going to read this book:
Merit and Honor (the names- seriously?) are identical twins, yet Honor says she is 20 and Merit is 17. I’m not an OB-GYN doctor, but I’m fairly certain Merit’s mother wasn’t pregnant for 3 more years. Either I missed something or this detail in age inconsistency is going to forever annoy me. And both initial setups with Sagan and Luck (go figure his name is Luck) are also implausible. I suppose stranger things have happened, but Sagan kissing who he thought was Honor at the mall and then moving in with them immediately thereafter was interesting. And what are the odds that Merit meets Luck as she’s buying dog food, and then gives this stranger a ride to her house, but by the way, he’s coincidentally her stepmom’s estranged brother? Please. I could go on. It’s so goofy.
The story premise and family dynamic itself is interesting, and stayed interesting enough for me to make it to the end. It has so much potential. Plus, it’s a short and fast read. It could’ve been more enjoyable had it not been for how many things were both implausible and inconsistent. There were so many inconsistencies that I was like “wait, is this really a novel by Colleen Hoover?” And the characters are mostly pretty unlikable, albeit quirky. The best way I can describe a lot of their interactions is imagining myself at 16 years old, wandering off to la la land to make up wild scenarios and conversations with classmates in my head while I’m washing my hair in the shower. I can’t fathom Colleen Hoover writing this novel any other way.
I’m not saying don’t read it, but I’m also not suggesting to read it either.
I’ll end this just by pointing out a few of the head scratchers/eye rollers. These aren’t really HUGE spoilers, but I have to point them out so I guess don’t read on in case you’re going to read this book:
Merit and Honor (the names- seriously?) are identical twins, yet Honor says she is 20 and Merit is 17. I’m not an OB-GYN doctor, but I’m fairly certain Merit’s mother wasn’t pregnant for 3 more years. Either I missed something or this detail in age inconsistency is going to forever annoy me. And both initial setups with Sagan and Luck (go figure his name is Luck) are also implausible. I suppose stranger things have happened, but Sagan kissing who he thought was Honor at the mall and then moving in with them immediately thereafter was interesting. And what are the odds that Merit meets Luck as she’s buying dog food, and then gives this stranger a ride to her house, but by the way, he’s coincidentally her stepmom’s estranged brother? Please. I could go on. It’s so goofy.
This book was too weird for words. Loved the message, but I feel like CoHo could have gotten there in a WAY less roundabout way. The ultimate weirdness of the plot and characters make it unrelatable, thus negating the significance of the “lesson learned.”
The characters were selfish and annoying and the plot tackles extreme topics without any real depth or follow through.
I typically love her books. I think this is a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The characters were selfish and annoying and the plot tackles extreme topics without any real depth or follow through.
I typically love her books. I think this is a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”