Author Interview with Colleen Hoover + a Giveaway!

Hello everyone! I have a very special guest here with us today! Like...very speshal! Recently, I just finished her two novels, Slammed and Point of Retreat, and guuuuys, they're BEmazing! I want all of you to read them! No joke! Okay, before I get carried away, please help me in welcoming Colleen Hoover! Hi Colleen! Thank you so very much for joining us here today!

Book Review: Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover

Title: Point of Retreat
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Createspace
Release Date: February 25th, 2012

Find Colleen Hoover Online: Twitter | Website | Facebook

A follow-up novel to Slammed, by Colleen Hoover.

Hardships and heartache brought them together…now it will tear them apart.

Layken and Will have proved their love can get them through anything; until someone from Will’s past re-emerges, leaving Layken questioning the very foundation on which their relationship was built. Will is forced to face the ultimate challenge…how to prove his love for a girl who refuses to stop ‘carving pumpkins.’

My $0.02

I’ve seriously been mulling over this review all day.  I honestly don’t know what else to say besides it was amazing and if you don’t read it, you’ll be missing out on a breathtaking, one of a kind read.  But then I don’t feel like that would do the book any justice, whatsoever, so bear with me as I try my best to gather coherent thoughts and express why Point of Retreat is a book that will be hard to forget.

Teaser Tuesday (20): Slammed by Colleen Hoover

This meme is brought to you weekly by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

Anyone can play along, just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and the author too so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR List if they like your teaser!

My Teaser

I used to love the ocean,
Everything about her.

Her coral reefs, her white caps, her roaring waves, the rocks they lap, her pirate legends and mermaid tales, treasures lost and treasures held.

And ALL
Of her fish
In the sea.

Well, if you've ever tried navigating your sailboat through her stormy seas, you would realize that her white caps are your enemies. If you've ever tried swimming ashore when your leg gets a cramp and you just had a huge meal of In-n-Out burgers that's weighing you down, and her roaring waves are knocking the wind out of you, filling your lungs with water as you flail your arms, trying to get someone's attention, but your friends

just
wave
back at you?

And if you've ever grown up with dreams in your head about life, and how one of these days you would pirate your own ship and have your own crew and that all of the mermaids

would love
only
you?

Well, you would realize...
Like I eventually realized...
That all the good things about her?

All the beautiful?
It's not real.
It's fake.

So, you keep your ocean,
I'll take the Lake.

- ebook: 81-82%, Slammed by Colleen Hoover

I know, I know, I know, I know! You're probably looking at me like, "Damn, she's stupid! It clearly says two lines! TWO! And here she goes, posting a whole freaking chapter!" I'm sorry but I really couldn't help myself. I'm so captivated and in love with Hoover's writing and the way how I get so lost in it that I really, really, really just had to share this chapter with all of you! Before I read Slammed, I was curious as to why it was titled that and I was curious about the cover but within a few pages, you find out what and why the cover and title are the way they are.

Slammed has to do with a lot of poetry-I know, you're probably like, "Poetry!? GAG!" But Hoover made me fall heavily in love with poetry. And this chapter I shared with you guys is a part of that poetry thingy. This scene was definitely, hands down, one of my favorite scenes! I didn't post the whole chapter because that would have gotten really long but I posted enough to get my point across. When I started reading the poem, I was quite confused (as I usually am when I read poetry) but when those last two lines hit, I was blown away! Sigh. You probably won't understand unless you've read it but omg, such a frickin' sweet moment! And if you want, you could check out my review here.

UPDATE

Colleen just tweeted me a link to check out this amazing video of a guy performing this poem and...wow! You must watch it because, seriously, you won't be the same afterwards! NO JOKE!

Aaah, I'm so in love with this that I'll probably watch it at least once a day! It's butterflying BEMAZING guys! And you guys have to read this book because...oh man, it's just woooooow!

If you've got a Teaser Tuesday this week, link me below and I will come by and check it out...when I get released from the hellhole that is school. UGH.

Happy Tuesday and happy reading to all you lovely bookish people!

