Alright, this is a premiere. My first Colleen Hoover book that didn't get a solid 5 star rating! I know, I know, I shouldn't get into reading her any books with such high expectations but since I enjoyed - and even loved - all her previous ones ... of course I expected to love this one as well. Needless to say that I absolutely didn't get what I hoped for. Sadly.

Don't get me wrong, it was still an enjoyable read and the characters were quite likable (most of the time) but all in all just ... average. I'm not used to write stuff like that about a CoHo book but ... am I really the only one who feels like that? At least among my friends on Goodreads, (almost) everyone seemed to LOVE it and it gave it 5 stars. Hmmm.

I just wasn't invested in the characters and/or storyline. Sure, there were some funny and sweet scenes but overall it wasn't as emotional as her other books. For me that's really important. I don't mind when a book gives me all the feels - quite the opposite, I WANT THEM! - and usually I get them very easily while reading Colleen's books but apparently not this time. *sigh*

Benton Kessler is another reason I couldn't give this more stars. That he's a writer made me really excited and curious. At first he seemed intriguing? Fascinating? I just liked him but as Fallon's and his relationship progressed, I just ... no. There were some things he did/said that REALLY disturbed me and where I was like: "Ummm, stop? Like, right now?". So while I liked him in the beginning, I didn't really care about him throughout the rest of the book, even though he had some cute moments and helped Fallon in some way. Speaking of Fallon O'Neil, she was ... kind of relatable? She's scarred, insecure and has issues that she doesn't really know how to get over. Honestly, it felt good to read how she slowly accepted and started to love herself. Also, I liked her humour a lot. She's great!

As usual there was some drama that could've easily been solved if people would only TALK with each other - if nothing, at least it taught me this. The ending was quite touching though - it even made me sympathize with Ben - and was a lot better than the middle part. We also got a little surprise and met some characters from another Colleen Hoover book, which was VERY sweet! Me likey!

So, even though I only gave this 3 stars it's definitely NOT a bad book - it just didn't really work for me. Nonetheless I would recommend you to read Colleen's books. She's still one of the most talented and amazing Contemporary Romance writers and you're definitely missing out on something if you don't even give them a try . It's worth it, so please go check them out!

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16th December:
Yeah, this wasn't really my thing. It's the first book by Colleen Hoover that I didn't love with all my heart and you have no idea how much that saddens me ... I just expected MORE. Ben was mostly okay, I think. He said/did some things that weren't really okay and disturbed me but even though the ending was quite touching, it's only an average read for me. Oh well, maybe the next one will be better. ;)