book review: Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Before anything else (my book review), I just would like to thank my friend, Estee, for introducing me to this wonderful, and a new fave book I have. And Estee, you were wrong, it wasn’t just a nice book, it was reaaaalllllY GOOD. 

Title: Slammed
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Atria books (Simon&Schuster)
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Source: publisher via netgalley

Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope. Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.

My Thoughts:

A beautiful and engaging story of love and life, and facing both. Awesome prose and the premise is not much until you've read the whole thing, then you'll realize the whole beauty of it all. Plus the poems. The slams. It was just moving and beautiful. It's actually my first time reading about "slams". Before this book, I have no idea as to what they are.

Not all stories with cancer topics are beautiful. I just wanna say that before I write my review further. Because you might say that I rated this book '5' just because of the cancer portion, and how cancer moves me more because my dad died because of one. (lots of 'because' there, hehe) But, actually no. Slammed is not at all about cancer, but I won't deny that it still takes up a chunk of the story. But it's about life, and its obstacles, and what we do to compromise or solve it. Chances we risk, and the people we let go. Plus the poetry, wow, just wow. The poems mentioned are not a bore,period. They hold stories of individuals about a time of their life and their experiences, it's really truly beautiful.

18- yr old Lake (girl main char), her mom and 9-yr old bro moved to Michigan from Texas a year after her father died of heart attack. There she met Will, their neighbor who lives across their house. Her bro and his bro immediately became best of friends. There was an instant connection between them. I know its clich'e but It feels realistic, because deny as we may, it happens in real life. They went on a first date. Then came the first day of Lake's senior class, a devastating revelation happens. I won't spoil what it was. Then she learned her mom has a terminal illness. This changes a lot of things in the story. It doesn't feel at all off. I've read romance novels where all is focused on the couple then suddenly one of his/her parent has cancer then the story immediately focuses there then the end is a faje happy one. It's utterly confusing and it highly disturbs my soul (haha). But seriously, I hate those quick shifts of plot. But Slammed is not like that at all. A huge relief. Colleen Hoover is a genius! She was able to transition the story back and forth smoothly. The novel was not all perfect as there were times I had problems with a few scenes or technical aspects of the writing. But overall, the story was beautiful. No wonder it became top selling.