Confess by Colleen Hoover

Ali Mark
Apr 18, 2016
4 min read

Gut Instinct Rating - 5

Story Line - 5

Writing Style - 5

Characters - 5

Excitement Factor - 4

Believability for type and topics - 4

Similarity to other books - 4

Cover art - 2

Title Relevance - 5

Goodreads users gave this book a 4.28. I think it was more deserving of a 4.33.

Published in 2015.

Pages: 206.

Number of books by author: 31.

Genre: Fiction.

When Auburn is in desperate need of a job to pay for a lawyer she can't afford (even with that second, or third job), she never expects to have a connection with her new boss since she lives a pretty closed-off life. But Owen's artwork opens Auburn's eyes to a whole new world of possibilities, and her life is shaken upside down in the middle of a nasty legal battle.

Makes the Top-10! Highly Recommended! I loved this book. And I don't think it's the hype that caused me to love it either. I think this was just a really solid book. Everything was so cohesive and purposeful. After reading two books without much purpose, or with very little purpose, it was nice to read something where every component was very well thought out. If I were writing about the purpose of this book, I'd write about sacrifice (or lack thereof).

Characters were done extremely well and couldn't have been done better. As an addict in recovery, I initially hated Owen. I really did. I thought he was whiny and annoying, and I didn't think that opinion was going to change. But somewhere there was a shift in who he was. And I can't really pin point when I stopped hating him and started tolerating him (to eventually loving him), but it was written so well, that I'm kind of glad it wasn't obvious. Owen's character, for me, was actually the star of the show, if you will. I think Owen is the change we needed in each of the other characters (secondary as well), but also within himself. It's really amazing when an author can make a book feel like it's about one character (in this case, Auburn), but by the end, you realize that all of the power, all the change, the emotion, the anger -- all of those things were powered by a secondary character, Owen. (You could argue since the chapters were in alternating view points of Owen and Auburn that they are both main characters, but I feel pretty strongly about Auburn being a secondary character.) Auburn's character was also done well. To write two characters typically closed off, but opened up by one thing -- that's hard to do without mirroring the other character, but Hoover did a really great job of separating Auburn's personality from Owen's. I also enjoyed how the 'secondary' characters were really just as important as Owen and Auburn. Everyone but maybe Owen's dad and Harrison felt like primary characters, even if their presence wasn't strongly felt. Just another really good aspect of Hoover's writing.

Pretty realistic give or take a few parts. And it was. This book could've played out in any situation. To say that Auburn is 20 and that Owen is mid-20s, I don't know that I really buy into that so much as I would if they were say, 18 and 20, 19 and 21, maybe. But I thought for some of their actions, 20 and (23-25?) was a bit too flimsy. Or maybe I'm just not your average 20-25-year old. (This is probably more true.) I also felt like some of the intertwining was a bit unrealistic - not impossible, just very unlikely. But hell, anything can happen. (And I think with sacrifices, that's what this book is trying to tell you.)

I've read 1-2 books similar. Now, for some reason, this book reminded me of Me Before You.The story lines aren't really similar, but the characters' experiences feel very similar. Sacrifice was something that was talked about and felt a lot in MBY, and I think it was really similar here. I don't think it's a bad thing that they were similar, but there were times where I felt like I was reading the sequel to MBY (and no, not MAY).

Writing was smooth with no interruptions to the story line. Even with the flashbacks and each chapter alternating the point of view, I think everything really flowed. As always, I'm not a fan of breaks within the chapter because I think it breaks up the flow, but the writing was so smooth and seamless that I really didn't notice the presence of these breaks as much as I normally would.

I was on the edge of my seat... at least as much as you can be for a book that isn't action-packed. But I think I was propelled enough by each component of the story and by the story itself that I wasn't really bored. There were definitely some moments that scored a 5 and there were some moments that scored a 2, but overall, the book was entertaining.

The story was thorough and wasn't lacking. There was a lot going on in such a short matter of time. But I felt that each piece was well described, each moment was purposeful and meaningful. The story was just composed really well.

Title fits perfectly with the story's mission and tone. And I was more pleased when I found out that the confessions were real. And the art is real. (And for sale... and yes, I'm planning to make some purchases.)

Artwork was fine, but didn't match story. Was I the only person who felt the cover was only meant to grab your attention in Barnes & Noble on their dark shelves? The cover art was horrible. If someone can explain to me what purpose the art served, I'd be forever grateful.

Overall, I would recommend this book and enjoyed it. And this would make a great movie or TV show.