Review: Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

Title: Ugly Love
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Atria Books
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
Paperback, 337 Pages
Published August 20144

Summary: 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.

Well guys, I still haven't found a Colleen Hoover book that I didn't like. This was certainly was not the exception. Once again, I closed one of her books feeling floaty (is that a word?), tingly, and totally in love. Ugly Love, just like her other books, takes you on an emotional roller coaster that leaves you happy, sad, and even angry in all the right places.

I'm going to start with what I liked about the book, since there's just so much for me to talk about. I liked Tate in general -- because even though she had her weaknesses, she was a strong, intelligent, educated character, and there were times where she spoke up for what was right or demanded better treatment from Miles when she knew that she was being wronged. In a sense, Tate seemed to be the complete opposite of Lilly in It Ends With Us, who was a lot more submissive and quiet. Tate had none of that, and when enough was enough, she at least recognized that, and most of the time tried to do something about it.

Speaking of It Ends With Us, I was shocked when I found out that this book was written in 2014, because the plot of Ugly Love is so similar to Hoover's most recent book. Both are girls that're single in a big city, and they fall for mysterious men with high-paying jobs and cryptic pasts, and neither of the men are searching for anything permanent or anything that stems past the physical side of a relationship. Basically, they want to be friends with benefits, but without the friends part. The stories seemed so similar, so to learn that there is a 3-year gap between the two of them was a little bit shocking. (But it was still an interesting realization nonetheless!) 

Also, as morbid and creepy as this sounds (and stick with me here for a minute), I think that Miles's backstory was really shocking and unique. (Mild spoilers ahead, so please skip to the next paragraph if you haven't read this book yet!) When I finally found out what was holding Miles back from loving Tate, I was totally shocked. I sort of suspected that something would've gone wrong in their relationship, but I definitely wasn't expecting that. It was so scary and shocking and sad to read about, and I could hardly belief it. I audibly gasped several times while reading that chapter, and my heart felt broken afterwards. I could never imagine enduring something like that. It made me understand Miles and his pain much better.

I just really liked the feeling in general that I got when reading this book. I tore through it in about 48 hours, because I just didn't want to put it down. The entire time I was out and running around doing errands throughout the day, I was thinking about the book and was excited to read about it when I came home. This book filled me with so much joy and giddiness while also having moments of sadness or anger. And let me just tell you, this is definitely a New Adult book, because boy -- this is not the kind of book that you want your kids reading. Some of the encounters between Tate and Miles were very...descriptive. (And they'll certainly make you blush upon rereading.) 

There also wasn't much I disliked about the book. As I usually feel with most of Colleen's books, I feel like the ending may have been a bit rushed and felt too forced. (Even though it was totally adorable and made my heart cry in all the right ways.) The book was about 320 pages long, and around page 280 I noticed that the story hadn't even started wrapping up yet -- so a lot goes on in so few pages, which felt a bit fast for me. (However -- and I won't spoil the ending for you here, so don't worry -- I was still pretty content with how things played out.)

Overall, I really enjoyed Ugly Love. Colleen Hoover is an excellent author who manages to interweave romance and drama seamlessly, and all of her stories always have interesting premises. (I mean, a pilot with a dark past, anyone?) I've enjoyed every single book of hers that I've read so far, and I'm going to be starting Confess shortly, and I have high hopes for that book as well! If you have any sort of interest in romance and drama, I definitely recommend picking up her books, and this one especially. You are bound to be in for an amazing ride filled with laughter, tears, gasps, blushing, and plenty of plot twists!