Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Add to Goodreads

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.

My thoughts

I was a bit hesistant about this book, because there have been a huge hype about Colleen Hoover's books, and I've been rather disappointed with popular books lately. But it turned out there was absolutely nothing to fear, because Slammed was absolutely fantastic. It was much more, actually, but I can't seem to find proper words for how much I love this book, and it has taken me very long to even write this review. The story was so touching, so deep and so thought-provoking, and I honestly loved every word of it.
Hoover has such a way with words, enchanting you, so you get sucked right into the story, never wanting to leave. You just want to keep reading about these amazing characters till you've turned the very last page, and then you'll crave more. And I was consumed by all the feelings I had while reading, from happiness to despair, from love to fear, and from giddiness to sadness. I might even have cried a little bit. 

Lake was an amazing character. Right from the beginning I knew I was going to like her. Even though she has had a hard time following the death of her father, she keeps moving on. And then finally she finds happiness, just to lose it all before she even really got it. She goes through a lot, and sometimes she breaks down, sometimes she just want to pause it all and don't deal with it, but in the end she faces it all with courage and responsibility. And I admired her for all the difficult choices she made. 

Will is one of my new favorite male main characters. He is simply perfect, though he makes a lot of mistakes and is flawed, he is also just the best guy. He is so sweet and caring, always put others before himself and he is always, always there to help Lake. I absolutely loved his poems, and how he poured his heart out. Honestly, he made me totally swoon throughout the book, and I couldn't get enough of him. 

Actually, I loved all the characters in this book, which is kind of rare for me. But they were all so believable and loveable, and they all had such a great impact on the story. Julia was an incredible mother and she definitely taught me some life lessons. Caulder and Kel took some of the tension out of the book while living a bit backwards. I loved how Eddie was always cheerful and happy despite all the things she had been through, and how she understood and helped Lake. All the characters kind of spoke to me and somehow in different ways inspired me.

As you can probably tell I loved this book very much, and it got right into my very limited all-time favorites list. I'm not sure my review even did the book justice, I feel like I mostly just ramble, trying to string my thoughts together. So I guess I'll just recommend that you read and experience Slammed yourself.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