Slammed (Slammed, #1)

by Colleen Hoover

[Leah]

I've slowly been making my way thought Colleen Hoover's books - all thanks to the absolutely blow-your-socks-off Confess. I've now read three of her books - Confess, this one, and November 9 and I can't believe it's actually taken me so long to get her books read! But on the flipside of that - I have all of her books to read, and still many more to get devoured and that is an awesome feeling. I went back to her debut novel for my next one, so I'm going to work my way through her catalogue in chronological order, as it was intended!

I must confess I know nothing of Slam poetry. And a lot of the poems featured in Slammed actually made zero sense to me, because all I know of poetry is that it's supposed to rhyme. That's all I know! That's all I expect from a poem, so I kinda felt detached from the poems in the book because they didn't rhyme, and yes, I know that's probably silly but there ya go.

Slammed was an awesome read. I genuinely devoured the first 200 pages on a Saturday morning waiting to go to work. It was with genuine sadness, too, that I had to put it down and actually go to work, because I could read about Layken and Will all day long. Because they have the type of relationship that not only consumes them, but you as the reader, too. And boy was I invested in those two crazy kids. Although let me say this now: It was very Aria and Ezra of them. I've got no idea which came first - the book or Pretty Little Liars, but it was very similar but I prefer Layken and Will over Aria and Ezra, as Ezra always seemed a teensy bit weird for my liking.

Layken is one of the strongest characters you'll ever meet. She has so much stuff thrown at her, and she very rarely cracks. If your dad died, and the guy you liked turned out to be your teacher, and your mom was keeping secrets, you'd just want to hide in your room, under your duvet, eating crap food all day, or maybe that's just me? But not Layken, she just powers through and gets on with it and I loved her for that, because it's so refreshing. I mean, remember in New Moon when there were just BLANK PAGES because Edward left? Yeah, Bella was a sap. But Layken wasn't like that. And I liked that because of what happened with Will, she didn't turn on the angst or moon over him, she just knew what the deal was, and got on with it.

It's really the supporting cast who help make this a great read, too. Will was awesome. I loved Will. But Kel and Caulder were a great double act and you've never met two little kids so freaking perfect for each other, and they were amazing. And you can't forget Layken's mom who was pretty sweet, really. And Eddie, who BTW is a girl, was insane. I love girls like that, who overcome so much and still be as perky and fantastic as Eddie was. KUDOS GIRL. Slammed really was a cracking read. And I am stoked to throw myself into Point of Retreat (and also terrified, because I was Will and Layken to ride off into the sunset with no problems to ever befall them again because they've gone through SO MUCH already). This was a stunning book, and if you'll excuse me, Point of Retreat is calling my name!