Review: Slammed by Colleen Hoover ★★★★

  

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Genre: Contemporary New Adult Romance 
Series: Slammed #1
Publication Date: January 5th 2012
ISBN: 2940014187602
Page Count: 314
Rating: ★★★1/2
Review Copy: Audiobook
Reviewed by: Lynsey



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.

Review:

A sweet and endearing New Adult read.

In keeping with my pledge to try new genres in 2013, I decided to pick up this book; a Contemporary New Adult Romance. New Adult is a pretty new genre category all together, I've only really seen the term bandied about this last couple of months. It's basically an older version of YA, characters are generally 18 years or older, and if it's set at any kind of school it would be college drama rather than highschool drama. (Yay!) For adults reading the genre it makes that walk back down memory lane slightly more tolerable. Bridging the gap between the often explicit, sex-oriented adult romances, and the sweet, shy hand-holding variety of YA books, falling somewhere in the middle.

Slammed was a sweet, gentle story following the romantic fumblings of twenty-one-year old Will and eighteen-year-old Lake. Having lost her father and moved to a new State with her mother and younger brother, Lake meets new neighbour Will the very first day and there's an instant and strong attraction between them and a connection that surprises them both. There's also a massive complication that no one saw coming. Sadly, as much as I enjoyed the shock revelation of said complication, it effectively drew a halt to the progression of the romance for much of the book.

Aside from romantic woes, there was also a nice and rather thought-provoking family drama that unfolded. As I mentioned before, Lake has a younger brother, Kel, and he and his new buddy Caulder (Will's younger brother of the same age), were a great addition to the story. The antics of these two were really cute and also provided a reason to stay in contact with Will when times were tough, as well as just making me smile at their shenanigans.

Another big 'character,' if you will, in this book was the poetry. I'd be lying—big fat fibs—if I professed to be a fan of poetry of any kind, BUT, I would be telling the truth to say I enjoyed all the poetry in this book. A pat on the back to Hoover for writing every piece for everyone who got up to compete in the Slam Poetry events. Maybe this is something else I need to explore more in the future (**makes notes for 2014**). And the letter at the end... while not a poem exactly, just about killed me. It was perfect.

All in all, I would have liked more romance and less complications, but I enjoyed the book and some of the quotes from it will stay with me for a while to come. One of my favourites was...

Keep an open mind; it's the only way new things can get in.

How true is that?

I'd assumed this book was a stand alone as I read it, but it seems not. Book two, Point of Retreat, looks set to re-rock the boat for Will and Lake. I'll let you know how true that is if/when I decide to read it. I'm just not sure I want to disturb my happy place right now...

3.5 Stars ★★★1/2

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Posted in: 4 stars, Colleen Hoover, Contemporary, New Adult, poetry, sweet romance