Hopeless by Colleen HooverSeries: Hopeless #1
Published by: Self Published on December 17, 2012
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 391
Source: Purchased
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Rating: ★★★★★
Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the liesâ¦
That's what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she's never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.
Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he's nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn't at all who he's been claiming to be. When the secrets he's been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky's life will change forever.
Holy shit sticks. That’s honestly all I know what to say at this point because I just finished reading this book and my mind is in a million pieces. I don’t know how to convey my thoughts, emotions, or opinions about this book, because I’m still in complete shock. But at the same time, I don’t want to wait 24 hours to fully absorb all the awesomeness, because I don’t want to wait until I’m more coherent. I want to sit here and write like a blubbering idiot who can’t string two words together.. because that makes reviews so much more fun!
Hopeless starts off as a knee-weakening, drool-inducing romance. SERIOUSLY. Holder is all kinds of sexy beastie boy. I want to corner him and kiss him and hug him and seduce him and hold pinkies with him. He’s hot, kind of dangerous, kind of bad boy-esque, and incredibly thoughtful and attentive.
“Believe me. I have no idea how to handle you, Holder. I just take you one scene at a time.”
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
But one of the things I like most about Holder is that he doesn’t act like Sky needs him. He empowers her in an amazing way. He lets her do things on her own, he lets her figure her own shit out, and he knows that she doesn’t need him, but sometimes it’s just nice to have someone to hold onto.
“Thank you, holder. So much. I couldn’t do this without you.”
He kisses me softly on the mouth again and smiles back at me. “Yes, babe. You could.”
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
Once I settled into the book—at a little over the 50% mark—I decided that Hopeless was a deliciously swoony romance. But then, suddenly, the crazy twist kicked in and I went HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!! And Hopeless warped into this absolutely insane emotional rocket ship with an acceleration upwards of 10 g! I was ripping through the pages, often tempted to jump ahead because I was so mad that I couldn’t read faster! But I’d always pull myself back, take a breath, and try to slow down a little… just to be right back where I started 5 minutes later.. heart racing, fingers spazzing out to turn pages on my Kindle, mouth watering (oh my god, Holder, take me now!)..
There’s no question that the best part of Hopeless was the dialogue. The crazy emotional experience was awesome and amazing and dripping with happiness and heartbreak all in one, but the dialogue is what really made me fall in love with this book. There are so many lines that just had me screaming and giggling with laughter, and had my mom giving me funny looks. Sky and Holder had such amazing chemistry and great back and forth banter! I LOVED IT!
Holder reaches the seat next to me and starts to lay his backpack on it at the same time Breckin reaches it and begins to set the coffee cups down. They look up at each other, then they both look back at me.
Awkward.
I do the only thing I know how to do in awkward situations—infuse with sarcasm.
“Looks like we have quite the predicament here, boys.” I smile at both of them, then eye the coffee in Breckin’s hands. “I see the Mormon brought the queen her offering of coffee. Very impressive.” I look at Holder and cock my eyebrow. “Do you wish to reveal your offering, hopeless boy, so that I may decide who shall accompany me at the classroom throne today?”
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
I do wish that Six—Sky’s best friend—had a larger role in the book, because I ABSOLUTELY LOVED HER!! She was such a fun character, kind of a slut—but an awesome one, and, I mean, her name is Six. That’s awesome. She’s that super sweet, dirty, sarcastic best friend that I wish was my best friend in real life. But, unfortunately, Six goes away for a few months so after the beginning, she’s barely in the book at all. Now that I think of it, I’d totally love to read a Hopeless spinoff about Six having a hot, romantic, international fling with some European hottie!
I feel like Colleen Hoover has really grown and developed as an author. I enjoyed Slammed, then I wasn’t crazy about Point of Retreat.. but Hopeless blew my mind. It was everything I hoped it would be, and completely deserves the thousands of five star reviews that it has on Goodreads. It was heartbreaking, emotional, HOT, sexy, swoony, sad, happy, hopeless, hopeful, inspiring, and more. I loved all the relationships, all the dialogue, and all the weird little quirks that makes this book Hopeless (holding pinkies, licking dimples—all of it).
