Book Review: Slammed by Colleen Hoover

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

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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