Review: Ugly Love – Colleen Hoover

Posted 17 October, 2014 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 16 Comments


Warning: This book includes mature content such as: sexual content, and/or drug and/or alcohol use, and/or violence.
Review: Ugly Love – Colleen HooverUgly Love by Colleen Hoover
Published by Atria Books on 5 August 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Purchase
|
5 Stars

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly

Ugly Love is so full of feels! There is love, hope, devastation, loss, hopelessness, distraction… You name it – I felt it!

My Ugly Love review:

It has taken me several weeks to finally review Ugly Love. That is because even now, I feel like crying when I think about this heart-wrenching story! I cried the biggest ugly tears I have ever cried while reading a book. The story is so well done, especially because it is written in dual points of views, both from Tate’s and Miles’ point of view. However, the chapters written in Miles point of view are a lot shorter, and I didn’t get to know him any better than Tate did. And I thought the way that was done was truly genius!

When Tate first met Miles, he was drunk asleep in front of the door to her brother’s apartment, and she first tried to get inside without disturbing him. Her brother told her on the phone to let him in and have him sleep on the couch, however, and that made Tate realize that Miles was hurting immensely. But because Miles held his cards so close to the chest, it was impossible for Tate to figure him out. And while they had incredible chemistry, Miles was always closing himself off behind the walls he had erected to protect himself.

The character development was really well done, both when it comes to Miles and when it comes to Tate. She was not too serious about anything in the beginning, but as she slowly fell for Miles, she realized that not everything was easy – even if her own life had been pretty good up to that point. Miles was the epitome of a tortured soul, and it wasn’t until the end of Ugly Love that I and Tate got to understand fully the amount of heartache he had been through. And that heartache was so much more than a love story gone sour.

As always, Colleen Hoover’s writing was spot-on. The way she manages to show how her characters feel, even when she’s keeping the reason why a secret, is masterful. And she made me feel all those emotions and more as well. Ugly Love is the kind of story to read when you feel like you need to get rid of some tears you’ve been keeping inside for whatever reasons. The poignant grief, and the very slow build-up to know why Miles was so cut off from his own feelings, up to the point of thinking it would be better to never, ever love again, was so well done. Ugly Love is also a book I want to get on audio, and I recommend it to all readers who enjoy contemporary New Adult with some sorrowful twists.

 Some of my favorite Ugly Love quotes:

The only impressive thing about this apartment is the bookshelf in the living room. It’s lined with dozens of books, which is more of a turn-on to me than anything else that could potentially line his barren walls.

We tell ourselves we’ve got this… when we
don’t have it at all.
My skin feels better with her touching it. My hair feels better with her hands on it. My mouth feels
better with her tongue inside of it.
I wish we could breathe like this.
Live like this.
Life would feel better with her like this.

 I’ll take what I can get. I’m not Tate when I’m near Miles. I’m liquid, and liquid doesn’t know how to be firm or stand up for itself. Liquid flows. That’s all I want to do with Miles. Flow.

I can’t tell where he’s touching me, because as soon as he touches me in one spot. his hands move to another. He’s touching me everywhere, nowhere, not at all, all at once.

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Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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16 responses to “Review: Ugly Love – Colleen Hoover

    • I absolutely loved Slammed as well, Kiran! Both the book and the audio made feel all of the emotions, too…
      Thanks for stopping by.

  1. Peeps seem to either love or hate this book, there is no in-between. Did you cry while typing up your review weeks later? That happens to me sometimes, but it’s a sign of a truly amazing story. You’re a sucker for punishment, Lexxie, wanting to listen to the audiobook now. I bet you’ll shed even more tears because of the narration. That’s a whole lot of feels right there!

    Carmel @ Rabid Reads recently posted: Early Review: Gray Bishop by Kelly Meade
    • Yes, I think peeps either love or hate this author’s books in general. I love them. All those feelings *sighs*. And yes, I did cry when I wrote my review weeks later. This story is so raw, and even if I have never experienced what the characters experienced, their stories just touched me so deeply.
      I’m sure I’ll cry even more because of the narration – but I think it’s good to have an outlet for tears every now and then, and luckily for me, I don’t have much reason to cry about stuff in my real life…
      Thanks for stopping by, Carmel.

    • Braine, I think you’d enjoy Choover’s stories, and yes, you do need to be ready to cry, I think. I have ugly cried while reading several of her books, and I was totally a wreck, too. But it’s good when I can cry about fictional stuff and not real life stuff…
      Thanks for stopping by.

    • Brandi, I think this story is right up your alley! It has tortured feelings, and it’s so very easy to understand where the characters are coming from – once we realize the reason behind everything.
      Thanks for stopping by.

  2. This is one of those cases where I’m fascinated to see why someone feels so differently about a book than I did. I didn’t hate this book, but I had a REALLY hard time getting behind the Tate/Miles relationship. I’m glad that you loved it, though, because I am a HUGE Hoover fan, so I really want to support her – guess this was just a case of a book that wasn’t for me. Can’t win ’em all!

    Nicole Hewitt recently posted: Sunday Post & Giveaways Galore 10/12/14
    • And now you made me very curious about your own review – I know I’m going to search for it on your blog, Nicole. And differing opinions are always fascinating to me. It did take me a while to understand Tate because Miles never shared himself with her, but when I got to know little by little why that was, I just broke!
      Thanks for stopping by 🙂

  3. I have yet to read Colleen Hoover, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book (though, I’ve also seen a lot of people who didn’t like it) – it sounds like one I’d really like – I do love a book that ears me apart a bit. I’m curious to know about the narration now, since that’s a favorite way for me to read. If you do decide to torture yourself, let us know what you think 😛 Great review!

    Berls @ Fantasy is More Fun recently posted: Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin | Book Review
    • I’m downloading the audiobook right now, Berls. I couldn’t resist it. And of course I’ll let you know the torture that will be *grins* I love when a book makes me feel, and being sad over fictional characters is a lot better than being sad about the real people in my life!
      Thanks for stopping by 🙂

  4. Oh Lexxie, Ugly Love sounds like such a beautiful and gripping story. I have so much CHoover to catch up on. I hate that I’ve not kept up with her books because I adore her writing. I did already purchase Ugly Love though, so I’ll get to it. I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for the lovely review and for sharing those quotes. Those were…wow. 🙂

    I hope you’re having a good week so far. You’re traveling now, right? I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to be online over the weekend. That seems like my MO lately. I will pm you though, and at least let you know what’s going on. Enjoy your time away! Miss you!!! **GREAT BIG HUGS**

    Bookworm Brandee recently posted: **Bought, Borrowed, & Bagged ~ #38**

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