The Verdict
Okay, this sounds awesome. Seriously awesome. Swoony romance that flips the switch for a more emotional…. something? I’m beyond intrigued. As always, your reviews have spurred me to put another dent in my bank account. I’m in grad school now – I can’t afford all this! Haha. But seriously, great review. Thanks for letting yourself blubber like an idiot – those are my favorite reviews.
Oh my gosh, Jessie Marie! You will LOVE this book!! It’s definitely Colleen’s best book yet. It totally deserves the hype!
You didn’t like Point of Retreat!?!?
It was butterflying awesome!
This book…I still have no words other than I wish everyone would read this. Great review and I LOVE your banner.
*hides* I thought the whole central conflict was just so petty. The whole “You have to prove you love me because if we met under different circumstances then we probably wouldn’t be together!!” It just seemed like a stupid “what if” argument to me. 😛
But HOPELESS WAS FREAKING AWESOME!! That’s all that matters. ♥
I loved this review! By the end of it I was like, ohh where’s the nearest library/bookstore, I want to get a copy and read it now. 🙂 Great review and keep up the great work. I have never heard of this author before, but I will be extending my branches and see how good of an author she is. I hope this book is as awesome as you say it is.
I’m sure you will LOVE it Olena!! 😀
I’m so glad you enjoyed this as much as I did! It was so emotionally intense & I agree with you on the romance {swoon}.. I loved Six, it would be great if she got her own book 😉
A fantastic review!!
Thank you Sharon!! 😀 Hopefully Colleen will hear our pleas! LOL!
Sounds like Holder and Sky have great chemistry!
Ashley, your review is totally AWESOME!!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us 🙂
Thanks Henrietta! 😀
I saw your amazing review, clicked the “buy” link, noticed it was only $3.99 and bought it for my kindle immediately. No joke. So, great review 🙂 I can’t wait to read it!
OMG Taylor I am so excited that you bought the book!!! 😀 You are going to LOVE it!! I can’t wait to see what you think. 🙂
You have officially made me want to read this book even more. I’ve been seeing all the love for this read, and with your shock and awe review, I am so in need of this one! Love the review! I love stories that have great dialogue between the characters!
Thank you!! 😀 You should sooo read this book! You will not be disappointed. 🙂
Wow, I didn’t even know about this book. I love Hoover’s writing style. She is amazing at romance. And this sounds like a freakin awesome book. I loved the little teasers you gave. But I have a question. What’s the plot? Is it just romance and no point? That’s were I am hesitant. I need a good structured story that has a point.
I think you will love this book Jennifer! Especially because you liked her other two.
The main point of the book is actually about Sky’s past. There’s a mystery element there. Sky feels like something happened to her many years ago but she doesn’t remember it, so it’s about her piecing together the darkness of her past, and coming to terms with it. The romance does play a huge part, but ultimately it’s all in support of that mystery.
I just finished this book today….And I’m still in the shock and awe stage of my thought process. One thing I know for sure is that I LOVED this book!
Thanks for this review, it sums up my crazy feelings that I couldn’t put into words
I’m SO glad to hear that you loved this book too!!! I was totally in the ‘awe’ stage for a long time.. I still kind of am!
I think I agree… I’m still in the awe stage as well
I have this on my kindle but I’ve been hesitante to read it since I don’t know if it will live up to Slammed for me, I loved Layken and Will so much!
I actually loved this even more than Slammed by a long shot! I don’t think Hopeless will disappoint. 🙂
Hopeless was one of my best reads!! I loved this book so much ?
I loved the characters, the story, the dialogues, everything!
And just like you I’d love if Six had a larger role in the book, she is great!
I felt the book was exactually what you said “heartbreaking, emotional, HOT, sexy, swoony, sad, happy, hopeless, hopeful, inspiring, and more”.
I haven’t read the Slammed series yet, but I plan on doing it soon!
i’m very curious about this one, it has been release in my country 🙂