Speak to my Soul

Recently I finished reading Slammed by 
Colleen Hoover.  I had no idea what to expect with this book because I've never heard of this author before (Slammed being her debut novel) and it was a "cheapie" in the Amazon e-books area.  I'm happy to report, however that it was fabulous.  In fact, I couldn't put Slammed down and finished it in a day. 

Hoover tells us a story of a young girl Layken who moves across the country following her father's death.  Her life is in shambles and she feels like there's nothing to be happy about.  Enter Will, the cute older neighbor from across the street.  The book starts off as a simple romance but quickly becomes a story about ethics, morals, and following your heart.  Hoover does an excellent job of building these characters into real people in the reader's mind and has such emotion weaved throughout the storyline.  The characters seem real and believable.  They have quirks, are witty and funny but also have real flaws.

Another unique part of this book is that Hoover laces bits of poetry throughout the story, which adds to the depth and overall emotion.  She uses pieces of music from the artists The Avett Brothers as well to lead into each chapter.  The Avett Brothers just happens to be both Layken and Will's favorite band so I felt this added a little extra something to the story.

Honestly, it's been a long time since I've read something that has evoked as many emotions in me as Slammed did.  It's hard to even describe everything I felt when I was reading it but it pulled me in on such a personal level and I felt like I was going through the same emotions as Layken.  I think the scattered poetry helped for me because I'm a poetry junkie.  It spoke to me.  The story led me to explore feelings I hadn't thought about in a long time and forced them to the surface to confront them.

I still cannot believe this is Hoover's debut novel.  If all of her follow ups (and I DO hope there are many) are half as good as this, then she's well on her way to great success.  I highly recommend this for a quick read.  I give it a 10 out of 10 without any second thought and hope you'll help support this new writer by checking her out.  She is butterflying amazing!




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