Suffer Love

by Ashley Herring Blake

[Leah]

So, confession: this is a hard review for me to write, because I just have so many contrasting opinions. Firstly, I kinda just wanted to strangle Hadley sometimes, because why didn't she talk to her parents? I mean, I get it, what her dad did was wrong and changed the fabric of their relationship, but it was like Hadley just checked out of her relationship with both her parents which was especially unfair to her dad, who was still trying, but not her mom who had also completely checked out. A lot of parents in YA novels are absent, but Hadley's parents are still there in person, and I just kinda felt like she needed to maybe get ahold of herself? Put on her big girl panties and just start to deal with stuff, instead of using any excuse she had to ignore life.

Sam, on the other hand, I loved, his voice spoke to me way more than Hadley's, since he was way less hostile. Although again: OPEN YOUR DAMN MOUTH BOY. I feel like a lot of the plot could have been resolved better if he had just put on HIS big girl panties. But mostly I loved him, I just think that before he let things with Hadley go too far, he should have had the courtesy to be like, "Oh, hey, by the way... There's this thing I've been meaning to tell you..." Because the whole entire "thing" wasn't some big secret (except to Hadley), the book could have dealt with the strands more thoroughly if it had indeed come out sooner, which is what I would have liked to have seen!

Maybe I didn't love this book as much as I thought I did? Hmmm.... One thing I really did like about the book? Livvy. And Ajay. And Kat. Livvy was a darling. We need a story for Livvy, please, Ashley. And Kat and Ajay are their own story waiting to happen. WE NEED SPIN-OFFS DAMN IT. Especially any kind of spin-off that includes a tea-cup pig. PLEASE.

So, those are my thoughts. They're not very clear or concise, but that is how this book made me feel. And it did make me feel, it just wasn't happy feels. It was angsty, very, very angsty feels. Obviously the word "Suffer" in the title should probably have been a clue, because there is a lot of suffering, so be warned for a lot of angst and suffering if you read this book. It's glaringly obvious throughout the book that things won't end well, they can't, it's physically frigging impossible, though I will tell you the ending was all very anti-climactic. What happened? WHAT HAPPENED? I can't tell you, because I don't know, and reading the book won't tell you, either, sadly.

So, yeah, this was a frustrating read for me. I thought I was liking it, but reviews don't lie, and I just feel like I wanted more? IDK.