Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

Dec 17th, 2023

22:19

I have waited. Weeks. To grace my life with the presence of this book. 

I rushed to the bookstore the very next day I got the call.

"Hi, we're calling to let you know Ugly Love is available as you requested."

I don't know why I was so thrilled. 

And I did not want to make this personal. I just wanted my soul broken. But the parallels. How can I ignore the parallels already forming only twenty pages in?

Pilots. Med school (Nursing, but..). Two years older. Brother's friends. Phoenix. 

I am aware that I may be too hyped. I am running on three hours of sleep and the remnants of a traumatic day. Will this book make me pull another all nighter of sobbing and silent screaming? I am dying to find out. 

22:40

Not much of a talker in the morning.

22:47

I'm not gonna make it through the night.

Dec 18th.

12:07

He has the V.

Wait here before you read the rest of the review.

I do want to say that, if you haven't yet, read the book before you read the review. I haven't actually spoiled it in a way that makes much sense if you haven't read it, but it would be so much better if you read it before.

But, of course, you can also not read it. 

You may proceed now uu.

22:50

I'm taking my time with the book. Whether because I just got 50x busier or because I'm closing the book every few pages to press my lips together in tight smiles given all the parallels and oh-my-gosh moments, I can't say. But I'm savouring every moment of Colleen's writing (Shocker, I know). The book is already in Great Tier and nothing major has even happened yet. I already know I'll read this book again (Update 2024: I haven't). I already know I'll break the spine and write in it and highlight and mark and take out quotes like I've already been doing above (Update 2024: Also haven't). I already know it's a favourite (I have no memory of this). And nothing. has. even. happened. yet.

I have to say one thing though: Orange juice is f*cking disgusting. I hate Tate for loving it so much. What the heck girl? 😭

I'm not a fan of juice in general, though I can wince my way through a glass of apple juice. But orange juice? >.< tshuh. I don't understand how people take even one sip of it without gagging. 

Anyway. I'll be back when I finish the book. 

Unless something happens that makes me throw the book across the room. Then I'll be back before.

Tschüss babes.

(Signing off here December 18th).

December 20th

19:03

I finished it. The book unfortunately made a steady descent from beautiful to eh. It's not bad. It stirred something in me. Marked something. I could smell memories within the pages. Hope. A little bit of love, even. But that's only because I drew parallels in my own life at the beginning. Just like when reminiscence brings you back to a time in your life that feels so distinct because it just feels different. It feels like it's been marked. By a feeling, by a scent, by a person. This book felt a bit like that.

I don't like Rachel. I don't like how she left him to spend six years of his life in pain, in guilt, while she went off and married someone else and made another baby within half that time. I don't like how selfish she's been. How she didn't even bother to contact Miles again. How she said she was happy he'd waited because she wasn't ready before, and now suddenly, seeing him at her doorstep after almost seven years, she just became ready. That was the ugly thing to me. That was the ugly love. I felt like she only fell in the flow with Miles because how can you turn down a love like that with a boy like that? 

There was too much smut. At some point it got boring. Lost its flair. The bulk of the book was just sex. And I know, that was kind of the point, but heh. 

What else? 

It's a pity Tate wasn't painted physically as much as Rachel was. She seemed inferior in that regard. (Just shallow thoughts)

It's also a pity he cried only when their daughter was born. Maybe he should've resolved his issues before marrying her. If he knew that crying at their wedding - tears of joy - was a thing of beauty, and he didn't do it because he was scared and he had issues, maybe he should've solved those issues first instead of depriving another person of a beautiful moment on one of the biggest days of their lives. You seriously cannot be this selfish. 

Oh and. The fact that she just got back with him immediately after seeing him again after she moved out. As if he wasn't just as selfish a jerk as Rachel was. As if he didn't whisper "My God, Rachel" to TATE and then actually proceeded to finish. AS IF HE DIDN'T WHISPER "MY GOD, RACHEL".

Tate. Seriously. Get a grip. Get some standards.

Ugly Love indeed.

The book didn't break my soul, unfortunately. Perhaps It End With Us will. I hope It Ends With Us does (Update 2024: It did not).

I don't recall having a favourite quote. And also I don't want to re-read this book as much as I initially wanted, I probably will. Maybe. A very uncertain maybe (Update 2024: I have, in fact, not).

Toodles (disappointedly).