3 out of 5

I am swiftly becoming a Hoover fan, because while she is not a perfect writer, while her words aren’t flowy and the writing itself isn’t the best the emotions really are. Hoover seems to “get” how to inflict emotion on people.

I enjoyed Ugly Love so much, it was the second contemporary romance I’ve ever read in my life, so I had the bar set high for this one. I’m not in high school, I never got into the drama of high school and I kept to myself. So when I began reading this I rolled my eyes and thought: “Yeah I’m not going to relate to this at all.” But sadly, there are a lot of portions I could relate to.

While some may argue about the sexism thrown throughout the book… slut shaming, an overbearing male interest, the idiocy of both teens, etc… It’s not pretty aspects of life, but unfortunately they are there.. and it happens. So does bullying, so do stupid choices and tragically other ugly aspects of life occur, too. Hoover portrays them. Are the characters perfect? No… is the book flawless? No… Are humans in general? No.

I actually think “Sky” our leading lady here is pretty numb in the brain at times, she nearly does everything against what a parent teaches you. Taking a drink from someone she doesn’t know, talking to a guy she doesn’t know. She ignores warnings and it’s not smart… Guess what? It happens, this isn’t a guideline on how to act, [maybe it could be used as a guideline for how not to act or speak to strangers?]

“Holder” tends to be a typical overbearing male, the kind that I guess everyone is used to in a novel by now, he’s a teen and typically male teens don’t have their wits about them. They say stupid things, they act on instinct, they don’t get it, it’s a learning process!, but you discover why and although this is no reason to BE overbearing, or smothering her… you can see why he would.

Once everything is aired out and the truths come into the light it is fairly devastating, that’s where you can rock back in your seat and clutch your chest thinking, “Oh my gosh, Holder… Sky… SKY!” 

I read this book rather quickly, it took me about three hours to complete. It’s an easy read and it doesn’t make you feel good, so don’t read it if you’re looking for a feel good book. Once I finished this book I had a lump in my throat and definitely had a book hang over.

Again, this book isn’t perfect, the characters aren’t, the writing isn’t… but somehow Hoover gets to you. Every. Time.