Without Merit

Merit.
She's 17 years old, somewhat lost and and a bit of an outsider in life and in her own family.
She has a twin sister, a brother who is only 10 months older and a four year old half-brother. She also has a used-car-salesman-dad and a mom and a step mom and a newly aquired 20 year old step-uncle. And they all live together in an fixed up old church.

Then she meets this one person. The one boy who could be her future. Something - someone just for her. But he's not hers. He was someone else's first. Or wasn't he?
But would he want her with all her problems? She might have to work on herself and her family for a bit before she can think about her happily ever after ....

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MERiT & SAGAN???
WILL THERE BE A HAPPY END?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT ☺

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So adorable! I just loved it!

This was such a different and sweet and quirky and charming and angsty and dramatic and lovely small-town Texas young adult novel.
There were so many 'new' things in here - things I've never read about before - or at least not very often. Just little things like the marquee or later the fence. The serious parts. So much more. Just amazing!
Merit is such a great character! So real and teenagy but also kind of the most grown-up person in that house!
And Sagan! He's an amazing guy. A bit mysterious, so sweet and kind and smart and talented.
And ugh - I just loved everything about this book...
Their house. The little brother. The dog. The patchwork family. The trophies. The drawings.

Of course not everything is adorable and cute. Merit is a typical teenager with all that comes with it... she needs some more time to find her place in life - and in her strange family. There are lots of secrets and problems in that house! It won't be easy, but she's not alone!

♥ amazing book ♥

I also LOVED that Colleen used her own little home town as Merit's town. The fountain really exists! And Colleen's charity bookstory is being visited - it might even be possible that Merit and Sagan are real and she stole their story when she overheard them talking in the bookstore! ☺☺☺
Merit reminds me a lot of Colleen - the way she talks just like Colleen in her book reviews or anti-Tarryn posts! ☺

I loved everything about this book and I NEED for Netflix to come and grab it asap! I need to binge-watch that show!!!

WITHOUT MERIT was such an amazing coming-of-age-love-story-family-drama! Funny, heartbreaking, sweet & just ... so real!
Run to your nearest amazon asap for your very own Voss-Family-Saga!

(don't worry about the family saga bit - we're not going into extreme detail about every single family member, and they're not getting their own POV - Merit is the main character!)

Another PS - I'll put it in a spoiler thingy!!!
[The end - I loved it. Like I said, I loved everything about the book. And I might have a tiny little spark of hope that we'll one day get to see a sequel. Maybe college-age Merit and Sagan or all grown-up! I would really love for that to happen!!!☺ (hide spoiler)]

Being a long-time reader of Colleen Hoover's work, the feeling I get when a new book is released is a double edged sword. On one hand, I'm excited -- it's a new CoHo to devour. On the other hand, you have to wonder (as a reader) if an author can ever really write a great book every time, or at some point are you going to come across one that is slightly lacking.

That was not the case with Without Merit.

One thing Colleen does extremely well is tackle difficult issues with grace. There is a lightness about her touch that allows the reader to experience these dark moments without having them become overwhelmed. She is an incredibly sensitive writer and I find this to make her work more credible than other books where they try to ram the issues down your throat.

Without Merit focuses on Merit, a teenager with a somewhat unique living arrangement, and we follow her as she navigates her way through a number of typical teenage obstacles (skipping school, falling in love, feelings of inadequacy). I won't spoil the book by detailing the intricacies of each of these, but safe to say that each is handled with Hoover's innate eloquence coupled with a rawness that legitimises each of the characters. She is the master of showing not telling, and it is this unapologetic approach to writing that makes her an instant one-click author for me.

Colleen Hoover sure knows how to take one twisted family and turn it into a beautiful, heart wrenching story! I've read a few of Colleen's books now, and I really wasn't sure what to expect going into this one, but it turned out to be just as amazing as the rest of her work!

Merit was a girl who was a bit misunderstood. She came across as brash and mean, but the more I learned about her and a few of her secrets, the better it was to understand her. It was easier for her to withdraw from her twisted family, so she could avoid all conflict. But seeing Merit getting to know her family again really opened her eyes, as well as mine, to see that there was more to her family than what she perceived.

I enjoyed seeing Merit with Sagan. He brought a spark back into her dull life. It was interesting to see him express himself through his drawings, which was one of Merit's favourite things about him. He also helped her see her family in a whole new light after her little incident.

The whole Voss family had it's quirks, and they didn't gel like a family should. They each had a secret of issue that kept them apart. When these secrets are in the open all hell breaks loose, as the family is then forced to deal with one another.

Hoover touched on a delicate issue that those who have it, don't realise they are suffering. There were some sad moments, but there were some moments that happened toward the end that had me laughing out loud. There were some awkward events and some tender scenes that had me swooning as well. Altogether, it was an incredible read, that touched my soul and I'll be thinking about it for a long time to come!

Complimentary copy provided by Simon & Schuster Australia, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.