Review: Losing Hope (Hopeless #2) by Colleen Hoover

Losing Hope (Hopeless #2)
by Colleen Hoover
Release Date: 7/9/13
Genre: New Adult

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.

My Rating: 5 Coffee Cups!!!

I can't even begin to explain to you how insanely excited I was when I saw I was able to get an advanced copy of this. I was at work (shhh) and someone actually said to me in a pretty surprised voice "wow you look really happy right now". Yup, I was. I have been waiting for this. I am head over heels in love with EVERYTHING Colleen Hoover touches. EVERYTHING. Hopeless was no exception. So, needless to say I was not let down by this one. If you haven't read Hopeless yet, you need to before you read this companion novel.

Hopeless was in my top three reads of 2012. No joke. It was an amazing read. This book tells the same story, but from Holder's POV. Although you know the story and know how it plays out this feels as though it is a completely different story. A new and fresh story. You're reading about Holder's life and although it obviously intertwines with Sky's it is his perspective. You see his childhood, his past. His and Les's connection. You feel his feelings, his agony, his devastation, his happiness and his intense love.

Dean Holder is a 17 year old guy, intensely protective of his twin sister Lesslie. When he walks into her bedroom on a Saturday night and sees her lifeless body and the empty bottle of pills she used to end it all, his entire life spirals out of control. He makes mistake, after mistake until he's shipped off to live with his father in his childhood home of Austin. When he returns home after a year's absence his life is once again changed after a random grocery store run in with what he believes is a ghost from his past. From there is the absolutely amazing love story that is Holder and Sky's. You get his view on everything that made your heart bleed in the previous book. The sweet and playful moments you already awwed at are multiplied because you see that Holder is completely mesmerized by her. But with all the happy moments come the absolutely excruciating ones. The heart wrenching pain he goes through when he learns the whole truth of the past pretty much guts you.

“I’m scared if I kiss her too soon, it’ll feel like every other kiss she’s ever received. She’ll feel nothing. I don’t want her to feel nothing when I kiss her. I want her to feel everything.”

“If I could trade lives with her I would do it in a heartbeat, just so she’d never have to feel what it is she’s feeling right now.”

You see his internal struggle to do what he believes is right. At least half of this is told through a journal he kept with letters he writes to his sister which gives you a better look of what their dynamic was like. 

Holder went thru things you had no idea about in Hopeless. Making this a whole new story with it's own set of problems and obstacles. 

The story is wonderful and the new developments and twists are an incredible addition to this already amazing story. Colleen Hoover didn't take the easy way out and just tell the exact same story in a male's perspective (not that I expected her to in the least). The thing that really, really hit me though is that this woman makes you feel every. Single. Damn. Feeling. I was an emotional wreck by the time I was done reading this. A very happy and rewarded wreck, but a wreck nonetheless.

I know I am being extremely vague, but if you're reading this and you haven't read Hopeless I am trying my hardest not to ruin things for you. I LIVED Hopeless and I LIVED this book, and when you put the two of these books together you get pure perfection. There's just no other way to describe it.