Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Book Review: Too Late by Colleen Hoover

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: March 30, 2016
Publisher: Self-Published

Sloan will go through hell and back for her little brother. And she does, every single night.

Forced to remain in a relationship with the dangerous and corrupt Asa Jackson, Sloan will do whatever it takes to make sure her brother has what he needs.

Nothing will get in her way.

Nothing except Carter.

Sloan is the only good thing to ever happen to Asa. He knows this and he never plans on letting her go; even if she doesn't approve of his lifestyle. But despite Sloan's disapproval, Asa knows what it takes to get what he wants. He knows what he needs to do to remain on top.

Nothing will get in his way.

Nothing except Carter.

 

Oh Colleen Hoover does love her drama so.

Not going to lie, happy that this was a freebie as it seemed to lack any emotional connection that I've had with her prior works. Not sure why, but something was really off about this one. Maybe it was the absurd nature of the overall plot line. This just didn't read like a CoHo book to me.

Let's start with the characters. Carter was your classic hero of the story, literally Prince Charming. But he was very one dimensional. It seemed like Hoover just wrote him to be the glaring opposite of Asa in every way. If Asa liked up, the Carter liked down. If Asa liked black, then Carter liked white. It was a little hard to fall in love with him unless you were Sloan.

As for Sloan, we were told often how strong she was but you need to do more than tell us. You need to show this in the story. Don't get me wrong, there were aspects of her character that showed strength, but overall she was very naive and not very smart about life considering all that she had gone through in her past.

Then there was Asa. I don't even know. Were we supposed to like him? Hate him? Feel sorry for him? Obviously he was a very despicable person and was screwed up in the head. My main feeling for him was pity and disgust. So if that's what you were going for, nailed it.

The insta love was another factor that didn't sit well with me. Sloan basically fell for another version of Asa- or so she thought - but this one held her hand and told her pretty things. Wake up, sweetie. I know Carter ultimately turned out to be the good guy but you didn't know that in the beginning and were basically just repeating the cycle you had with Asa.

Also, anyone else feel like this was much more graphic and vulgar than anything else she's ever written?

I will never deny that Hoover can write, and I will probably read everything she writes. But I've noticed that it's starting to feel like drama for the sake of drama rather than natural progression.  

 
 
 
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