Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Plot Synopsis: Seventeen year old Sky has lived a pretty sheltered life. Her adopted mother does not believe in technology and homeschools Sky until her senior year. After her first day in public school, Sky has a chance encounter at the grocery store with Holder, a handsome boy with a violent reputation. Something about Holder makes the usually composed Sky jittery and yet excited. They slowly become closer with one another and this begins opening an avalanche of truths about Sky's life that she could never have imagined...

Literary Analysis: Colleen Hoover is an over-analyst  The story is told in first person through Sky's eyes and the amount of detail that goes into Sky's thought processes and subtle movements can be overwhelming. Nonetheless, there's something wonderful about that over-analyzing that makes the reader understand why Sky does what she does and it's fun to see her put the pieces together. There are a few ends that are tied a little too easily together, when the reader will react with a, "Really? That's it?! How convenient!" Yet, the story moves forward, particulary 60% in when things get very interesting...

Personal Reaction: I'll be honest - I didn't realize this was an adolescent novel. I'd say it's for 16 year olds and up since there are a few parts of the novel I'd label "soft erotica." There's a cheesy factor in this book that was really hard for me to overlook. There's a lot of neck kissing...too much neck kissing. Too many hands caressing faces. Too many awkward moments that made me cringe for Sky...and even more for Holder, who has to deal with this crazy teenage girl! Too many descriptions of Holder rubbing the back of his neck and running his hands through his hair. It's cheesy! Another part I hate is when authors, who clearly love books, create characters who really love books to the point that they don't even live in the real world. Sky declares, "I need a chapter break," when she wishes life would just stop. UGH. It's like writing a book about writing a book or a movie about making a movie. It's weird. You shouldn't do it. Yet, I read the book in 5 days (at leisure) and I was intrigued by the plotline. The ending is a "happily ever after" despite Sky claiming, "This isn't going to be a happily ever after..." Okay, whatever - everything seems fine to me, so what's the problem?

Final Rating: 6/10. Points were deducted for the cheesy factor, the convenient resolutions to certain plotlines, and a somewhat psychotic narrator.