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A review by thatswhatshanread
November 9 by Colleen Hoover
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Ah CoHo, I hate to do this and give an unpopular opinion… But unfortunately I was not a fan of this one.
If you’re into Instalove—two characters falling in love at first sight, all consuming love straight out of the gate—then you’ll be immediately pulled in. I guess I found out with November 9 that I don’t really care for that genre of romance. Ben and Fallon’s instant attraction didn’t seem believable to me.
The main thing that pulled my rating down was not something that went away throughout the story as it was literally the character of Ben, the MMC. From the beginning he gave me the ick by the way he talked and interacted with Fallon, without even knowing her. He was too confident and domineering and controlling for my taste, disguised as the “nice guy” who saw past Fallon’s imperfections. DUDE YOU’VE SPENT ONLY A FEW HOURS WITH HER. Idk, the simp behavior jumped out.
The plot had potential and I liked the sections being split up by the same date each year. However, that further drove the nail in the coffin that was my effort to give Ben and Fallon time to grow on me. Instead, with each year passing, I found their “connection” more and more forced and weirdly obsessive.
Hoover’s writing wasn’t bad, she always has great pacing in her novels, in fact. For me, the main relationship in this book just really put me off and the rest of the elements that I liked didn’t make up for it.
If you’re into Instalove—two characters falling in love at first sight, all consuming love straight out of the gate—then you’ll be immediately pulled in. I guess I found out with November 9 that I don’t really care for that genre of romance. Ben and Fallon’s instant attraction didn’t seem believable to me.
The main thing that pulled my rating down was not something that went away throughout the story as it was literally the character of Ben, the MMC. From the beginning he gave me the ick by the way he talked and interacted with Fallon, without even knowing her. He was too confident and domineering and controlling for my taste, disguised as the “nice guy” who saw past Fallon’s imperfections. DUDE YOU’VE SPENT ONLY A FEW HOURS WITH HER. Idk, the simp behavior jumped out.
The plot had potential and I liked the sections being split up by the same date each year. However, that further drove the nail in the coffin that was my effort to give Ben and Fallon time to grow on me. Instead, with each year passing, I found their “connection” more and more forced and weirdly obsessive.
Hoover’s writing wasn’t bad, she always has great pacing in her novels, in fact. For me, the main relationship in this book just really put me off and the rest of the elements that I liked didn’t make up for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, Body shaming, Medical content, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Suicide, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Violence, Cancer, Alcohol, Car accident, Mental illness, and Pregnancy
Minor: Stalking and Panic attacks/disorders