Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

TW: Suicide, rape, death of a parent

Plot: 4 stars

Writing: 5 stars

Characters: 5 stars

Overall: 4 stars

Why a 4 star read when two of my categories were 5? Well, let's dig in.

The plot was a little predictable. I feel like I say that about a lot of books so really it might just be me as a predictor, but I felt like I saw that coming from ten miles away. However, the character growth in this novel was incredible. Never have I ever felt so empowered and driven to be better and learn from the past than I did here.

So, we have Sky and Holder, our two mains. Sky has been tucked away with no cell phone, no tv, no internet, and homeschooled for 13 years. Meet Holder, the town's bad boy with a habit of stalker tendencies. After meeting in a grocery store, the two spark up a unique but questionable friendship. There's a huge undertone of "Run, Sky!" from the first time she meets him. It's not really explicitly stated but more of a feeling you get from Sky's perspective, which I think is an incredible talent of the author.

The story was like 400 pages which was a little long, so I do wish it had been condensed and then it may not have lulled as much towards the end, but I was gripped for the first 200 pages at least. There were also some really heavy, tragic topics that were used and I wasn't sure how I felt about them. At one point I was in so much pain on behalf of one of our characters that I felt like I was going to have to put the book down. I didn't, though, and I think that's a good thing. Hoover is really an incredible writer and it shows in this book very, very well.

I recommend this book for those 17+ years of age because of mature content and the aforementioned trigger warnings.