Confess-- Colleen Hoover

 

I haven’t posted a review for any of Colleen Hoover’s books yet mostly because I don’t feel competent enough as a reviewer to do her books justice.  She is definitely one of my favorite authors, so I just went ahead and bought Confess without even reading the synopsis. I wasn’t disappointed but for those of you who did the same thing as I did, here it is:

Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.
For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.
The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…

I know that synopses are supposed to be vague but this one barely even covers the first layer of the book.  There was so much depth in both of the characters that you truly don’t figure out what was going through their heads or heart until much later. They keep their secrets hidden for as long as possible. Not really the best start to a relationship but still.

I was crying so hard during the prologue that my son asked me “Mom why are you sad?” my response was “Collen Hoover just knows how to write books that tear out your heart.”  I guess that wasn’t clear because I then had to answer the question “But why does that make you sad?”   How do you tell a four year old that the author of your book can twist words just right that they are filled with love and pain? That the heartache expressed in those 11 pages was so intense that it made me sob?  Easy, Colleen Hoover is a literary genius who can write love stories (quite possibly) in her sleep.

Now on to the actual book: I loved the fact that Owen referred to Hannah as Palindrome Hannah. As that was the only interesting thing about her.  I loved the fact that he would do anything for the people he cared about. I loved that he was so selfless and so selfish all at the same time. I think that he was probably my favorite character in this book.  Auburn was self-conscious and unsure--with a good reason to be that way. I wish that Colleen Hoover went into a little more detail about why everyone was in their way working against Auburn.  I am trying to figure out how to say everything without spoiling it.  But I don’t think I can.

Simply put the book was complex, heart wrenching, painful and beautiful.  The characters were relatable yet their own entities and stand apart from other characters in YA books out there today. The last chapter wrapped up the book so neatly, that excluding some extraneous wants, I couldn’t figure out a better ending to a book.  Bravo Colleen Hoover on this splendid addition to all the other books you have written.