Listen…I did everything in my power to avoid jumping on the Colleen Hoover bandwagon…but here we are.
I went into this completely unprepared; all I knew was that everyone had read it already.
About the book:
There’s Lily, our main character; she grew up in a small town with her father and mother. One day, she befriends a homeless boy named Atlas who lives in an abandoned house next to hers. They spend a lot of time together; she is looking after him when he is sick, and they slowly fall in love with one another. At some heartbreaking point, Atlas moves to Boston to start a new life, and they go their separate ways.
A couple of years later…Lily lives in Boston. She just returned from her father’s funeral and wanders off late at night to clear her head. That evening, she meets a young, very arrogant man who turns out to be a neurosurgeon named Ryle. For some reason, they start talking about very deep stuff, stuff you would not usually share with a stranger. The conclusion of that conversation is that Ryle is not a relationship person because he is way too career-focused, and Lily is a sensitive romantic person. Nevertheless, Ryle decides to change his view on love and relationships and gets with Lily after some back and forth.
But since this is a Colleen Hoover book, things get very dramatic and complicated. Could all problems be solved by just talking and listening to each other? Yes! But, spoiler alert, they don’t.
Well… I would recommend it to older teens since the subject is sometimes quite heavy and there are definitely some readers who could have a hard time digesting some scenes. But over all, it’s a fast read, Hoover’s writing is accessible, and the book has some light-hearted moments that make the overall experience more or less enjoyable. I was rooting for some characters like Allysa, she carried the whole story for some reason and is very likable…whereas Ryle for example, I loathe to a point that is unhealthy.
