Apology & Ugly Love Book Review
Dear Readers,
I apologize for not writing more often. I have many other writing jobs and activities that I do outside of the book world that I have been focusing on right now and have just been having a hard time finding the time to write. Fear not, I have come bearing a brand new book review.
Have you ever read a book that began okay when you read it. Where all the hype you felt may have been just hype, but then you get to a point in the book where you are hooked, head over heals in love, and know that this book will be going in your favorite book list! That is what happened to me with Colleen Hoover's novel Ugly Love. I have only read one other book by Colleen Hoover which was Maybe Someday. That was a pretty good book that, while not my favorite, was something I did enjoy read. Ugly Love however was not just a book I enjoyed reading however, once I read it and got to the point where I really started to love, I feel fast and hard for this book. I started to ship the two main characters so much and feared that even though I hoped they were going to get together in the end, that they would not. This book however gave me everything I wanted in a book and wrote it so well that even if a part would have seemed cheesy or cliche in any other book or media/storytelling format, the way Hoover's wrote it, the ending just works perfectly.
The book follows a girl named Tate who has moved to San Francisco to live with her brother and is currently studying to be a nurse. She ends up meeting her brother's neighbor Miles and though they have a rocky start, they decide that while they are attracted to each other they don't want to be in a serious relationship. This opens up the idea for them to become "friends" with benefits. The deeper they get into their relationship however, the less likely that the original rules of not expecting a future and not asking about the past, will be followed.
Tate and Miles have this great chemistry that I feel can only be described by reading about it. While there were parts of the novel I was particularly scared at when reading, my fears would be diminished quickly with either one of the characters taking charge of a situation and themselves or a explanation later on in book for a certain behavior. For instance, when I was reading at the beginning of the novel Miles story, I was a little creeped out by when he would basically say he loved this girl at first site and that he wanted to marry her basically right after he saw her. What made this less creepy is a throwback later in the book to that quote that made it feel more cute and less uncomfortable. Also the book does explain Miles behavior.
Going into the novel I was a little scared that it would be like a Fifty Shades rip off and be all abusive, kinky, etc. Lucky for me however, there was nothing like that to be found in the novel. Characters stood up for themselves, did not par take in any behavior that was taking it "too far" in my opinion, and if someone did act wrongfully toward the other there was a reason behind it and an apology along with it. The intimate scenes in the novel I also felt were just right. They were the perfect mixture graphic enough to understand what is going on, but not so graphic that I was uncomfortable reading the material. The book focused just on the emotional aspect along with the physical parts of their relationship and sexual activities and I never felt that one was over shadowing the other. Something else I enjoyed is that the book was not just sex scenes, while there are a lot of them in there, it helps to drive the plot and Hoover did a very good job of incorporating the with benefits relationship, into the novel along with a very intriguing and emotional plot that had me at times both laughing and crying.
Another fear that I had going into this book is a fear I have with a lot of my dueling point of view novels. I feared I would want to read more about one point more than the other. And I do have to admit. At first, I was more interested in Miles back story, than Tate and Miles in present times. I feel though once I got into the story, I enjoyed both the present and past point of views and wanted to see both equally.
While I do not want to give away the ending too much, I do have to say that it was perfect. I have to admit that I am a sucker for books that wrap everything up in a nice little bow. While many books I love do not do that, I felt that in Ugly Love, the use of having everything be so "happily ever after" cliche-esque was kind of perfect or this particular story. Once you find out more about Miles past you want him to have that and you also want to Tate to be happy. The scene with the (Spoiler Alert):
Proposal, was cute, funny, and entertaining. I do not want to give anything else away but just know that by the end of this book you will not be disappointed.
Another character I loved is Cap and If I can say one criticism about the book it is that I would have loved for him to be in the novel more, especially at the end. He even says one of my favorite lines in the book and one of the funniest.
I rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. It was fun, sexy, entertaining, heartbreaking, funny, and all in all told a good story with good characters. The only critique I have for the novel is that I wish Hoover had incorporated Cap more into the ending of the book, especially the epilogue. Other than that however, it was a perfect read and possibly one of the best books I have read this year.
