Kelly
Written on Oct 13, 2012
Makes me want to write a poem myself in ode of this book.
The New York Times bestselling sensation hits the UK.
Layken's father died suddenly, leaving her to gather every ounce of strength to be a pillar for her family, in order to prevent their world from falling apart. Now her life is taking another unexpected turn...
Layken's mother gets a job which leads to an unwanted move across country. However, a new home means new neighbours... and Layken's new neighbour is the very attractive Will Cooper.
Will has an intriguing passion for slam poetry, and a matching passion for life. The two feel an irresistible attraction but are rocked to the core when a shocking revelation brings their romance to a screeching halt.
Layken and Will must find a way to fight the forces that threaten to tear them apart... or learn to live without each other.
Praise for Colleen Hoover:
'Brilliant and entertaining' - JAMIE MCGUIRE, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Disaster
'This book will consume you - rip out your heart and piece it back together. I absolutely loved it!' - Paige Toon, author of One Perfect Summer
'Unique, unlike anything out there... Go out and read it already!' - TAMARA WEBBER, New York Times bestselling author of Easy
- ISBN10 1468161660
- ISBN13 9781468161663
- Publish Date 17 April 2012
- Publish Status Active
- Imprint Createspace
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Language English
Reviews
Makes me want to write a poem myself in ode of this book.
violetpeanut
Written on Oct 1, 2012
First, a comment on the cover. I was not blown away by it. I admit it. I'm a little bit of a cover whore. If it's pretty, I'm drawn to it. This cover just did not scream "Read me!" Now however, after reading it, I understand it and think it's fitting. So, if you're like me and are a little bit hesitant because of the cover, don't be!
As for the content of the book, this was one of my favorites so far this year. The blurb was a little bit vague and I also don't want to give anything away so I'll try hard to avoid spoilers here. Our main character, Layken, is an 18 year old high school senior who recently lost her father to an unexpected heart attack. As a result, she moves with her mother and brother back to her mom's hometown. Her little brother makes friends with the boy across the street and she meets his older brother, Will. They feel an immediate connection.
Ok, let me stop there. Yes, there is some insta-love going on here. This was the one aspect of this story that I didn't really care for. There is almost no progression of relationship here. They meet, they immediately fall madly in love. Normally, this is a huge no-no for me. This just does not happen in real life. Maybe I'm a little bit jaded but I do not believe in love at first sight. Lust at first sight, maybe, but not love at first sight. I think relationships can start off hot and heavy but for there to be any real depth of feeling there needs to be some growth between the characters. I almost took away a star because of this.
The saving grace was Ms. Hoovers writing. It was exceptional and was so good that this book deserves all 5 stars despite the instant attraction between Layken and Will. She did a fantastic job of showing emotion through the characters and illustrating those emotions through actions and scenes rather than just telling the reader about them. There were quite a few scenes that made me just ache for the characters and still others that had me outright crying.
There is also poetry in this book. Don't be intimidated or turn away because of it. I myself am not a huge fan of poetry and don't always find it easy to read or relateable. Here, though, the poetry only enhances the story and, in fact, adds to the plot by giving us insight into each of the characters. It is readable and easy to understand while still being powerful and poignant.
This was a fantastic book and I will be trying to get my hands on the next book as soon as I can. I cannot wait to read Point of Retreat.
Ashley
Written on Sep 5, 2012
I have to admit, I was iffy going into this book; I wasn't sure if it would be for me. But after hearing such great things about it and other bloggers recommending it, I decided to give it a shot!
Unfortunately, this book has some serious insta-love. I really wanted to love the romance because it's full of so much emotion, but I had a hard time really feeling it when Layken and Will only knew each other for three days and were already "in love." They had one date and then when they couldn't be together anymore, they were completely despaired and it was like the whole world fell apart. They spent months "getting over each other" when there was nothing really there to begin with (no relationship). I wished I could believe it and relate to it, but it just didn't happen.
Sometimes I quite liked Layken as a character, but other times she really annoyed me. But in Colleen Hoover's defense, Layken's annoying actions were probably extremely realistic. She very accurately (almost too accurately) goes through the five stages of grief and loss. So when something bad happens, she denies it. She goes things to busy herself to escape reality—to the point where if someone brings it up, she just changes the subject. She gets PISSED. Like, seriously pissed. She treats her mother horribly and given the circumstances (which I won't spoil!), it's really, really saddening. Layken acted like a really immature teenager.. but I guess teenagers do act like that. So I'm struggling between being annoyed because Layken annoyed me, and applauding Colleen Hoover for writing about what happens when a teenager isn't able to deal with something big and bad.
But problems aside, this book had me cracking up! The dialogue is hilarious without trying to be, and felt so real and natural. Slammed has some of the best side characters I've ever seen in a book. I think Eddie might be one of my all time favourite characters. She kind of forced her way into Layken's life, stealing her cell phone and putting in her number, and basically saying "We're friends now, okay?" LOL! She was so strong, funny, sweet, and dependable.
The end of this book..did crazy things to me. It's like everything I was feeling in the world suddenly came out. It was 3:30am (I stayed up late to finish the book) and the last page broke me. I started bawling my eyes out and nothing could stop me. I cried, and cried, and cried. Then I texted my boyfriend, desperate for some kind of loving communication. And I clutched my phone, waiting for him to reply, and cried, and cried, and cried. Finally I must have drifted off to sleep.
Even though I wasn't completely feeling the romance in Slammed, this book still affected me. I think once I accepted that I wasn't going to love the romance, I found other things about the book to love (like the side characters). And good God, this book is heartbreaking. It's like everything bad that could possibly happen, happens. But some good things happen too!
Slammed is an emotional roller coaster of a book. It's about more than just romance, and instead it deals with life. This book is about the good, the bad, the hard, first love, family, school, friends, loss, grief, and hope. I'll definitely be reading the second book!