A review by magmun
November 9 by Colleen Hoover

  • 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

This was one of the worst books I’ve ever read and it featured the worst characters imaginable. Both main characters are walking red flags, but the male love interest Ben is a psychopathic stalker when you remove the authors rose colored glasses. The romance is uncomfortable and the choice to only show one day every year with the characters makes them feel empty and undeveloped. It would have been nice to see the characters actually change and live their lives instead of just hearing them talk about it. Colleen Hoover needs to learn what consent is and clearly struggles with pacing and story structure. The ending is rushed and the payoff is non-existent as the main conflict between the love interests doesn’t happen until the last 15% of the book making the resolution feel half assed and disappointing. Also, having Ben write the book November 9 within the book makes for insanely self congratulatory statements from Colleen. Characters go on and on about how good of an idea the book is and how great the love story is. It was an insanely cringy self-insert/ circle jerk moment for Colleen that made me roll my eyes and sigh. Maybe she knew how bad the book was and needed to preemptively give herself good fake reviews.
Within hours of meeting each other Ben is telling Fallon it is her fault for being insecure about her scars (which he gave her) and non-consensually undressing her and sexually harassing her. There are multiple scenes that feel like sexual assault as Fallon mentions again and again feeling uncomfortable about Ben’s actions and feeling like she can’t move or stop him. This is supposed to be “sexy” I guess but it feels like a Stockholm syndrome situation where Fallon is so starved of male attention she ignores her comfort and excuses his behavior. The choice of having Ben’s pov throughout the book without him ever mentioning the fire he caused that almost killed Fallon makes him look like a psychopath that is stalking and using this girl he is obsessed with. The ending is especially egregious as Fallon only finds out about Ben causing the fire in the last few chapters. She has her first reasonable reaction and is rightfully horrified but every other character in her life including her mom is on Ben’s side. Fallon forgives Ben and her awful father for some reason in the last couple pages of the book making for a unsatisfactory ending that brushes over all of the problems in their relationship.
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