Here, I review Without Merit and Layla by Colleen Hoover
The Books:
Title: Without Merit
Author: Colleen Hoover
Published October 3rd 2017 by Atria Books
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 385
“The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antique shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.” -Goodreads
Title: Layla
Author: Colleen Hoover
Published December 8th 2020 by Montlake
Genre: Romance, Paranormal
Pages: 301
“When Leeds meets Layla, he’s convinced he’ll spend the rest of his life with her—until an unexpected attack leaves Layla fighting for her life. After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they arrive, Layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. And that’s just one of many inexplicable occurrences.
Feeling distant from Layla, Leeds soon finds solace in Willow—another guest of the B&B with whom he forms a connection through their shared concerns. As his curiosity for Willow grows, his decision to help her find answers puts him in direct conflict with Layla’s well-being. Leeds soon realizes he has to make a choice because he can’t help both of them. But if he makes the wrong choice, it could be detrimental for all of them. “ -Goodreads
My Reviews
For the first book, I am going to review Without Merit.
I listened to this book on audiobook this past week. I enjoyed the audiobook and the reader.
I thought the book was well done. Certainly, not her best work and it was not her worst.
The premise of the story was good, but I felt like it was a little bland. When I read the synopsis, I thought there would be a grad escape plan that would come to a crashing halt. Forgive me, Colleen Hoover, for assuming this.
When I say ‘bland,’ I don’t necessarily mean boring, because it wasn’t. I just mean that it did not have the OOMPF that most of Hoover’s books had. It did not have that spark. The story still had drama that kept pulling me into the story more and more.
The main character was honestly annoying but in a good way. Her family was even worse, but that was kind of the point.
I think the romance in here was a charming addition to the story. I think it added some suspense and some drama.
All in all, the story was good. Not high on her list but still a good read. I do not know how she comes up with all of the ideas for her books. Everyone I have read has something different in it than the next.
Hoover is a queen.
Star Rating: 3
This next book, however, is my least favorite out of all of her books.
I don’t know if it was the ghost or the fact that it was from a male’s POV.
The paranormal aspect was way out of the left field for a Colleen Hoover book. There was a good bit of suspense. I sometimes felt like I had to hide under my covers, but that was short-lived.
The male lead was horribly dull. Leeds was honestly boring. There was no development in his character. Every time he spoke, I wanted to kick him in the face. That was pretty hard to get past since the entire book is in his POV.
I could not get into this story. I also listened to this book and it was so hard for me to press play. I would listen for moments in the mornings, but it would not pique my interest enough to play it in the car or elsewhere.
I honestly don’t have much to say.
Nothing was necessarily bad with the book. The writing was great. The story was unique and interesting. I just did not vibe with it.
Star Rating: 1
I hoped you enjoyed my two reviews. I am so behind on reviews, I would have the next two months planned out if I did every single review, hence the combination of these two.
As always, thanks for reading,
A Bookie