Book Review: Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Title: Slammed
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Createspace
Release Date: January 1st, 2012

Find Colleen Hoover Online: Twitter | Website | Facebook

After the unexpected death of her father forces eighteen year old Layken and her family to move across the country, away from everyone and everything she knows, her outlook on life is anything but hopeful.

Enter Will Cooper: the attractive twenty-one year old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry. After a night together that turns out to be everything but the expected, both Layken and Will are left with feelings they never knew they could have. Unfortunately in Layken's life, things are never what they seem. Just as quickly as it develops, their relationship is derailed by a shocking revelation, sparking a tumultuous battle between their hearts and their ethics.

As if the dramatic turn of events in her life isn't enough, Layken is slammed again when her mother reveals a secret of her own. A secret so intense, all of Layken's current problems pale in comparison to her seemingly insurmountable future. Unable to confront the changes that lie ahead of her, Layken ignores her conscience as she turns to Will for solace. Struggles ensue as both Layken and Will search for a balance between that which keeps them apart and the feelings that pull them together.

My $0.02

The second I started Slammed I couldn’t stop.  It wasn’t because the story was just that gripping but the author’s writing definitely was.  From the get-go, Ms. Hoover’s writing sucked me in so fast and so hard that I was star-struck and couldn’t do anything but continue reading.  Ms. Hoover’s writing was beautiful, eloquent, peaceful, calm, and very inspirational.  When I first started reading, I didn’t know what to expect but because I was so mesmerized by Hoover’s writing I kept on reading and reading and reading.  Soon enough, I was madly hooked because Slammed starts off with a bang and you find yourself questioning what’s going to happen next and why this is happening and who this is and…basically, you find yourself asking the five W’s of life:  Who?  What?  Where?  When? and Why?

But as soon as I was sucked in, I was kicked back out and landed on my derriere.  Within the first few chapters, there’s a shocking revelation that for me, personally, I couldn’t shake it.  I started Slammed during the evening of one night and I was excited that I was so hooked on it that I didn’t want to stop reading but the following day when this explosive secret was revealed I was a bit deterred from my reading.  I guess you could even say I was weirded out, creeped out, yucked (???) out, even.  Afterwards, I stopped reading for a bit and I was about to start another book when I realized I had put Slammed on hold.  I decided to go ahead and finish it because honestly, what could it hurt!?

After I overcame that hurdle, I ran into another one.  Our leading MC, Layken aka Lake, got under my skin quite a few times.  There were various times that she seemed clinging and desperate for Will Cooper’s attention.  She seemed like that so much that I was turned off by her character for most of the beginning of the book.  But as I kept pushing myself to read further and further into the story, I became so involved with what was happening with the storyline that all those concerns and worries kind of got pushed to the back of my mind.  I mean, they were still there but they went from being this big to being this big.  In other words, there were other pressing issues at hand that my mind wasn’t so focused on them.

As the story unfolds, I found myself liking it more than I thought I was going to.  I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did because well…I had a hard time getting through parts of it.  But something about the way Hoover writes makes it hard to not get lost in her words.  Like there’s more to the story and her words than what is really being said.  The three characters that I felt had the biggest impact throughout the story were Lake’s mom, brother and best friend.  They were like the constant reminders that you need in life—that no matter how hard life threw its hardest punch, you just get right back up and punch life square on in the face as well!

Overall, I didn’t like Slammed but I liked Slammed.  It’s one of those where I’m unsure how to feel.  I like it but at the same time there were stuff that I didn’t like and then I find myself weighing my options, seeing if the like outweighed the didn’t like.  After sitting here, gathering my thoughts, I think I…liked Slammed more than I didn’t like Slammed.  The ending to Slammed was very powerful and if I could, I would quote the whole thing.  Actually, there were so many lines from Slammed that I want to quote; I want to print out a bunch of lines from the book and tape them all over my bedroom!  Slammed was very inspirational and it reminds you to be strong no matter what life throws at you and it reminds you that everything will be fine and it will all find a way to work itself out.

Links to purchase Slammed: Paperbacks: Createspace | Amazon | Ebooks: Amazon | Barnes & Noble