Review: Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover

Losing Hope
by Colleen Hoover
Series: Hopeless #2
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: July 8, 2013
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Source: purchased
Purchase*: Barnes and Noble/Amazon/Book Depository

In Hopeless, Sky left no secret unearthed, no feeling unshared, and no memory forgotten, but Holder’s past remained a mystery. Still haunted by the little girl he let walk away, Holder has spent his entire life searching for her in an attempt to finally rid himself of the crushing guilt he has felt for years. But he could not have anticipated that the moment they reconnect, even greater remorse would overwhelm him… Sometimes in life, if we wish to move forward, we must first dig deep into our past and make amends. In Losing Hope, bestselling author Colleen Hoover reveals what was going on inside Holder’s head during all those hopeless moments—and whether he can gain the peace he desperately needs.

Hopeless was the first book that I read by Colleen Hoover and I adored the characters and was swept up in the tale, so I was really excited and nervous to read Losing Hope. Told from Holder’s point of view Hoover gave us a fresh look at the events and insight into Holder himself. Three word review: captivating, heartbreaking, beautiful.

Say good-bye to your heart as Hoover whisks it away in the very first pages of this tale as she takes us into the mind of Holder, his sister’s suicide and his interactions with Sky. In Hopeless we learned everything from Sky’s perspective and in Losing Hope the tale that unfolds shares those events as well as things we didn’t see and the impact it all had on this swoon-worthy, broken, sensitive young man. The tale held my heart hostage.

I connected with and enjoyed both Holder and Sky in the previous novel, but getting inside Holder’s head as he deals with losing his sister, returning home and discovering Sky took my emotions on one heck of a ride. Hoover slowly peeled back Holder’s layers showing his emotions and the guilt he carries regarding his sister and the little girl who disappeared. We see his sensitive side; how he struggles, his concern for Sky, his parents and doing the right thing. It is powerful and raw and felt very genuine. In the midst of YA and NA bad boys Dean Holder is refreshing. He is basically an all around good guy dealing with some pretty traumatic crap. Yet, he has just enough of an edge to appeal to those who adore their bad boys. Sky is innocent, complicated and naive; I loved seeing her through Holder’s eye. Holder’s best friend Daniel is back and he is a strong secondary character who is loyal, hilarious and supportive. Now Breckin is Sky’s best friend and I adored him and his sense of humor in the first book and we get more glimpses of him and his interactions with Holder making me one happy reader. While Les, holder’s sister gets less page time, her presence is powerful and her story captivating.

This is the second author to amaze me when telling the same tale from a different POV. The first was Jamie McGuire with Travis’s story in Walking Disaster and as much as I adored that book Hoover took it to another level. This wasn’t just a play by play of the same scenes from Holder’s POV, she gives us new scenes, information is revealed, answers are given. Tremendous insight into Holder and his struggles apart from Sky make this unbelievably fresh, and had me whipping the pages and devouring the words. OMG, I think I’ve gone all fan-girl and no I haven’t had any Monster Java today! While this plays off the first book, it can stand on its own. Both books toyed with my emotions, had me connecting to the characters and caught up in the tale as it unfolded. A part of me loves Losing Hope even more than Hopeless, but I am honestly not sure if it’s because I read the first book and together they made me fall completely and madly in love with a smexy, sweet, troubled young man named Dean Holder.

For fans of Colleen Hover Losing Hope is a must read, and if you liked Jamie McGuire’s’ Walking Disaster and Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry will enjoy this tale. 

Five cups of coffee out of five