Sunday, June 30, 2013

Losing Hope (Hopeless #2), by Colleen Hoover

6 out of 5 stars


Ok, let me start by saying this is the first advanced copy of a book I have ever received.  I was fortunate enough to get an approved copy through NetGalley and honestly you would have thought I had just won the lottery.  But really that is EXACTLY what happened.  To have the opportunity to read something I've been anxiously awaiting since the day it was announced on Colleen Hoover's website.  It felt as though July 8th would never get here, so when that advanced copy downloaded to my kindle at 10:00 pm my heart immediately started racing and I was up until 1:00 am reading and only put it down then because I knew I had to get up for work the next morning.  Here are my immediate first reactions....  

Colleen Hoover you've done it again...you've managed to blow my mind!  It would be impossible not to give this book as many stars as Hopeless because it's just as amazing of a journey this time as it was with Hopeless.  Honestly, for me this book was impossibly better. I feel like I'm cheating on Hopeless, my all time favorite book, saying this but it's the truth.  However, if you haven't read Hopeless do not read any more of this review.  STOP, go buy and read Hopeless this instant, then treat yourself to Losing Hope.  You absolutely do not want to miss out on this book.  You have to have Hopeless to appreciate Losing Hope, because you fall in love with Holder in Hopeless and see his emotions on the surface but in Losing Hope you experience, feel and understand why he does what he does.   This isn't just Sky's story told from Holder's perspective.  No, this is Dean Holder's story and it's every bit as emotional, surprising and moving as Sky's. 

Honestly, as a stand alone, Losing Hope is an entirely different story but when you read it with the knowledge of Hopeless it's like every piece of the puzzle comes together and you get the beauty of the entire story.  Losing Hope is Holder's story during Hopeless but it's also his story before and after the events of Hopeless.  The every brilliant Colleen Hoover uses journaling by Holder to give us an insider's perspective to every thought and feeling running through his mind.  Those journal entries were hands down the best part of the book for me.  I ended the book feeling an intimate connection to Holder.      

My journey was emotional and not just because I had an idea of what was going to happen.  My heart didn't just break for him because I knew what was going to happen it broke with him because I was experiencing it with him, when Less died, when he thought he found Hope, when he realized he did but really wished Sky wasn't her.  I didn't just see him fall in love with Sky I felt it.   Holder is a passionate loving, incredibly thoughtful, selfless and brave character who's actions during Hopeless may have come across as frustrating but after Losing Hope they are without a doubt the actions of a man who with all the shit life has thrown at him still finds a way to live life with hope.  At the end of Hopeless I may have thought Holder was the perfect book boyfriend but now there's no denying it's the truth!

This books has everything from pain to heartbreak and from passion to love.  There is absolutely nothing Colleen could have done to make the ending better or given Holder and Sky's story more closure, simply put it was perfection.  If you haven't already pre-orderd this book don't hesitate, go do it right now.

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