Losing Hope: A Novel (Hopeless)

"Thirteen years. I've been looking for her for thirteen years and I very well may have just found her. Alive."When I was a little girl, every single year on my birthday, my parents would take me to my favourite toy store which happened to be in a city a few hours away from ours. Those day trips were some of the happiest moments in my life because I could always take that joy for granted. I never knew what toy I would pick, the anticipation was half the fun, but I always knew I would be returning home with a huge grin on my face. Well, fast forward "a few" years and I have found the equivalent of those childhood toy store expeditions. It is called a Colleen Hoover book.Hopeless was hands down one of the best books I have ever read. It touched me so profoundly and so irrevocably that I walked away a different reader. The story of Sky and Holder is not something that you ever forget - its uniqueness lies in the deep emotions that it makes us feel and in its inimitable writing style. It is truly the perfect book. Losing Hope is its sequel, written entirely from Holder's point of view, but following the same storyline. It is not a book, however, that could or should be read without reading Hopeless first as several scenes are better understood with prior knowledge of Sky's story, allowing this book to simply fill the gaps in the timeline and for Holder to finally tell his side of this timeless tale of love, courage and human endurance.Revisiting such an emotional story from a different point of view was no small task, especially since we were left believing that no stone was left unturned in the storyline, but it truly deserved to be told again. From the first moment we hear Holder's voice, we become aware that to truly understand the complexity of Sky's reactions, we needed to witness Holder's too. All the final puzzle pieces are set in place, making this story even more flawless. Holder has had more loss in his life than any young man should ever have to overcome. Losing his childhood friend left him burdened with guilt and regret, but losing his twin sister shattered his heart."What are the chances that the only two girls in my life I've ever loved ... I've lost?"The moment he first sees Sky is the embodiment of thirteen years of hope. When Holder meets her, he wishes with all his heart for her to be his long lost friend, but the more he gets to know her, the more he needs her not to be that little girl. We watch them fall in love, slowly, gently, cautiously, knowing the truth this time around and aware that it is a ticking bomb waiting to explode."I don't know what will be more painful. Staying away from her so she doesn't find out, or telling her the truth and ruining her life all over again."While we suspected Holder's feelings to be strong, we now find out how overwhelmingly intense they were from the moment he laid eyes on Sky. They love story is epic - it is the story of two young people who have cared for each other for over a decade and who are now drawn to each other all over again, like two magnets unable to fight the pull, the growing love between them healing their hearts and giving them the courage to face the impending truth. They are kindred spirits who might be falling in love with one another for the first time, but their hearts have known each other and have been connected for a very long time."I've loved Hope since we were kids. But tonight? Tonight I fell in love with Sky."Nothing in this book is accidental or without purpose. Ms Hoover uses her words with intent and with impeccable skill. Even the simplest of sentences make us feel so much, fortuitously manoeuvring our emotions from one direction to another. What left me speechless once again is the author's ability to use humour to lighten even the heaviest of subjects. Holder's letters to his dead sister are an unexpected highlight of this story, equally heartbreaking as they are comical at times, often making me genuinely laugh through tears of sadness."Why would you leave your jeans on the floor if you knew what you were about to do? Wouldn't you at least throw them in the hamper? ... Well, I'm not picking them up."I must stress again the importance of reading Hopeless first as this book is in effect a companion novel. Several very important scenes are rushed over this time around as they were told in detail previously and nothing needed to be added. This being Holder's story, the focus is not only on his relationship with Sky but also on overcoming his feelings of grief and guilt stemming from the untimely loss of his sister.I have said so much about this book and I still consider myself speechless over it. I believed Hopeless to be a complete story but I am now convinced that neither book should be read without the other one. I am doing a standing ovation to Ms Hoover, once again, and I get a feeling I should be used to it by now. A truly spectacular read."I don't want her to feel nothing when I kiss her. I want her to feel everything."

