Synopsis
"Lily hasn’t always had
it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she
wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she
grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own
business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named
Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good
to be true.
Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.
As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened." (Goodreads)
Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.
As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened." (Goodreads)
Hearing Hype and Avoiding Spoilers
This book is the first CoHo that I've had to wait a significant amount of time for (pre-ordered in November 2015, it was absolutely my most-anticipated release of the year) and...wow. It was really hard to do this without getting my hopes up or the story spoiled. The thing with Colleen Hoover's novels is that they are romantic and humorous but they always pack a massive emotional punch. Between reviewers raving about the ARCs and Colleen Hoover talking about how personal the story was for her, it was hard to keep my expectations low and to not deduce what the book might be about. My anxiety and curiosity got the best of me and it was easy to figure out what I'd be dealing with. Now that the book has been released, you might know little bits and pieces of the story. I, like many others, recommend knowing as little as possible. This truly helps with the full emotional impact of the novel.
Now that I have gotten that out of the way, a warning: This review will have spoilers. I won't be too specific, but it is almost impossible to write a review without getting into at least a little bit of detail. If you don't want to know anything, please stop reading now and come back later! If you've read it, let's discuss. I'm going to have an even more spoiler-y review on Goodreads (click here). Here we go...
The Characters
CoHo has always created characters that the reader will genuinely care for. In this particular book, the characters are fully-formed with hopes, goals, deep feelings, and dark sides. Lily Bloom is our narrator, and she's a 23 year old woman who takes a leap and opens a florist shop. She meets the handsome Ryle Kincaid on a rooftop patio and they both open up to each other in very personal ways (not physical). It takes a little time and fate to get them together, but they finally do. Ryle is a very honest man, admitting that he's never been one for relationships and that he takes his work seriously, but he and Lily care enough about each other that he gives it a go.
As Lily falls for Ryle, the reader can't help but feel the same. He's a sexy guy who has met the person who makes him want the things he never thought about before. That's what makes the story that much harder to read.
Tackling Tough Topics
Here's where things get really spoiler-y (I'm warning you!).
Colleen Hoover has never been afraid to break a reader's heart with emotionally-draining storylines and this one is no different. Many people are responding to this because the topic she chose to write about, domestic abuse/abusive relationships, is not something most people see coming from a romance author. For those who didn't know this would be happening, I can't imagine the surprise. I think I would've had a stronger emotional response if I didn't know. That doesn't mean it didn't still affect me.
The first time Ryle hurts Lily is a shock. Nothing warrants this kind of violence, even if they had been in an argument, which they were not. It's a small chain of events that leads to Lily fearing her boyfriend.
The thing is, Ryle isn't set up to be a villain. He is confident, a little cocky about his bedroom skills, a little fearful of falling in love. Yes, we meet him as he tries to kick around a chair...but that was a chair. And that's the most important part of the whole story: Colleen Hoover wants you to know that a charming, caring, kind man (or woman) has the ability to do this. That he can be extremely sorry, that he can still love you, that he can promise never to do it again...and that it can (and often will) happen again.
Hoover is showing that these situations are not black and white. As someone looking in from the outside, it is easy for a person to judge why people stay in these relationships. As someone in the relationship, it's hard to separate the love and the pain. It's hard not to want to have faith in the person you intend to spend your life with. This is an important angle of the story. And so the reader's heart will ache as we read about Lily's love and pain, about what we want her to do and what she will do.
The thing is, Ryle isn't set up to be a villain. He is confident, a little cocky about his bedroom skills, a little fearful of falling in love. Yes, we meet him as he tries to kick around a chair...but that was a chair. And that's the most important part of the whole story: Colleen Hoover wants you to know that a charming, caring, kind man (or woman) has the ability to do this. That he can be extremely sorry, that he can still love you, that he can promise never to do it again...and that it can (and often will) happen again.
Hoover is showing that these situations are not black and white. As someone looking in from the outside, it is easy for a person to judge why people stay in these relationships. As someone in the relationship, it's hard to separate the love and the pain. It's hard not to want to have faith in the person you intend to spend your life with. This is an important angle of the story. And so the reader's heart will ache as we read about Lily's love and pain, about what we want her to do and what she will do.
Overall
4.5 Stars
This book is getting 5 star reviews up and down Goodreads and I absolutely get it. I really enjoyed this book, as I enjoy all of Colleen Hoover's books, and thought it was really well-written. My only complaint was that the ending felt very abrupt and that I am still asking questions about the future of these characters, but I still feel it is some of her best work, with the most human characters she has ever created.
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