Book Review: Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

Ugly Love

By Colleen Hoover

Release Date: August 5, 2014

Source: Own (signed!!!) Copy

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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.

Review: Words can't even begin to explain how much I love Colleen Hoover. Slammed? Great. Hopeless? Heartbreakingly amazing. Needless to say, I was absolutely dying to read Ugly Love as soon as it came out. When I finally got a copy for myself (which just so happened to be when I got to meet Colleen Hoover during her Fall in Love Tour...total fangirl moment), I stayed up all night reading and absolutely couldn't put it down. 

When Tate Collins moves in with her brother to get her Master's degree in nursing, the last thing she expects is to find a very sexy, very drunk airline pilot slumped against her brother's door. Miles Archer doesn't need anyone in his life and has convinced himself he can never love again, but from the moment he meets Tate there's an intense physical connection he can't seem to shake. Tate and Miles wouldn't exactly call each other friends, but as soon as they give into their mutual attraction, they can't keep their hands off each other. They've convinced themselves that they can have sex and leave all emotional feelings off the table, but sometimes love just doesn't work that way. However, Miles has a secret that's been tearing him up inside for the past six years and the closer Tate comes to uncovering the truth, the further Miles pushes her away. 

Okay, I have to start out by saying Colleen Hoover is one of my absolute favorite authors. That being said, comparing Ugly Love to her other books, this one wasn't the best. I mean, seriously, what could compare to Hopeless? But looking at it as a novel by itself, Ugly Love was such an emotional roller coaster and Tate and Miles completely stole my heart. The set up of this novel was absolutely perfect in portraying Tate and Miles' relationship; we get chapters of the present from Tate's perspective alternating with chapters from Miles' perspective of his life six years ago when something emotionally scarring happened. As the story progresses, though, we don't find out exactly what hurt Miles so irrevocably until near the very end when Tate finally figures out too. We struggle to understand Miles right beside Tate during her chapter and fall for him just as hard as she does. Miles' chapters are so beautiful written in poetry full of emotion and love and I found myself swept up in the language. Normally in books that I'm completely wrapped up in, I fly through the pages to see what's going to happen next. With Ugly Love, I found myself slowing down and completely absorbing the language and what exactly was happening to the characters because every moment was so vivid and really important in revealing who exactly these characters were. 

Since we get to see such a vulnerable side of Miles through his chapters, I definitely felt much more of a connection with him than Tate. First off, he's a pilot with a super hot body and is so adorably sweet when he wants to be, both to Rachel in the past and Tate in the present. Can you say yummy? But watching him act so vulnerable during his relationship with Rachel six years ago broke my heart and it really felt like I got to know him, both then and now. WIth Tate, we didn't really get to see as much of her life as I would have liked. She's constantly working or at class, yet we didn't really get to see her in those environments. Instead, we just got to see her when she was with the guys at their apartment, alone with Miles, or talking to Chap. I would have liked to see a lot more of Tate's life outside of her relationship with Miles, but I think what we did get of her as she felt herself falling more and more for a guy who made it clear he wasn't looking for love still allowed me to connect to her character and helplessness in her relationship with Miles. Oh, and I loved the bantering between MIles and Tate. Their relationship had some pretty big issues, but it also had it's fun, flirty side that had me laughing out loud between the moments of intense emotion and sadness. 

Not only can Colleen Hoover write seriously emotional and captivating books, but she does it with such beautiful language that you can't help become invested in the characters, in their story, and in the book itself. I didn't want to put this down because I just had to know what had happened to the characters in the past and what would happen to them in the future. Colleen knows just how much to tease the reader with secrets and damaged pasts to keep them reading until they've completely fallen for the characters without even realizing it. Like I said, it wasn't my favorite Colleen Hoover read, but I definitely recommend you pick Ugly Love up. Just be prepared for some serious feels and a book boyfriend you definitely won't forget anytime soon.