Blog Tour and Giveaway: Without Merit: Colleen Hoover
Colleen Hoover
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Release Date October 3, 2017
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
Poignant and powerful, WITHOUT MERIT explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love.
This is a departure from Colleen Hoover's more recent books. It is more of a YA story that does have some romantic elements. At the core of the story is high school senior, Merit Voss. She is introspective, passive-aggressive, angry, jealous, and feels invisible in her own family. Her twin sister, Honor is the more popular, easy-going, sweet one, although she does have her own interesting issues going on. And now Honor seems to have the one thing Merit wants more than the used trophies she collects, and that is Sagan. He is a broody, intuitive artist that actually seems to see who Merit really is. But he is just out of her reach due to circumstances.
Their family is an odd blended mash up of unique characters and their home used to be an old church so it fits with their quirkiness. And new people keep moving in and adding to the dynamics. The house seems to be built on secrets, lies, misconceptions, and pain. And everyone seems to have their roles that they fit into, but they all are hiding something and have made their share of mistakes. But as Merit begins to feel more overwhelmed and lost, she just cannot take things as they are anymore.
This is a thought provoking coming of age novel with dry humor, emotion, difficult topics, and a bit of romance. At times I was not sure where the story was going to take me and I was definitely curious. It focuses on exposing secrets, mending broken ties, hope, rebuilding relationships, and new beginnings. But getting there is definitely a challenge. The secrets are teased, the mystery is built upon, the tension rises until it all comes tumbling out and everyone is forced to deal with the fall-out. And this family definitely has issues that they have swept under the rug for way too long.
It is an interesting and unique story with good messages. It is relatable, real, and at times raw. It illustrates the importance of perspective, communication, and acceptance. There are some twists, surprises, and angst. And it gives Merit and all of the characters the chance for potential growth and reconnection. It is a CoHo book that is suitable for older teens and adults.
The Voss family is a group of mismatched, quirky, unique characters. Merit collects trophies she didn’t earn and her family’s secrets. She is fed up with the way her family overlooks her while requiring she keep their confidence.
This family was an interesting study in characters with peculiar habits and traits. Her mother never leaves the basement. Her father is married to her mother’s nurse. Her twin sister loves boys with terminal illnesses. This family thrives on skimming the surface and turning away from problems rather than facing them straight on.
Sagan was almost too perfect in the context of the family he joins. As an outsider, he isn’t clouded by the secrets and notions of the family’s perceptions. But he is a perfect example of overcoming obstacles and powering through no matter the circumstances. I loved the calm he exuded and the big moments he has with Merit.
I wanted to love this book, but I struggled with the first half of this book. I was confused. Every single character had such outlandish traits. I had no idea where the book was going but it was heavy. But the last 20% was amazing. This story (once I figured out where it was going) has a great message. This felt different than her last few titles, in that it is definitely closer to YA than NA, but the themes are mature and serious enough that I would call it mature YA. I almost DNF’d the book just before the halfway mark, but I’m so glad I continued through. Because the last part made up for all my struggles.
Colleen does such a great job with her storytelling that even as I was struggling, I didn’t want to put the book down. Even as I worked to make sense of what I was reading I found bits and pieces that held me captive. Threads of the story that spoke to me and kept me moving forward.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Atria Books Paperback | 384 pages | ISBN: 9781501170621 | October 3, 2017 | $16.00eBook: 384 pages | ISBN: 9781501170638 | $7.99
Their family is an odd blended mash up of unique characters and their home used to be an old church so it fits with their quirkiness. And new people keep moving in and adding to the dynamics. The house seems to be built on secrets, lies, misconceptions, and pain. And everyone seems to have their roles that they fit into, but they all are hiding something and have made their share of mistakes. But as Merit begins to feel more overwhelmed and lost, she just cannot take things as they are anymore.
This is a thought provoking coming of age novel with dry humor, emotion, difficult topics, and a bit of romance. At times I was not sure where the story was going to take me and I was definitely curious. It focuses on exposing secrets, mending broken ties, hope, rebuilding relationships, and new beginnings. But getting there is definitely a challenge. The secrets are teased, the mystery is built upon, the tension rises until it all comes tumbling out and everyone is forced to deal with the fall-out. And this family definitely has issues that they have swept under the rug for way too long.
It is an interesting and unique story with good messages. It is relatable, real, and at times raw. It illustrates the importance of perspective, communication, and acceptance. There are some twists, surprises, and angst. And it gives Merit and all of the characters the chance for potential growth and reconnection. It is a CoHo book that is suitable for older teens and adults.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
This family was an interesting study in characters with peculiar habits and traits. Her mother never leaves the basement. Her father is married to her mother’s nurse. Her twin sister loves boys with terminal illnesses. This family thrives on skimming the surface and turning away from problems rather than facing them straight on.
Sagan was almost too perfect in the context of the family he joins. As an outsider, he isn’t clouded by the secrets and notions of the family’s perceptions. But he is a perfect example of overcoming obstacles and powering through no matter the circumstances. I loved the calm he exuded and the big moments he has with Merit.
I wanted to love this book, but I struggled with the first half of this book. I was confused. Every single character had such outlandish traits. I had no idea where the book was going but it was heavy. But the last 20% was amazing. This story (once I figured out where it was going) has a great message. This felt different than her last few titles, in that it is definitely closer to YA than NA, but the themes are mature and serious enough that I would call it mature YA. I almost DNF’d the book just before the halfway mark, but I’m so glad I continued through. Because the last part made up for all my struggles.
Colleen does such a great job with her storytelling that even as I was struggling, I didn’t want to put the book down. Even as I worked to make sense of what I was reading I found bits and pieces that held me captive. Threads of the story that spoke to me and kept me moving forward.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Slammed, This Girl, Point of Retreat, Hopeless, Losing Hope, Finding Cinderella, Maybe Someday, Ugly Love, Maybe Not, Confess, November 9, and It Ends with Us. She has won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance twice – for Confess in 2015 and It Ends with Us in 2016. Confess was adapted into a seven-episode online series. In 2015, Colleen and her family founded The Bookworm Box, a bookstore and monthly subscription service offering signed novels donated by authors. All profits are given to various charities each month to help those in need. Colleen lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. Please visit ColleenHoover.com.
More details: http://www.withoutmeritbook.
Win 1 of 5 signed hardcover copies of WITHOUT MERIT!
Contest is open until October 30th.
Contest is open until October 30th.
Link directly to the rafflecopter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/
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