Leah
Written on Mar 20, 2016
'Perfectly poetic. A beautiful follow-up to Slammed' Tarryn Fisher
'Brilliant and entertaining as Slammed. Point of Retreat is absolute poetry' Jamie McGuire
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All Your Perfects and It Ends With Us.
SOMETIMES TWO PEOPLE HAVE TO FALL APART TO REALISE JUST HOW MUCH THEY BELONG TOGETHER.
As Layken and Will’s emotion-packed story continues, a stunning and unforeseen revelation about Will’s past leaves them questioning everything that they thought they knew about each other. With the foundation of their relationship at risk, they must decide whether they are willing to fight for a future together, or to retreat back into solitude and heartache.
How far does Will have to go to prove to Layken his love for her will last forever? It will require something truly extraordinary to keep this couple together, and the decisions they make and the answers they find will change not only their lives, but the lives of everyone around them.
- ISBN10 1471125688
- ISBN13 9781471125683
- Publish Date 25 April 2013 (first published 1 February 2012)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Simon & Schuster Ltd
- Format Paperback
- Pages 400
- Language English
Reviews
Linda
Written on Mar 14, 2014
I couldn't get the right edition for this review, each time I tried to change it - it changed the one I read in 2012...
Again, I loved listening to a book being narrated to me. The narrator was really good, but there were a couple of strange things on the audio, like some repeated words, and also the volume changing in some places - probably due to editing after the fact.
However, listening to this story was awesome. I know audio-books will be my new go-to format for when I have stuff to do in the house, and I don't want to be bored... Everybody's clothes will get ironed a lot quicker now ;)
inlibrisveritas
Written on May 13, 2013
I don’t think this one hooked me quite like Slammed did but it’s still really good, and there are still moments where my heart hurt. It also made me like Will even more! Though it may have made me dislike Layken a bit more too…I really liked the way she matured and stepped up in Slammed, but in this one she almost seemed to border on a bit of immaturity at times. I found her frustrating during most of this and I just wanted someone to snap her out of her little cloudy world. I loved that Hoover found a really touching way to include Layken’s mother in the story and I adored the idea of the stars. We still got to see Eddie, Gavin, Kel, and Caulder but we also get to add two new people to the close knit circle. Kiersten and her mother Sherry. These two have such demanding personalities and I love them! Kiersten is a perfect fit of such a weird group of friends and she goes along with Kel and Caulder in such a perfect way.
Despite the issues i had with Layken it seemed almost necessary for her to be a bit insecure and it was nice to see that Will was willing to go through such lengths to get her back. I think the back and forth on her part brought the story down for me a bit, but Will really pulled everything together. One of my favorite parts of this one had to do with a poem about Butterflies…trust me, it’s perfect.
These books have such a journey with a bunch of ups and downs, and I can’t wait to read This Girl!
Jyc
Written on Apr 20, 2013
nitzan_schwarz
Written on Jan 27, 2013
I thought I’m going to like Point of Retreat more than Slammed as it was from Will’s pov, instead of Lake’s, and I have always liked Will more. I was wrong, mostly because I forgot Lake doesn’t have to be the Point of View for her to be annoying. And Will had his stupid moments, as well. However, from the second part of the book I really enjoyed it. I just had to waddle through the first half to get there...
January 1st, 2012I don’t think I’ve ever been more frustrated and annoyed with a couple of people than I’ve been with Lake and Will in the first part of this book.
"Resolutions"
I’m confident 2012 will be our year. Mine and Lake’s year.
--First Paragraph Point of Retreat
Will, our darling, loving, mature poet with the kind heart and responsible mind is the one narrating this book. We get part of his diary and I loved those parts as they often included poems he wrote, and those were good. As far as narration goes, I liked his a lot more than Lake’s. But he made some stupid decisions in the course of the book… the kind of decision that make you scream “DON’T DO THAT!” and wonder what the hell the hero thinks is going to happen. Like, not telling Lake about his ex... Dude, have you never watched a chick-movie? Don't you know that's bound to bite you in the ass eventually...?
To read the rest of this review, go here!
Romance Schmomance
Written on Jan 23, 2013
violetpeanut
Written on Nov 16, 2012
“Sometimes two people have to fall apart to realize how much they need to fall back together.”
That quote pretty much sums up this book. The next chapter in Will and Lake's story is told from Will's POV. I loved that we got to see Will's thought process and get to see Lake through his eyes. I think it showed a whole other dimension to their relationship. First, we see the day to day routines that Will and Lake have developed. All those little things that make up a true relationship. It's not always about making out and staring into each other's eyes (although there's some of that, too). It's about making a life together.
