Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Losing Hope

Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover is the follow up to her book Hopeless. Where Hopeless was told from the point of view of the heroine, Sky, Losing Hope is told from the point of view of the hero, Dean Holder (aka Holder).

I read Hopeless several months ago and was blown away! I thought the book was very well written with excellent character development and a plot that pulls you in deep. The subject matter is dark at times but for me that just made me love the characters even more and made me feel like I really understood them better. There were several shocks delivered that I did not see coming and for me, that is what really makes a great story! I find predictability to be the epitome of boring.

I am not sure when the whole phenomenon of retelling the same story from the point of view of another character came to be vogue. I’m thinking the heat everyone put on Stephanie Meyer to retell Twilight from Edwards POV started it all. I totally get the appeal of getting to relive a story you love and “see” things in a different way.

I have been known to read and re-read books I love time and time again – and with those re-reads I often find details I missed on the first go around. But when you get a chance to revisit a story from another character’s POV it can shed a whole different light on circumstances, emotions and just about everything that happened. That was most definitely the case with Losing Hope.

This book is somewhere between Young Adult and New Adult as far as the genre is concerned. Having said that, I am myself neither a young adult nor a new adult and I find that I really enjoy books in those categories - sometimes. The main characters are still in high school but the subject matter and sexual situations are more mature than I would want to consider for the Young Adult category.

I would recommend reading Hopeless before you read Losing Hope but it is not strictly required. I just feel like the information you gather by reading the story from Sky’s POV sets the ground for the flip side of the coin when Holder is in charge.

It is difficult to give a synopsis of either the Hopeless or Losing Hope without laying down major spoilers.  So treading lightly here… Sky is a 17 year old high school student. Homeschooled all of her life by her over protective mother, she is given the opportunity to finish high school by attending the “real” high school in her hometown. As you might imagine, she does not fit in well to the established catty, chick clicks that are notorious in every high school. Though she is quite attractive and catches the eye of many of the boys in her school, she just cannot seem to find it in her to “feel” anything for any of them. That is until she bumps into the school outcast, Dean Holder, at the grocery store. Dean (known to everyone simply as Holder) is back in town after being “sent away” - as popular public opinion would have you believe. When he sees Sky for the first time it is quite a shock to him. He simply has to get to know more about this mysterious girl who has lived only 2 miles away from hi m for years but yet he does not know her – but she seems so familiar to him. Holder’s patience and understanding is what makes me love him so much in these books. Certainly not typical of any 18 year old young man I have ever met or known. His maturity would put 30 year old men to shame. Does that make this book unrealistic? Probably. But who cares, Holder is awesome! And smokin’ hot. Again a little too smooth for his age but again ladies, it is fiction after all. And honestly, who really wants to read about how gangly, awkward, self-centered typical teenagers truly behave – that is not awesome.

Holder gets to delve more and more into Sky as she slowly open up to him. Holder wants to take it slow and make sure she “feels” something with him where she has not felt anything before.  It is this point of the story when reading it from either of the sides that is swoon-worthy! Sky feels a comfort and ease in confiding and trusting Holder that she has not before experienced. It is the slow walk they are on together that leads them down the path of acknowledging things in both of their pasts that they had long since buried in their subconscious. It is as those “revelations” start to unfold that the story really takes off. And by the end, they have come full circle. The story does not leave you wanting or feeling like there is unfinished business. Colleen does a great job of tying everything up so you are left satisfied that Sky and Holder’s story has been told and their future has possibilities. Whether Colleen feels moved to write of their future or leave it to the reader to imagine – well I am good either way. And I have a great imagination!

I definitely recommend Losing Hope and give it 5 stars!

-- This book is available now by ebook version but will not be available until mid October 2013 in print.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Mountain Charm by Sydney Logan

Howdy Ya’all, Mountain Charm really struck a cord with me because it is set in the mountains of Tennessee. Living in Nashville myself, I have visited this area many times and there are few places on earth as beautiful as the Smoky Mountains. Angelina is a mountain witch in a long line of witches from her family tree. I was not aware that mountain witches were in a category of their own. Magic and spells plays only a minor role in the telling of this story. The spell Angelina casts on her thirteenth birthday is done to draw her true love to her. This is pretty much where the magic begins and ends for this witch. There is another talent or two that pops up here and there throughout the story but again, it is just not a big part of the story. Now that did not disappoint me in the least. Though I do like a good witchy book every now and then – the setting being my own backyard does not lend itself to the mystical notions of witches and such. For some reason I always want to place a good witch story either in a quaint coastal New England setting or an Ivy League university. Maybe them thar hills is crawlin’ with witches and such. Better keep my eye open the next time I do some hiking in the woods.

The rest of the story is endearing enough. It is a typical boy meets girl romance. Dylan Thomas travels from Nashville to the small mountain town of Maple Ridge on an assignment to write an article for a magazine. The article is about mountain witches of course. I did like the way Angelina met Dylan for the first time. Not a typical meeting to say the least.

Angelina is at first skeptical about the possibility that the spell from her 13th birthday would really work. Then when she sees it working in action she becomes concerned that this man who has entered her life is only there because of the spell. Dylan setting her mind at ease about this concern was perfectly romantic and convincing.

Now there are some romances novels I could recommend to my own mother with a clear conscience – not Fifty Shades of Grey, for example. And this book might be one I could recommend to her. There were some decent love scenes but nothing that caused me to get all hot and bothered. I would have liked a little more tempting and teasing and more drawn out southern lovin’. However, that might just not be where this author wanted to take her story. I wonder though, because she did not leave the hot and steamy out completely. I felt like the build up could have been better developed. You know what they say about bringing the reader right to the edge and then the delay… and another scene that gets you almost there but not quite all the way… before ahhhhhh FINALLY! Now that’s what I’m talking about! That is what was missing for me in this novel. It’s all about the build up baby!

The potential story between Angelina’s mother and a gentleman friend referred to a few times throughout the story would be one I’d like to read about. The hinting of a relationship between them and where that relationship could go and the “powers” her mother has would make for a good story indeed ya’all. Don't think I'm talking about a gray haired grannie witch here - mama is probably all of 45 years old seeing as Angelina is only 21. But that's another story for another day - if Sydney writes it.

I’d give this one a good solid 3 stars.