I have to admit I barely read the description for this book. I merely skimmed through it but since it's by Colleen Hoover, I didn't think twice in pre-ordering it. My expectations were extremely high for this book until I read a 1.5 star review that lead me to lower those very high expectations. Even with my low expectations, I didn't love the book as much as I had hoped. I simply liked it because the story-line was good. While I'm not into insta-love and falling for each other in a matter of hours, this wasn't the factor that fully bothered me.
Fallon had to grow up very quickly once she became an actress. Unfortunately, an accident happened which caused her to lose her acting career. One day, Fallon is at a restaurant with her dad who's very hard on her and Ben overhears the conversation and thinks Fallon needs rescuing. He acts like her boyfriend while they are with her father and they sell it out completely. They instantly connect once they are alone and they realize they like each other. What happens next? They agree to meet up every November 9 at the restaurant they met for the next five years but there's a catch. They will not have contact with each other the other 364 days of the year. No stalking via social media, no giving each other their phone numbers. NOTHING.
After realizing this tidbit of information, I thought I wasn't going to like it. Surprisingly, I liked it! It was something new, something unique and I was definitely enjoying it all! Every year they would meet, it's as if they had never stopped talking. They were so into each other and I was sold by their "relationship". I was definitely rooting for them. Sadly, around... Maybe 65% things started to turn sour. Some decisions were made that were unbelievably stupid and the reasons given had me rolling my eyes so much, I'm surprised they didn't permanently stay rolled. I started liking the whole "no contact, only on one day a year" thing but then it felt pointless. The reason given for this... STUPID. Fallon's mother advises her to not date or fall in love before turning 23-years-old because until then you won't fully know who you are as a person. If I were her age, I'd explore the things I can and want and she obviously wants to get to know Ben more but because her mother said this, she wants to follow through with it... This seemed so pointless and seemed like a lazy reason. Not only that when some things happened, Fallon pretty much blamed Ben when it wasn't his fault at all and then she used the very cliché line: "I did it for your own good." I couldn't believe she used that line on him after completely destroying his heart. They had agreed to stay together, to have contact every day while they were apart. But then, Fallon tells Ben that she won't give him her phone number. When she returns the following year, she expects everything to have stayed the same but Ben has started a relationship with his dead brother's wife (now widow) and with Ben's nephew.
I didn’t fully see the other plot twist. Ben had set the fire that caused Fallon to have all of those scars. He did it because his mother had killed herself and he felt that Fallon’s father had something to do with it so he set fire close to the car, which caught up in flames but the fire spread to the house as well. I never figured it out completely but it had some-what crossed my mind and wow... That was really sad and heart-breaking but I felt like it lacked that special Colleen Hoover touch when it comes to plot twists and that was a huge let down for me. I loved that CoHo related a character from this book to a previous one she had released. There's Ian who is Ben's brother and the few times he appeared, I very much enjoyed. Not only that, Miles and Tate make an appearance and I was jumping with joy!! Then I realized who Ian was! Miles' best friend! *squeals of joy* I love when authors do this.
I definitely loved the messages of loving yourself despite the physical and internal flaws we have. Many of the quotes included in the story would actually boost me up a bit and I even wrote some down to read every day.
Overall, I'm in the minority of not loving this book. I felt like this book didn't need all of the drama that suddenly got pushed into the story after 65%. Sadly, this book didn't work for me but that doesn't mean I will stop adoring CoHo because we all know how amazing she is. This book simply didn't do it for me but that doesn't mean you won't like it. Should you give it a try? Sure, why not? Many readers are crushing on this book :) If you give it a try, I hope it doesn't disappoint you!
This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews