When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.
Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.
They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.
Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.
Thoughts:
Speechless. Heartbreaking. Breathtaking.
Colleen Hoover has delivered another spectacularly emotional and heart-wrenching novel that readers will rapidly devour in just one sitting. Each page leaves you hanging, anticipating for the next beautifully written line in Miles and Tate's epic love story. It is a story that appears doomed from the beginning, doomed by Miles' tragic past and Tate's unrequited love.
The characters are flawed and wrecked - Miles by his shattering inability to open himself up to love; Tate by her uncontrollable hope in Miles. This can be frustrating at times, perhaps even bordering on irritating when Tate seems to drop everything (including her self-respect) for a man who knowingly and repeatedly crushes her tattered heart. Miles has his moments of sweetness but the dramatic contrast between his past, when he loved Rachel deeply and unreservedly, and now, when he is conflictingly cold towards Tate, perhaps leaves some readers less than impressed with his behavior. While he is to some extent justified by his soul-crushing past experiences, there seems to be little time for complete redemption at the end. By forgiving Miles so quickly at the end, Tate also appears a little too easy to please, and perhaps a little foolish for being able to so rapidly open her heart up to the same man who left it broken many times before. Nevertheless, they constructed a beautiful love story from the ugly ruins.
Told in alternating chapters by Tate in the present day and Miles six years earlier, the reader is magnetically drawn to uncovering the explosive events of the past and to observing Miles' journey to rediscovering love with Tate. With so many twists and turns in the plot, the author cleverly leaves readers doubtful of whether a happily ever after is obtainable for the two. Of course as is with every romance novel, it does eventually come, albeit a little rushed.
Beautiful writing. Deeply emotional. Happy ending.
Another must-read for 2014.
Rating:
5/5
A mistake made long ago…
Pain buried so deep…
When
Bailey Trent returns home to her small little Ozark mountain town after
being away for nearly six years, she knows she’ll face the ghosts of
her past. It does not mean she’s prepared to come face to face with the
cruelest of those memories.
Darren Cory’s life is a shell of what
it once was, and when he’s forced to endure the cause of his agony,
hatred abounds quickly. But hating Bailey destroys him too.
Can
Darren find a way to move past the pain and forgive the woman he once
cared so much for before his anger consumes them both? Or will he drag
them into the hell of an unforgiven past.
Thoughts:
Hatred comes quickly, while forgiveness takes time to give. This is the case with Darren as he struggles to work through his mixture of confusing emotions towards Bailey - the woman he is supposed to intrinsically hate for her reckless driving which led to his sister's death, but at the same time he cannot suppress his romantic intentions towards her. Both main characters were equally flawed in different areas, but they ultimately show that love can prevail if you are prepared to forgive the past, fight for the other person and together pave a path for a brighter future. Unique plot, broken characters, a chance for redemption and love.
Rating:
4/5
Ryan Kendall is broken.
He understands pain. He knows the hand of violence and the ache of loss.
He knows what it means to fail those who need you. Being broken doesn’t
stop him wanting the one thing he can’t have; Finlay Tanner. Her smile
is sweet and her future bright. She’s the girl he grew up with, the girl
he loves, the girl he protects from the world, and from himself.
At
nineteen, Ryan leaves to join the Australian Army. After years of
training he becomes an elite SAS soldier and deploys to the Afghanistan
war. His patrol undertakes the most dangerous missions a soldier can
face. But no matter how far he runs, or how hard he fights, his need for
Finlay won’t let go.
Returning home after six years, one look is
all it takes to know he can’t live without her. But sometimes love
isn’t enough to heal what hurts. Sometimes people like him can’t be
fixed, and sometimes people like Finlay deserve more than what’s left.
This
is a story about war and the cost of sacrifice. Where bonds are formed,
and friendships found. Where those who are strong, fall hard. Where
love is let go, heartache is born, and heroes are made. Where one man
learns that the hardest fight of all, is the fight to save himself.
Thoughts:
War has the potency to scar all of those involved, whether directly or indirectly: from the courageous soldiers who sacrifice their lives for peace and freedom, to their supportive families who bear the emotional toll of their absence while anxiously anticipating their return. An immediately engaging opening seamlessly blends in with the heart stopping epilogue to round out a well-structured storyline that keeps readers guessing at every turn. Wonderful to read a deep, intense and emotional novel by an Australian author.
Rating:
5/5
I wasn't always in love
with Colton Calloway; I was in love with his younger brother, Kyle,
first. Kyle was my first one true love, my first in every way.
Then, one stormy August night, he died, and the person I was died with him.
Colton
didn't teach me how to live. He didn't heal the pain. He didn't make it
okay. He taught me how to hurt, how to not be okay, and, eventually,
how to let go.
Thoughts:
A beautifully crafted novel that emotionally captures how we process grief and deal with mourning in the aftermath of losing a loved one. The flashbacks to Nell and Kyle's youthful and innocent teenage romance smoothly complemented the intense connection present between Nell and Colton, two broken souls who find love as they help each other come to terms with Kyle's tragic death. The novel lived up to everything the synopsis promised, and more. Heart wrenching, emotional, intense. Definitely worth reading.
Rating:
5/5