I have not been able to put down most of Hoover's books until this one. Most of her books take me only a couple of days to read but this one took me nearly a week because I felt like I already knew what was going to happen next. I really enjoyed Hopeless and was not sure where Losing Hope would pick up. Unfortunately, it was almost the same story from the beginning, sometimes word for word, all over again. There was about 30% new material that kept me interested but skipping to parts that I feel like I had not just read in Hopeless. I like the idea of a story from Holder's POV but it was not different enough compared to how Midnight Sun was for Twilight.I enjoyed reading about events that I would not have otherwise known in Hopeless and do look forward to the story hopefully progressing in the next book in this series.If you have not read Hopeless in a while, this is a good refresh. It just was not as enjoyable to read immediately after Hopeless.

Any of you that have read my previous reviews or Facebook posts know that I have two VERY FAVORITE authors. One of those authors is Colleen Hoover (the other is Abbi Glines, of course), so I knew before I even started this book that I would LOVE it! I absolutely loved it. I am ready to turn around and read it again and again and again. Did I mention I would read it again???Losing Hope is written in Holder's POV, but it is the same story as Hopeless. So, if you haven't read Hopeless, you shouldn't read this review. BUT, you can read my review of Hopeless here.OK...let's get to it. We already know that Holder's sister committed suicide, but we are able to learn so much more in this book than the first. The way Holder cares for and protects his sister makes him that much more attractive. He is really a great guy who seems to suffer loss after loss. Something I really enjoyed about Holder's character in this book that we did not get in Losing Hope is his letter writing to Les. I loved how we got a lot of his thoughts and feelings through those letters. It was his own form of journaling, and it was a brilliant idea on Colleen's part. My heart broke for Holder several time while reading his letters.I enjoyed reading more about Daniel this go round. He is an awesome friend to Holder. He truly sticks by him and up for him no matter what is going on. He also makes me laugh with all of his nicknames for everyone because he "hates everyone."I loved Breckin in Hopeless but came to love him even more in Losing Hope. Another dimension is added because there are a few scenes between Holder and Breckin that are not included in Hopeless. They are really great scenes. Breckin is a powerful character because he stands up for what he believes even though he may end up getting his butt kicked, but in the end it just makes people respect him more. It was great how Breckin and Holder formed their own friendship outside of Sky.This book was so well written in that it made me really understand the dilemma Holder was dealing with in whether or not to tell Sky who she really was. In Hopeless, we know Holder does not mean anything malicious by his actions, but in Losing Hope we truly understand his internal battle. He is so distraught over what he should or should not do or say. I felt stressed out for him. It was so obvious that he was madly in love with her and did not want her to hurt. It made sense why he was trying to wait to tell her the truth. Getting all of this information from Holder's POV made an AHHH-MAZING story even more amazing!I also loved Holder explaining why he was not going to rush his kisses, any of their firsts, or telling her he loved her. He already knew he loved her and pretty much wanted to cherish each and every moment together. One of my favorite scenes remains to be the "I live you" scene."Live. If you mix the letters up in the words like and love, you get live. You can use that word."Not only does she get me and not only is she smiling at me; but she just somehow gave me the one word I've been searching for since the moment I laid eyes on her in the grocery store.I don't deserve her. I don't deserve her understanding and I sure as hell don't deserve the way she just made my heart feel. I laugh and take her in my arms, bringing my mouth to hers. "I live you Sky," I say against her lips. "I live you so much."And as perfect as that word sounds, as perfectly as it describes the point we're at, I know it's a lie.I don't just live her. I love her. I've loved her since we were kids.There is also a whole new feel when Holder makes the realization of what Hope's father did to her as a child and when he realized those same things also happened to Les. His emotions were so powerful and protective.I feel like I could talk about this book forever. Please believe me when I tell you this book should be read by all romance readers. It is unbelievable. Then again, it is written by the one and only Colleen Hoover, so we all knew it would be incredible, right??This is without a doubt a 5-STAR read.

Having this book written from Deans perspective was so insightful. Excellent read and well written.The author writes in a manner that keeps you glued to the book!

I felt like I was reading Hopeless all over again. Maybe it’s because I read both books back to back but so much of it was a copy/paste. Of course there were differences and new things revealed but I didn’t love it.