November 9 by Colleen Hoover | Book Review

4/5 Stars for November 9!

A love story about a writer and his unexpected muse... it sounds cliche, no? Believe me when I say this book is far from that!!!

Our main character is Fallon, a once up and coming actress who got 30% of her body burnt in a fire, instantly bringing her acting career to an end.  On the anniversary of the day of the fire, she meets Ben, an aspiring writer. Their spark is instant and undeniable but their time together is short as she is just about to move across the country to New York to try and pursue acting again. 

Their crazy whirlwind romance ends with them promising to meet up every year on the day they met to see where their lives are - and this inspires Ben's debut novel. As Fallon begins to read snippets of the book she starts to wonder if Ben is being honest about how he knows her and if some of the horrific parts of his novel are fabricated or the heart-crushing truth...... 

This book is sectioned off in the years that follow, based on the day that they met, November 9th. 

Confession. I am a full-blown Colleen Hoover addict. She is a drug. Like cocaine... but this is CoHo.... and I should really be in rehab right now but I just can't stop devouring her books!

You need to be a certain type of person to enjoy Colleen Hoover's writing. You need to be brave... really brave... and strong, because her books really will tear you apart. You also need to be sexual (if 50 Shades was too much for you then don't even go near her books... BUT... you should... because they are fan-bloody-tastic!). You also need to be open-minded. You need to have a certain sense of humor... almost dry humor. Sadistic humor. 

FYI: Read Ugly Love before you read November 9. Some of the characters from Ugly Love are IN November 9 which was such a stunning surprise!!! Really enjoyable if you're a die hard CoHo fan like myself...

At the start of this book I was thinking to myself, hmm this seems an awful lot like 'One Day' by David Nichols.... two people meeting up once a year on the same day and seeing where their lives are at etc etc... then it actually REFERENCES One Day as well... Now, One Day is my all time favorite book... and although they are very similar in some ways, they are entirely different in others.  

This is an absolute gem of a novel, brimming with unforgettably earth-shattering quotes and a love truly like no other (as cliche as that may sound... trust me). 

Once again, Colleen Hoover had me whimpering and sobbing in a corner - not ready to face the world for a while. Her books are SO full of love and angst - it's the most incredible combination and she pulls it off every single time. 

The plot twists were jaw-dropping and left me curled up in a devastated heap under my blankets. 

This book will also change your perspective on instalove (which lets face it, we all pretty much despise in books!!). ONLY Colleen Hoover has the ability to do that. 

Fallon as the main character..... Okay, I love how you get her growing confidence throughout the novel and it IS wonderful to have an MC that isn't some beautiful girl ... she's scarred. Literally... and with someone with a skin problem like myself, it added so much more depth to the story. It inspired me. My condition is nothing like hers, having 30% of your body burnt from a fire... It makes me feel blessed to have such minimal problems in comparison, but this book really gave ME confidence somehow too. The love interest Ben makes Fallon feel beautiful, even more beautiful than before the fire... and that is so stunning.... when she gets to the stage where she OWNS her scars... I just love it. SO inspiring.  

There were things I didn't like about her character though... I felt like she was far too dramatic, riddled in jealousy... there were just a few things that I wasn't entirely happy about. I also found a fair bit of this novel to be far too cheesy, cringe-worthy and dramatic...

I listened to this book on Audible. You know... I keep SAYING this about CoHo's audiobooks.... something is just off with them. This one for instance, the female narrator spoke in slow motion. It was ridiculous. It just sounds SO computerized and weird... but besides that, I loved the story.

One other thing I actually found really enjoyable about this book was that Fallon's job is as a narrator for audiobooks and the love interest, Ben, is an aspiring writer who starts working on his debut novel which is all about his unique and heartbreaking relationship with Fallon. Ben as the love interest - the majority of CoHo addicts adore him. I'm torn. He's cheeky - which is good - but perhaps a little too cheeky and sexual.... SOMETIMES I feel like Colleen Hoover's books and characters can get a bit carried away sexually. Her sex scenes are PHENOMENAL and for the most part, elegantly done... but sometimes toning it down just a tad would do wonders.

Overall, I loved it. I love all of her books. I love Colleen Hoover in general and I think her books and my books should just go off and have little bestselling JACO (Jade / Colleen) babies.