Slammed: a book review
Another novel recommended by Allie. Another novel I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Truthfully, I was not harnessed in and prepared for the free-fall drop and crazy rollercoaster ride this story took me on. In other words, I got schooled by this book.
Slammed is your classic love story with the forbidden relationships, secrets, and several giant twists (don't worry they come early in the story). The main character is Layken, an 18-year-old who has just moved from Texas to Michigan with her mother and 9-year-old brother after the loss of her father. Lucky for her, the moment they park at her new house she is blessed with an astonishingly good-looking (okay.. HOT) neighbor. I know it's a tad cliche, but it's so good so just go with it.
Enter Will Cooper, the attractive 21-year-old new neighbor who (coincidentally) has a little brother the exact same age as Layken's brother. As Layken and Will's brothers form a fast friendship, Layken and Will also quickly fall for each other after only a handful of encounters. Their first date is diary-worthy including homemade sandwiches and a visit to a slam poetry venue. We quickly discover that Will's biggest passion is poetry, specifically slam poetry, and through his poems we discover his deepest feelings and secrets about his life.
After their first date, both Layken and Will have more feelings for one another than I've ever felt on a first date, but just the same they are already completely emotionally connected. Layken is feeling less skeptical, and more hopeful, about her family moving. However, Colleen Hoover doesn't like love that immediately works out perfectly and soon enough Will and Layken discover that there is a very good reason that they can't be together. So begins the battle of feelings vs. ethics that plagues the pages of this book after the shocking revelation.
Will and Layken must search for a balance between what is keeping them apart and their feelings that are consistently pulling them together. As daily interactions become more painful and Layken and Will struggle with the knowledge that they can't be together, another dramatic turn of events occurs.
Come on, Hoover! As if I couldn't be upset enough about what was already happening in this book, Hoover takes Layken's life and inserts another intense family tragedy which makes all other issues seem so small and insignificant in comparison. When Layken discovers this secret she turns to the only person she has grown close to in Michigan: Will.
So the cycle continues.
This book stood out as a great read because the characters and the relationships between characters were so real. Layken's feelings are feelings that every girl has experienced, the family struggles are common and familiar to many, and the back and forth tug of right vs. wrong is something we can all relate to.
This was just another heart-wrenching CoHo book that had tears streaming down my face (I swear I'm not that emotional, it's literally just this talented author). Slammed was filled with humor, romance, heartbreak, poetry, family and friendship. Perhaps, most apparent, was the love and loss that completely surrounded the characters and situations in this book. It’s about life – rolling with its punches, and punching it in the face when it seems to get the better of you, and family, both the family we're bound to by blood, and the family we choose.