Things start to fall apart when Will's ex-girlfriend shows up and tries insinuate herself into Will's life again. In spite of his best efforts to keep her away, she ends up causing Lake to question Will's true reason's for being with her.
Colleen Hoover is an absolute master at making you feel exactly what her characters are feeling. All of the doubt and insecurity and anger and frustration and despair. All of these characters could jump right out of the book and continue living their lives in the real world at any moment. There is nothing forced or artificial about their personalities or the dialogue. She also includes so many details that make you really believe that this could be a real story happening somewhere right now. The star jar, the gnome, basagna, and so so many other details make this a truly authentic story. That's really the best thing about these books - they are real and authentic and genuine and they make you feel something when you read them.
It's not all depressing, angsty stuff, though. There are some laugh out loud moments and some really triumphant moments as well. As I said in my review of Slammed, I'm generally not a fan of poetry but these books make me want to go check out a slam somewhere. The poems here are fantastic and emotional and powerful. Some of my very favorite moments involved the poems.
There are a couple of new characters introduced that really round out the cast of the book, Kiersten and her mom, Sherry. Kiersten is the precocious 10 year old who lives next door. She's clever and sarcastic and I loved every scene she was in. There's a small subplot involving Kiersten that really made me feel for her and I loved her poem, Butterfly You. In fact, I loved Kiersten so much that I would be very interested in reading a spin-off book about her and her mom.
Overall, this was a fantastic book. The writing is superb, the characters are genuine and amazing, the scenes and settings are authentic and I think everyone should read it.
Kelly
Written on Oct 14, 2012
This book and it's characters are so quirky, you can't help but fall in love. Beautifully written, I absolutely adore this series.
It's butterflying awesome.
Ashley
Written on Sep 7, 2012
If you read my review of Slammed, you'll know that I quite enjoyed the book. But I really wish I had just stopped there and savoured my good memories. I did not like Point of Retreat. Throughout the entire book I felt like I was constantly rolling my eyes or thinking "Really?" Point of Retreat is so over dramatic. I feel like every possible bad thing that could have happened, did happen. In fact, there were so many bad things that it felt a little unrealistic. And then there was Layken...
In my review of Slammed, I talked about how Layken was an immature, annoying teenager when she got mad. This happened again in Point of Retreat, and caused me to really dislike the main conflict in the story. The whole story basically came down to this:
"How do you know? How do you really know? You couldn't leave me now if you wanted to. Your heart is too good for that, you would never do that to me. So how do I know that you would really be here if our circumstances were different? If our parents were alive and we didn't have Kel and Caulder, how do you know you would even love me?"
—Layken in Point of Retreat
The whole conflict is really just one big "what if" game. If their circumstances were completely different, would they have still fallen in love? Layken is concerned that Will only loves her because they both experienced similar traumas. She's afraid that if neither of their parents had died, Will wouldn't love her. Well my opinion is: who cares? Why spend so much time worrying about what would have been, if that's not the case? Will obviously loves Layken right now, and that should be all that matters.. but Layken doesn't see it that way. It's like me crying and yelling at my boyfriend because I'm afraid he wouldn't have loved me if we first met in person instead of online. I told him that and we both agreed it would be absurd to even think/worry about that.
The whole thing was so immature and so childish. I could have gotten over it if that was one minor concern in the book, but that was the entire central conflict. I actually feel really sorry for Will because of all the crap Layken made him go through.. and over what? Nothing! Some stupid idea that he might not love her in some alternate hypothetical universe.
I do have to admit that the end of Point of Retreat made me smile. The last quarter of the book still had its fair share of drama and ridiculous "unfortunate events" (I say ridiculous just because there were so many). Here's a small list: Will's ex girlfriend shows up and wants to get back together; the ex starts to drive a wedge between Will and Layken; Layken suddenly thinks that Will only loves her because of their traumas and brothers; Layken decides to cut Will off until he can prove he really loves her; Will's old best friend comes back into town and basically moves in with him; the best friend starts dating Will's ex girlfriend; Eddie gets pregnant; the kids get suspended; the kids' new friend gets bullied; everyone gets in a huge car crash; everyone comes away with minor scraps and burns but Layken is on the brink of death... But the absolute end did put a smile on my face.
I'm sad to be saying this, but I do wish I hadn't read Point of Retreat. If I hadn't, I'd just be left with fond memories of Layken and Will. I think that having read Point of Retreat will make me forget the whole series much more quickly than I would have otherwise.