BOOK REVIEW | [ARC] UGLY LOVE by Colleen Hoover

Title: UGLY LOVE 

Author: Colleen Hoover (Website | Twitter)

Publisher: Atria Books

Publication Date: August 5, 2014 

SYNOPSIS

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.

Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.

Promises get broken.

Rules get shattered.

Love gets ugly.

Mark and add Ugly Love on your "to read" list in Goodreads, using this link. 

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I’m a very emotional reader. I’ve cried in most books that I’ve read and people who’ve been following my blog or friends with me in Goodreads can attest to that. So, it’s really a no brainer that I’ve cried while reading EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. Colleen Hoover (MY QUEEN *bows down*) has written. Like all of ‘em. Even the uber short novella companion for the Hopeless series, Finding Cinderella, made me tear up. BUT.

BUT NOTHING COULD’VE PREPARED ME FOR THE AVALANCHE OF EMOTIONS UGLY LOVE DUMPED ON ME. None. Nada. So, if you were moved by her previous books then you’ll probably drown or be ruined while reading this one.

Well played. Well done, MY QUEEN. *slow claps* You did it again. You’ve contributed another masterpiece to the book-verse with your book, Ugly Love. It deserves all the anticipation and the hype that it’s been getting from bloggers and early readers of the book. It’s definitely a must-read book. Here’s a direct quote taken from my review of Maybe Someday that I feel like I should also include it in here because that's how I'm feeling again and now towards Ugly Love: “I shouldn’t even be surprised by how beautiful this book turned out to be because time and time again, Hoover proved to us how talented, passionate she is into writing her books and how her books turn out to be carved into sheer perfection.”. I think, nothing could ever go wrong with Colleen and the books that she’s writing.

I declare it and I think everybody will declare it after they’re read it that UGLY LOVE is totally the HOTTEST and MOST HEARTBREAKING Colleen Hoover book, by far. She definitely stepped it up a notch with writing this one. It’s very noticeable that her books are getting more mature, emotional and painful by the time she publishes another book. We can see her incredible growth towards how she chooses the materials for her book and how she writes it.

It also wholly showcased that Ms. Hoover is really at the top of her game right now. Why did I say that? Because when you think of the concept for Ugly Love, you can say that it’s just quite simple one – “Sex with no strings attached. There’s a terrible past that’s involved in the equation. Things get messy along the way.” But damn, she’s such a great and perfect storyteller for this one. The way Colleen Hoover managed to deliver and tell this story to us is what made it extraordinary. Hoover was insanely clever in every aspect of the way she wrote it. Her choice of words, the pacing, the narration of the story from the POVs of Tate and Miles (from present – six years earlier), the positioning of the chapters, the varying writing styles she used for the POVs, the perfect amount of curiosity and intense build up of events and feelings were nailed down to perfection. I love how she breathes emotions to the characters and how she puts it into words. It is simply breathtaking.

It’s a Colleen Hoover book so I never really doubted it to be anything other than be perfect.

Even the cover of the book is perfect and fitting. I fell in love with the book’s cover from the day it was revealed because of its simplicity, how it stands out and the non-involvement of cover models. It’s also an attention and interest-grabbing cover because you just want to know how it correlates with the story. What’s with the water in the cover? It makes you think of theories on what happens in the book. Back then, my mind can only come up with … “maybe because I’ll be crying a lot that my tears can already help fill up an empty land with a size of a lake or a sea”. But oh man. I fell deeper in love with it when I knew about the connection of it with the story. Yes, there’s a huge connection. May it be from the past and in the present. So, be on the lookout.

UGLY LOVE follows through the characters of Tate Collins and Miles Archer. It starts off with Tate moving in to her brother’s (Corbin) apartment for a fresh start and to continue her masters in nursing. She's such a career-driven person that she doesn't even have time for love. During her move in day, she meets Miles Archer - the guy who's currently passed out in front of her brother's apartment's door. That's when she immediately picked up on something about Miles’ persona ... The guy's suffering from deep pain and is just filled with remorse towards something in his life.

As days passed, Miles continues to be as closed off and quiet as he is. Tate couldn't read his mind. She couldn't even determine if he's even a little bit attracted to her. Such a mysterious and complex guy.

When Miles' is off from work, they are pretty much around each other considering that he's friends with Corbin. And apparently, the dude hangs out in their apartment too. They may be interacting with each other but they don't consider themselves as friends. Except that there's this undeniably strong pull that they're constantly feeling whenever they're near each other.

 

He doesn’t want love and she don’t have any time for it. Seems to be a perfect setting to strike up a deal? And oh yes, that's what they did. They agreed to have sex. A lot. With no strings attached. Plus, Tate must agree to follow through the only two rules that Miles' laid out for her:

 

“Don’t ask about my past. And never expect a future.” - Miles

It already screams for something that doesn’t end well, right? And situations like this are bound to be complicated and messy, yeah? Well, the question now is how messy can Tate and Miles' story get? Be sure to grab a lot of tissues, like boxes of ‘em, before you lock yourself up in your room and read this one. This is a heart wrenching and an ultimate tearjerker book.

Ugly Love is written from alternating POVs of Tate and Miles. Tate is the one narrating the events happening in the present while Miles’ POV takes place six years earlier. Genius move. Because right from the start you’re already waiting where and when the past and present POVs will meet halfway and everything unfolds.

It’s also pretty clever considering that Miles is such a complex and mysterious character. So having that type of narration, each chapter just feels like you’re getting rid of a very thick swirl of cloud covering up Miles’ character. And my goodness! Reading about the past-Miles and present- Miles is just too much. The difference between them was so unnerving. I can’t wrap around my head the fact that they’re just one person. You’ll be repeatedly asking yourself, what happened to him? What triggered this huge change with his character? I also can't help myself from commenting about the writing style she picked for Miles’ POV. It was powerful. Like really powerful. You're going to hang to every word he's saying. Sentence after sentence the intensity of the story that he's narrating to us just increases tenfold. You're just waiting for him to drop the bomb and shatter everything that surrounds him.

The positioning of the chapters from the present and past was well-thought of because it somewhat parralels with each other.  You can notice the common thoughts and feelings running through Tate and Miles. There was a part where I really got goose bumps because of how similar they were thinking. It was freaky, in a good way. There were some lines which Miles’ said in the past that were also uttered in the present. When you come to think of it and if you’re a keen observer, you’ll now that he’s cluing you in already as to what he’s really feeling in the present. You just have to decode the relationships and meaning of the words he’s saying to Tate. Nicely done, Ms. Hoover.

This. I have never experienced such temptation to sneak a peek at a book’s ending, like this one. I have been teased for months already so my hands were just itching to flip it towards the back of the book and read it because I just want (or should I say, that I’m dying) to know about Miles’ back story AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. But because I’m such a good reader, I didn’t let myself cave in. And it was a great decision because every single page of the book, every single experience/moment of the characters and every single line that they’re uttered was so worth it to read through and experience alongside them.

So, when I finally reached the climax (the most crucial and vulnerable part) and everything from the past and present unfolds … I was just gutted. Heartbroken. Devastated. And all the possible synonyms of those words. It felt like I’m drowning. It also felt like a torrential downpour of emotions has been cast upon my head. BIG. FAT. UGLY tears were just free flowing from my eyes. My heart’s doing that clenching, gripping movement which doesn’t allow me to breathe freely. It was painful. It was ugly.

“It’s intense. It’s heartbreaking. It’s devastating. It’s ugly.”

Tate Collins. She may be the one who inflicted pain to herself but I understand her. I understand why she agreed to it and all of her decisions that came after that. Yes, there were parts that I would want to shake some sense into her already because she's got a lot to lose with that kind of set-up she has with Miles. But in the end, I really admired her. I admired her because she's a person who's full of hope and believes that love can heal things - even one's that has been shattered by it, too. She was just the right person for Miles. The person who can fully show him that despite the ugly side of love that he experienced there's still a side of it wherein loving someone is worth every single pain and ugliness it throws at us.

Miles Archer. Right from the start (like way back when the blurb for this book was just released), I was already teased and intrigued by Miles’ character. I was dying to get my hands to a copy of the book already. You ask me WHY.

1. The blurb, itself. What’s with Miles?

2. The teasers. Miles?

3. And because of this one:

“Miles. 
Miles, Miles, Miles. 
Seven books I've successfully completed. 
Will? He didn't make me cry when I wrote him. 
Holder? Nope. No tears, here. 
Daniel? I might have pissed myself laughing. 
Ridge? Heart wrenching, soul-crushing. But dry eyes. 
Miles?
Miles, Miles, Miles. 
He's making me bawl like a baby.” - Colleen's review

What’s with Miles that even the author herself bawled like a baby? From then on, I was just scared for my life because I know Hoover will rip my heart out AGAIN. And damn, she really did.

If there's a character in the entire book-verse who deserves to experience love again, I'll say that it'll be definitely Miles. MILES. MILES. MILES. MILES. I WANT TO HUG HIM MORE THAN I WANT TO HUG RIDGE. Thinking about the amount of heartache and pain that he experienced through the years and being alone at that, just makes me want to hold him so tight and cry my heart out again. His past is utterly painful that you’ll fully understand why he doesn’t want love. His belief was built from the piled up emotions he’s gone through. His heart has been trumped up on with an equally painful and unforgettable experience that he’s decided to just give up on love altogether. So, what happened? Read the book, that’ll be my answer to that.

"If I were capable of loving someone… it would be you." 

There’s a thick brick wall blocking out the real Miles from the real world. He manages to plaster stoic expression in his face all the damn time. He’s mysterious. It’s hard to figure him out, even guess what he’s thinking. So it’s really a treat when he does things that he gets to show some emotion on his face and show affection to Tate – smile, grin, laugh, kiss her forehead, holds her hand and more. My heart instantly flutters every time I read scenes like that. Maybe for him it was JUST a smile but for the people around him, for Tate, it’s already a gift to see it appear on his face.

“The couch or your bed?" he whispers. 
"Both," I reply.”

Phew! Colleen Hoover can write really steamy and sexy scenes. She really turned it up a notch in the hotness level meter here in Ugly Love. I was fanning myself for the most parts of the book 'cause whenever Tate and Miles were together ... They were just explosive. Either with how their bodies react towards each other or with the bucket load of unsaid feelings. Just explosive and hot as hell.

Maybe Someday, the book released back in March, fully reached its perfection when Hoover was able to seamlessly interlaced Peterson’s music into the book’s storyline. It was a genius, clever and *bow down to the ground* idea that she thought of and put to use while writing that book. Every song in that soundtrack was just bursting with the whole theme and tone of the book. Everything was just the perfect fit for the scenes and the feelings of the characters. Peterson just gets them. Peterson gets the characters Colleen Hoover creates. Perfection right off the bat, yes?

I’m in love with this Hoover-Peterson tandem. My goodness!

So when just days before the release of Ugly Love, Hoover announced over her website that this tandem will be back AGAIN! I’m quite sure every fans reaction was a lot of squealing, flailing around or even spazzing in their seats. That’s how ecstatic we are during that announcement. We learn that Griffin wrote a SONG for Ugly Love, with that same title. With me being a very lucky early reader for Ugly Love, I was so stoked to listen to the song and check out the lyrics. I want to know how the song encapsulated every emotion of the book.

And shizz. With just one song, Griffin Peterson was able to capture

the concept/storyline,

“I set the rules are you gonna stay / This is a game you might not wanna play”

the emotions felt by Miles for six years,

“Passin’ through hell on my way back home / I feel the loneliness seepin’ to my bones”

a glimpse of Miles’ and Tate’s relationship

“I keep coming back beggin’ you for more / Watch my knees as they fall to the floor / Want you to push / You always take the shove / You don’t need this broken kind of love”

and the feeling of redemption and acceptance.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come and pull me back down / All the weight of the truth is taking me to the ground / I say, Love ain’t always pretty sometimes it’s UGLY / You say, Love ain’t always pretty sometimes it’s UGLY.”

Purchase the song on iTUNES | AMAZON

Bless these amazing people. May Colleen Hoover and Griffin Peterson continue to make beautiful book and music together in the future. I think that’s what every CoHort or WEBLICH prays.

Ugly Love is one of those books that you wouldn't want to pass up! I tell you, when you see it in your local bookstores on August 5th, you should: 

1. GRAB A HOLD OF IT

2. HEAD OVER TO THE COUNTER

3. PAY FOR IT

4. MAKE A STOP OVER AND BUY LOTS OF TISSUES!!!

5. LOCK YOURSELF UP IN YOUR ROOM

6. LET COLLEEN HOOVER AND UGLY LOVE CONSUME YOU. 

Allow it to take you on  SMOKIN' HOT, EMOTIONAL AND GRIPPING JOURNEY OF TWO CHARACTERS AND A PAST THAT THEY MUST FACE AND OVERCOME FOR THE BEAUTIFUL AND WORTHY SIDE OF LOVE TO PREVAIL. 

P.S. I think every Colleen Hoover book should come with a box of tissue when you pre-order it. There are just a lot of tears involved when you read one. *sniffs*

This is such a lengthy post. So consider me done here. Bye.

Thus, entering the BOOK HANGOVER mode … 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars <3