Review: Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover♥

Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover
Release Date: July 8, 2013
Format: eARC, 336 pages
Publisher: Atria Books
Series: Hopeless #2
Source: NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
In the follow-up to Colleen Hoover’s #1 New York Times bestseller Hopeless, the charming and irresistible Dean Holder tells the passionate story that has melted thousands of hearts.

In Hopeless, Sky left no secret unearthed, no feeling unshared, and no memory forgotten, but Holder’s past remained a mystery.

Still haunted by the little girl he let walk away, Holder has spent his entire life searching for her in an attempt to finally rid himself of the crushing guilt he has felt for years. But he could not have anticipated that the moment they reconnect, even greater remorse would overwhelm him…

Sometimes in life, if we wish to move forward, we must first dig deep into our past and make amends. In Losing Hope, bestselling author Colleen Hoover reveals what was going on inside Holder’s head during all those hopeless moments—and whether he can gain the peace he desperately needs.

OH HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS HOLY.

I don't even know where to start right now. I'm considering ditching this review and just running in circles. But that wouldn't really help anything, because this review NEEDS to be written. Or else I'll never sleep.

OHMYGOD.

Okay, so, before I get into this, you may or may not want to check out my review of Hopeless. It was somewhat scattered, but it got my opinion across. You might want to know what that was. Then again, maybe you won't. I can't tell you what to do. So yeah. Yeah.

Now, Losing Hope. Hopeless from Holder's POV. Honestly, this could have gone bad in so many ways. Goodness knows not everyone should try to write whole books in the male's POV. But, you know what? Colleen Hoover is a freaking badass. Not only did she write the PERFECT male POV companion, but she wrote it even better than the first book.

YEAH I SAID IT.

And I speak the truth.

Character Rundown:
Sky: I was so conflicted with her in this book. I still liked her (which makes sense, considering she is the same person), but I found myself not WANTING to like her sometimes. Because we see everything she did to work through her issues from Holder's eyes now, and it hurt him so much, and I heart the crap out of Holder*, so that made liking her hurt a little. But, gosh darn it, I still do. She's still Sky. And Holder loves her.

Holder:* Never had I ever imagined that I could love this boy more than I did in Hopeless. But, funny thing, I was WRONG. So, so wrong. I should probably stop trying to be right about things considering how NOT RIGHT I was. This boy...oh, man. He makes me giggle-swoon. GIGGLE. SWOON. It's a thing. It's MY thing. And it only happens with Holder.* He still holds his place as one of my top four book boys EVER. That will never ever change. Ever.

Daniel: I can't just let the characters section go by without mentioning him. HE IS SO HILARIOUS. I love his need to think up the randomest nicknames ever, and how he's such a great friend to Holder. And have I mentioned he's hilarious? I swear, I have more lines from him highlighted than any other character. (Well, except for Holder, but I wasn't counting him since he has the unfair advantage of actually being the one, you know, TELLING the story.) But pretty much every time Daniel was in a conversation, I was highlighting something. SO MUCH LAUGHTER. I approve.

Plot.* This is 100% without a doubt the best alternative POV retelling EVER. That I've read, anyway, but I'd sure be hard pressed to find a better one. This book...it wasn't JUST Hopeless in Holder's POV. It was Holder's story. In Hopeless, we watched Sky and went through everything with her. But in Losing Hope, we went through things with Holder. We saw how HE worked through everything and the moments that were significant to HIM. It is NOT just all the scenes of Hopeless in Holder's POV. Goodness, no.* This book...it's just HOLDER. And it was magnificent. Amazeballs. Giggle-swoon-worthy.

Also, I* didn't cry while reading Hopeless. Like, at all. I may have teared up a time or two, but I did not CRY. However, I am inserting foot in mouth now, because HOLY CRAP THIS BOOK MADE ME BALL. There was crying. Like, tears-everywhere-oh-my-God-Holder-I-freaking-love-you kind of crying.* Not during the WHOLE book. I mean, the middle wasn't very tear-inducing. But...well, you know. There are PARTS that were. And those were the parts I fell apart.

Romance. Usually the romance is less...romantic from the guy's POV. I don't know why. Probably because guys don't swoon like girls do. But Holder is the exception to the rule.

WAIT. You know what? I don't know if I'm cool with calling him Holder anymore. Then again...it's really hard to call him Dean after this book because that part was one of the parts that was tear-inducing...maybe I'll just refer to him as Giggle-swoon...

So, Mr. Giggle-Swoon is the exception. He is so sweet and caring and...all he freaking wants to do is help. He wants Sky to be happy and for her to not have to have a hard time with life. And he is still so gosh darn swoon-worthy it should be illegal.

The ending.* Colleen Hoover, I love you for this. You are receiving a virtual hug right now because you deserve ALL OF THE VIRTUAL HUGS. For real. This ending...and Giggle-Swoon...I needed this. Almost happy-tear-inducing, ya know. Almost.

Overall, Colleen Hoover blew me away with Hopeless, but she blew me off the freaking PLANET with Losing Hope. I didn't think it was possible, but this book is even better than Hopeless was. I have such fond feelings for this book AHHHHH. Seriously, Losing Hope has effectively secured a spot in my top ten books of 2013, which is insanely awesome because it's only JULY. Yeah. This book is that great. And yes, you should read it. Actually, I'm not sure how I can be friends with you if you DON'T read it...you need Giggle-Swoon in your life. I promise you this. Don't deprive yourself.

*I wasn't going to do this again, because I thought it'd be overkill, plus there wasn't any platypus birthing, so I didn't think it'd be as fun. But I'm doing it because I did it for Hopeless, so...why the heck not? DURING THESE SPOTS IN THIS REVIEW I STOPPED TO: empty the dishwasher, open my mail (Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines, WOOT!), tell my dad to stop talking so I could think, fangirl over PERKS with my friend Dolly, write a terrible haiku that I'm not even sure IS a haiku, check my Twitter, laugh at SpongeBob, and simultaneously curse out and thank Colleen Hoover verbally for making me cry and giving me Giggle-Swoon.

I didn't, like, thank her/curse her out in person, though. It was in my head. If it were to be in person, I'd probably leave out the cursing part because I like her a lot.

Then again, maybe I wouldn't.

(I actually would, since I don't actually curse. I say things like "freaking" or "crap." TRUE STORY.)

♥Jessica(: