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A review by nebraskanwriter
Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I just don’t think Colleen Hoover is for me.
My uncle died in a rollover accident on a gravel road, just like how Scotty died. So it was really hard for me to have empathy and sympathy for Kenna. I didn’t feel bad for her, even though Hoover wants you to feel bad for her. Kenna lies, she deceives, she makes out with Ledger even when she knows who he is (Scotty’s best friend) but he doesn’t know who she is (the reason his best friend isn’t alive).
This book was just a little bit too twisted, little bit too toxic, it was just too much. Such a heavy subject and I feel like it wasn’t handled well at all.
Grief is a sad, awful thing. I witnessed that first hand when my uncle died and what it did to my grandparents, to my whole family. How they couldn’t even say his name, how the very mention of him for over a year after his death, my grandma’s eyes would still well up in tears. Grief is heavy, but the way it was handled in this story just felt very shallow. Not enough depth.
I just feel like everything is minimized. These big awful feelings that take up so much room in your heart are minimized for us to pity Kenna. Which I didn’t, I couldn’t.
But Ledger does. Immediatley he is infatuated with her. Even when he finds out her true identity, that she is the reason his best friend is dead, he’s still obsessed with her.
Both Kenna and Ledger are both unnecessarily and unhealthily jealous when any single guy or girl talks to the other. You’ve literally known her not even a week and you both are already so possessive of each other. It was so unhealthy, especially when Kenna has literally just gotten out of prison and is in a super fragile state of mind as she grapples with seeing her daughter for the first time in 5 years and being in her old hometown, trying to regain some normalcy that was taken away from her when she went to prison. But no, instead of all that, you guys are making out and getting mad when another one of you even talks to someone of the opposite gender. And you’ve only known each other a couple days. And Ledger you were literally engaged two seconds ago, you were supposed to get married the week after you met Kenna.
I just didn’t like it. Kenna and Ledger’s relationship isn’t even a relationship. All they have is sex and Scotty in common, that’s it.
This book just struck a nerve, a personal one, with me. I think this’ll be my last Colleen Hoover book, I just don’t enjoy them like everyone else seems to.
How she surrounds her stories around very serious topics and tries to turn them into romances, it just isn’t for me.
My uncle died in a rollover accident on a gravel road, just like how Scotty died. So it was really hard for me to have empathy and sympathy for Kenna. I didn’t feel bad for her, even though Hoover wants you to feel bad for her. Kenna lies, she deceives, she makes out with Ledger even when she knows who he is (Scotty’s best friend) but he doesn’t know who she is (the reason his best friend isn’t alive).
This book was just a little bit too twisted, little bit too toxic, it was just too much. Such a heavy subject and I feel like it wasn’t handled well at all.
Grief is a sad, awful thing. I witnessed that first hand when my uncle died and what it did to my grandparents, to my whole family. How they couldn’t even say his name, how the very mention of him for over a year after his death, my grandma’s eyes would still well up in tears. Grief is heavy, but the way it was handled in this story just felt very shallow. Not enough depth.
I just feel like everything is minimized. These big awful feelings that take up so much room in your heart are minimized for us to pity Kenna. Which I didn’t, I couldn’t.
But Ledger does. Immediatley he is infatuated with her. Even when he finds out her true identity, that she is the reason his best friend is dead, he’s still obsessed with her.
Both Kenna and Ledger are both unnecessarily and unhealthily jealous when any single guy or girl talks to the other. You’ve literally known her not even a week and you both are already so possessive of each other. It was so unhealthy, especially when Kenna has literally just gotten out of prison and is in a super fragile state of mind as she grapples with seeing her daughter for the first time in 5 years and being in her old hometown, trying to regain some normalcy that was taken away from her when she went to prison. But no, instead of all that, you guys are making out and getting mad when another one of you even talks to someone of the opposite gender. And you’ve only known each other a couple days. And Ledger you were literally engaged two seconds ago, you were supposed to get married the week after you met Kenna.
I just didn’t like it. Kenna and Ledger’s relationship isn’t even a relationship. All they have is sex and Scotty in common, that’s it.
This book just struck a nerve, a personal one, with me. I think this’ll be my last Colleen Hoover book, I just don’t enjoy them like everyone else seems to.
How she surrounds her stories around very serious topics and tries to turn them into romances, it just isn’t for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Medical content, Vomit, Addiction, Car accident, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders