Title: SLAMMED (First book of the Slammed Series)
Author: Colleen Hoover
SYNOPSIS
Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope.
Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.
Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.
Immediate
thought after reading this book. Wait. Wow, this book is
abso-freakin’-lutely beautiful and moving. There were tears in my eyes, I
think; starting from the last two chapters of the book until I reach the
epilogue.
Ramblings. Am I the last person on Earth to read this book? Slammed is one of those books that I’ve been putting off
since I checked its rating and some reviews here on Goodreads. Yep, I’m crazy.
I don’t know, I just have this weird thinking that I know it’s going to be an
awesome read and I just don’t want to be done with it yet. Though, yesterday I
had this sudden feeling of wanting and being giddy to read this one already. So
here, I am … I caved in and finished it in just a few hours. I’ve read the
Hopeless Series and I can certainly say that Colleen Hoover and Slammed didn’t
disappoint.
My thoughts. This isn’t the type of book where
readers just witness how the story of the main characters go – fall in love and suddenly there's a certain hindrance for them to be able to pursue their love for each other, but Slammed gives us more than that. Not only we get to have a
swoon-worthy dude and his swoon-worthy poems but all throughout the novel bits
and pieces of life lessons were injected. The story finds its way to touch our
hearts and impart something to us, readers. It touches, teaches and makes us
feel all these kinds of feels. With that, I can definitely say that no amount
of time that you alloted in reading this book will be put to waste.
Slammed didn’t just present us all
the rainbows and unicorn moments in a person’s life but we’re constantly
reminded with the inevitable matter in life - which is death. We are treated
with a front row seat of the highs and lows a family could experience. There
were also portrayals of days where a person experiences pure bliss but to
balance it out there were days where life just felt the need to pull the rug
under our feet – wherein all we can do is learn and suck it all up. Those that
I’ve mentioned just made the entire book very realistic and very relatable.
Poetry absolutely played a big
role in this book. I loooooove the whole concept of it and that’s actually what
makes this book entirely unique. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t read any book
with that kind of concept where we get to know more about these characters not
in the normal way (wherein they just talk and have conversations with each
other ) BUT instead we have this slam poetry or poems through the course of the
book. With just a single poem, it feels like we know more about their
characters in a deeper sense and it makes us feel a lot towards them. Their
happiness turns into our own happiness and their heartaches turn into our own heartaches.
And yeah, we get those a lot in this book. So you better prepare your heart
before reading this book. Not to mention, those poems were powerful, moving and uhhh just perfect.
Let’s talk about the main
characters …
Layken and Will. These two are
just sooooo adorable together, that even when that part where a huge bomb was dropped
on us … I was still shipping them and just all the way hoping for everything to
work out in the end. Will. *swoons* He's definitely gonna be part of my Book Boyfriend list! Aaaand his poems, everything was wonderful.
Julia Cohen, Layken’s mom, definitely played a huge role in Layken and Will's relationship. I would also love to have a person like her in my life. READ THE EPILOGUE and you'll know why. There were really big fat tears in my eyes when I was reading that part of the book. It was such a beautiful moment for Lake and Will. I CRY.
Kel and Caulder. Aaaaaah this
cutie duo! Talking backwards and all that, I just wanna hug these two. At such a young age they've already experienced so many things in life - even life altering situations but they still managed to come out strong and be just like any other kid. I'm thankful that they've got each other's back now and will forever be buddies.
Unique, utterly realistic and relatable,
filled with life lessons, amazing poetry, swoon-worthy male lead character and
oh well romance … what more would you ask for, dear readers? Slammed is a
complete package already, that all you need to do is pick it up in the
bookstores near you! This is one of the series that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
And ooooh wait. Colleen Hoover’s
going to try to something new again with her upcoming book, Maybe Someday.
She has this cool thing going on there where songs will be
incorporated in the novel and I guess, same with this one, that’s how the main characters of the book will get to know each other. I’m sure that just like Slammed;
Maybe Someday will also rock and deliver Colleen Hoover goodness!
Point
of Retreat is currently waiting for me.
So …
bye x
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
This review is also posted on my Goodreads account, here.
Mark and add this book in your "to read" list on Goodreads.
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