From the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends With Us and November 9 comes a moving and haunting novel of family, love, and the power of the truth.
'Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.'
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her - until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth.
'Emotionally wrenching and utterly original, Without Merit’s characters stayed with me long after I finished' Sara Shepard, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars
Colleen Hoover writes romance. That's what you usually think, right? Well, this is more of a YA romance book, not like anything else we've seen from her before. For a long time now, I've felt like I've outgrown YA books, because it's not where I am in life anymore, and I'm finding it harder to connect with the characters for that reason.
This one worked for me though. I loved Merit as a character. I especially loved Luck, and I'd love to read more about him one day. I kind of shipped him and Merit in the beginning.
As for the plot, so many things were going on at once. Really. It was pretty amazing how CoHo handled it all. So many secrets! So many unspoken words. While this is a love story, it's also a story about family dynamics, accepting each others flaws, listening and not jumping to conclusions. While it is definitely a YA book, it also deals with some tougher issues like mental health and sexuality, but it suits the book and is well written.
I wasn't the biggest fan of Merit to begin with, but she grew on me big time, and I understood her actions toward the end. I'd like to see more closure for Sagan, but maybe we'll get to that some day. I really hope so.
