November 9 by Colleen Hoover
November 10, 2015
320 pages
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Contains: language and sexual references
Source: eARC for Honest review
Now this one started well for me. I felt the familiar quirks and giggles from Hoover's well-known writing style. I was drawn into Fallon and Ben's lives. I felt a connection with Fallon and Ben, curious to know if their insta-feelings were real. I wanted to see what would happen... and then I didn't. Because the reason for why they were only going to meet once a year on the same date, but have no contact, not even a phone number or email, not even FB friends, just didn't gel with me. And the way they talked about their plans and justified everything was way too mature for a couple of 18 year olds. They sounded like 30-somethings, not kids barely out of high school.
Personal rant: The reasons behind the no-contact rule made no sense. It wasn't romantic. It was ridiculous. Because I don't believe dating someone means sacrificing everything else in your life and making them your end-all. It doesn't mean one or the other, all or nothing. Dating doesn't have to be full speed ahead. But that seemed to be what Ben and Fallon thought. There was no middle ground, no option for long distance friendship or dating. Because heaven forbid not having access to nearby sex. Imagine the sacrifice. It's impossible to date and still have a life and an education and a career and aspirations. *All said with much sarcasm* So knowing they were already planning years apart, which means they were purposely planning drama, not having any significant time together, seeing other people in between, etc... I found that I just didn't care.
I tried multiple times to force myself to continue the book and find out what happened to them in the next years, but I just didn't feel it. I started this book 24 days ago (yes, I had an arc, but I have also purchased a copy), and it took me probably 21 of those days to finally get around to skimming the rest until I got to the last couple of Nov 9s and reading what finally happened. 24 days to finish this book is too long for me. And when I finally finished, I was relieved I skimmed because drama, drama, yucky drama, plot twist, drama and then the ending. (No spoilers here, I left them on my Goodreads review instead). Perhaps the excess drama in New Adult is getting to me.
So this one wasn't for me. But Hoover's writing is still strong. I am still a fan and hope this is just a blip on my CoHo radar and I will love the next book she offers up. I loved the whole Slammed series and Confess, and wouldn't mind something along those lines again.
2 STARS
***Warning Spoilers - Proceed With Caution*** Your review made me giggle! You're spot on with the book, but I'd say 80% of it worked for me. I was head-over-heals in love with the first half of the book. I didn't want to stop reading. I bought into the meeting every year because they had literally just met that day and didn't want to start up something when Fallon needed to stay focused on her move. Yes, I agree, they definitely could have made it work with talking, emailing and texting as a means to get to know each other. You're absolutely right that they didn't need the physical aspect that many romance books think you can't live without or it's not a "true/real" romance. The last half of the book feel flat with me because, as you stated, they were acting very mature in the beginning of the book but then very impulsive and dramatic at the end. I wanted to slap Fallon and say enough feeling sorry and the drama lama stuff! I love Colleen's style of writing and I haven't read a book this fast in a long time. I'm bummed it flopped for you and I'm okay where it ended for me. Loved your review!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim! I loved the beginning too, so I was bummed the whole book concept didn't work for me. But then as more drama llama stuff came out, I knew I couldn't reconcile my feelings. Especially a couple of occurances (just yuck, and no thanks, lol). I've read about other people like you who liked it more than I did in the beginning, but then the ending killed it for them. But with such big numbers of people lovingit, I guess I'm in the minority. But honestly, it feels good to know not everything she writes is gold for me. I feel like I can look at her future books more honestly now. Still curious to what's coming next. Maybe I should do a Slammed reread ;)
DeleteI've read quite a few of Colleen Hoover's books and I haven't enjoyed that many of them. I don't have any plans to read November 9 but this no-contact rule sounds completely absurd :/ Anyway, great review!
ReplyDeleteZareena @ The Slanted Bookshelf
Thanks Zareena! Yeah, I have been a longtime fan of her books, but I just couldn't get behind this one. It was too absurd. If you haven't enjoyed her other books, then I definitely don't recommend this one. (Although, I seem to be in the minority of reviewers, so what do I know, lol.)
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