Point of Retreat is a wonderful novel, with great characters and a very emotional story. Almost a year has passed since the cancer death of Layken´s mother Julia and since she and Will became a couple. It is January and Will writes his thoughts and feelings into a diary. Nothing he thought he´d ever do, but now it seems the only way for him, to deal with certain things. In this case, I have to admit that the cover of the German edition is a lot more intriguing than the original one. And that was what made me look at those books a second time. Not the hype that was created around them or the fact that they were first published as eBooks. No, it was the German cover it is as simple as that. Well, and the question of what I would think about that trilogy.
Point Of Retreat
by Colleen HooverSlammed Series #2
Publisher Atria Books on September 18, 2012
Genre Novel
Pages 320
Format Paperback
Goodreads
✶✶✶✶½
Layken and Will have proved their love can get them through anything; until someone from Will´s past re-emerges, leaving Layken questioning the very foundation on which their relationship was built. Will is forced to face the ultimate challenge … how to prove his love for a girl who refuses to stop `carving pumpkins.`
Story
Will meets his ex-girlfriend Vaughn at the university after many years again; but instead of telling Layken, he keeps silent about it. He just doesn´t think that it would be of any importance to let her know. A huge mistake, `cause when Layken catches him and Vaughn in a dubious situation – one I believe Vaughn created on purpose – she´s deeply hurt and starts to question her relationship with Will. And that leads to another problem. She and Will were used to the fact, that their little brothers could come and go to both houses whenever they were in need of a babysitter. But now this isn´t the case anymore and Kel has not only to deal with the death of his parents but also with the new situation Will created by not thinking things all the way through. Any other woman would now say, okay only because I am suffering lovesickness and can´t understand why my boyfriend hasn´t told me some facts, but that´s no reason to let my little brother suffer as well. But that´s exactly what she does, and with that, she shows that she´s behaving like a little stubborn girl and not the young woman she´s become.
Style
Colleen Hoover´s writing is sensitive, emotional and with the right portion of humor. She describes wonderfully how Layken and Will deal with the situation, how they make mistakes and how they handle everything that follows. The author shows figures in this novel, which have to deal with a lot of things. Losing both parents is never easy no matter what age you are. But when it happens without warning, when life kicks in, it is harder than anything else in life. Will and Layken do anything to be there for their little siblings, to raise them as good as possible and so they share a responsibility that most of their classmates or friends don´t even know. But at the same time their two young people in love, and with that comes a lot of misunderstandings, trouble, jealousy, and pain.
The novel shows a lot of twists and turns, and when you think that the author can´t top the story, she proofs the opposite.
Characters
Will shares in this novel his thoughts and feelings with the reader. We see a young man, who does everything the best way he knows. Who realizes that he has to show his girl what she means to him, and he does it with a fantastic Poetry Slam and some items the reader knows only too well from the first book. He learns the hard way, that being in class with the former girl-friend is as important to know for the current girl-friend as to know what he feels for her. Getting things with Layken back on track, studying and be not only the big brother for his younger sibling but also the one who´s responsibly raising him – all that costs a lot of energy and inner strength. So it is quite nice to see how he manages all that to get his normal routine and family life back together.
But I have to say that I am a bit disappointed by Layken. She acts in certain situations very childish and shows a pattern in her behavior when life struck her again. After all, she´s been through I can´t believe that she hasn’t grown a bit in that field. Okay, she questions her relationship with Will – again, and it is obvious that she doesn´t trust herself or her feelings for him very much. But why acting like a stubborn little girl and why is she not asking Will why he did it? Why doesn´t she give him the chance to explain it all? She seemed way more grown-up and considered in the first novel Slammed.
Conclusion
A well-written novel no doubt about that. But I wasn´t as excited as I was after I´ve read Slammed. I enjoyed reading it very much though and during some scenes, I had tears in my eyes. But I have to say too, that I missed a tiny little bit, that I can´t even tell. It´s just a feeling...
Happy reading
Colleen Hoover
Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Slammed, This Girl, Point of Retreat, Hopeless, Losing Hope, Finding Cinderella, Maybe Someday, Ugly Love, Maybe Not, and Confess. She lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys.
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