Blurb from Goodreads:
Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.
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. 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
Title: Ugly Love
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Atria
Publication Date: August 5, 2014
Brooke's Review:
What kind of love gets ugly? The kind Hoover writes about, that's what kind! And boy does she know how to write it because there was not one second during this book that I didn't have my heart bleeding in a table somewhere. Bleeding, you say, this can't be good, right? Oh, but it is so right because Hoover knows how to gut you, draw and quarter you, and then slowly sew you back together again. I know going into a Hoover book that it won't be pretty, but I do it anyway because in the end, she makes the story well worth the ride.
Imagine a tragedy so terrible it makes you never want to put yourself out there for love again. Now imagine having someone enter your life that you try your hardest not to love because there is no way on this earth you could ever love again. Now scramble your brain. Yup, that's pretty much this book.
Tate moves to San Fransisco to live with her brother and go to school. What she doesn't expect is to be attracted to her brother's very hot, very closed off, and totally not willing to love next door neighbor. But who is capable of ignoring matters of the heart? I loved this character. She is starts off as a strong and very well rounded. She knows what she wants, and does what she needs to have at least a little part of it. And, like many NA characters, she can't ignore what her heart feels. I found her very relatable and realistic. Does she have weaknesses, she sure does. Her weakness is not being able to stay away from someone who she feels such a great connection to she just knows there must be a way to break through. But you can't change someone unless they want to change, right? One thing that bothers me about Tate is that she does show more weakness during the book than I would have liked. Yet, I understood the need for her to have this weakness. And as much as I wanted to chastise her for it. one cannot go lightly into such deep affairs of the heart and not show weakness at some point.
Enter Miles. Sexy, swoon worthy, pilot Miles Archer has a lifetime of tragedy behind him at only 24 years old. And he won't open his heart to anyone. He's a mystery that Tate can't figure out, as much as she wants to. But Miles has his rules: he won't talk about the past and he has no intention of creating any kind of future. He's straight forward and to the point about it. At first, this made me mad at him. Had it not been for his chapters, I'm pretty sure I would have thrown this book up against the wall a number of times with the anger he caused me. But it isn't that Miles in incapable of love, it's that he doesn't want his heart to get hurt. He's closed and unpredictable, and his mystery was something I wanted to crack wide open. He reminded me a bit of Christian Grey. I know I know, don't punch me, why on earth would I ever compare Hoover to James? Well, I'm not, I'm just saying that some of the qualities you see in Christian are there with Miles. But in the end, his reasons for being who he is are sad and powerful. Miles was one of the most heartbreaking characters I have ever had the chance to get to know.
Hoover has this way of flaying you open, making your heart bleed out all over the place until you have almost nothing left to give. And then, in one foul swoop, she redeems herself and sews you back together, little piece by agonizing piece. Her words are powerful. She writes like a musician, creating lyrics that drag you along, even if you feel like you don't want to go. Her words are a powerful tool and weapon against her readers for sure. And with each book she writes, she gets better and better at showing us how broken people can really be. But she also shows us how they are capable of mending and healing and becoming whole again.
This book is definitely a bit more racey then her past stuff. Darker and different than what you have seen from her in the past. While most of Hoovers books have focused on the story behind the plot, this one really jumps into the sexy. But the sexy is the whole point of this story. Because without the sexy, there would be no connection formed with Tate and Miles. And then their story would have gone nowhere at all. Friends with benefits takes on a whole new meaning when you watch Tate and Miles together. Their attraction is undeniable, but there is so much more underneath, so much more depth to their experiences together. And that just makes the book that much more engrossing.
There is one word I use whenever I describe Hoover's books. One word that always ends up in my status updates on Goodreads. Because there is only one word that can show exactly how Hoover's books make me feel. And that word is INTENSE. The intensity of her writing, her plot lines, the connections between her characters cause a physical ache in my heart. I'm not much of a crier when it comes to reading, but Hoover always seems to be able to pull the tears from me.
Tough Critic Book Reviews summed this book up perfectly, so I will quote her: "This is definitely a story about loss, but more importantly an excruciatingly painful story about love" And excruciatingly painful it is. This is a nonstop, un-put-downable book that will leave your heart aching in ways you never thought possible. Just when I think Hoover can't make a story any better than she has in the past, she surpasses what she did before. I don't know how she does it, but I don't care. All I know is that I cannot wait to see what she gives us next.
Looove this one so much!
ReplyDelete