Losing Hope: A Novel (Hopeless) Paperback – October 8, 2013

"Thirteen years. I've been looking for her for thirteen years and I very well may have just found her. Alive."When I was a little girl, every single year on my birthday, my parents would take me to my favourite toy store which happened to be in a city a few hours away from ours. Those day trips were some of the happiest moments in my life because I could always take that joy for granted. I never knew what toy I would pick, the anticipation was half the fun, but I always knew I would be returning home with a huge grin on my face. Well, fast forward "a few" years and I have found the equivalent of those childhood toy store expeditions. It is called a Colleen Hoover book.Hopeless was hands down one of the best books I have ever read. It touched me so profoundly and so irrevocably that I walked away a different reader. The story of Sky and Holder is not something that you ever forget - its uniqueness lies in the deep emotions that it makes us feel and in its inimitable writing style. It is truly the perfect book. Losing Hope is its sequel, written entirely from Holder's point of view, but following the same storyline. It is not a book, however, that could or should be read without reading Hopeless first as several scenes are better understood with prior knowledge of Sky's story, allowing this book to simply fill the gaps in the timeline and for Holder to finally tell his side of this timeless tale of love, courage and human endurance.Revisiting such an emotional story from a different point of view was no small task, especially since we were left believing that no stone was left unturned in the storyline, but it truly deserved to be told again. From the first moment we hear Holder's voice, we become aware that to truly understand the complexity of Sky's reactions, we needed to witness Holder's too. All the final puzzle pieces are set in place, making this story even more flawless. Holder has had more loss in his life than any young man should ever have to overcome. Losing his childhood friend left him burdened with guilt and regret, but losing his twin sister shattered his heart."What are the chances that the only two girls in my life I've ever loved ... I've lost?"The moment he first sees Sky is the embodiment of thirteen years of hope. When Holder meets her, he wishes with all his heart for her to be his long lost friend, but the more he gets to know her, the more he needs her not to be that little girl. We watch them fall in love, slowly, gently, cautiously, knowing the truth this time around and aware that it is a ticking bomb waiting to explode."I don't know what will be more painful. Staying away from her so she doesn't find out, or telling her the truth and ruining her life all over again."While we suspected Holder's feelings to be strong, we now find out how overwhelmingly intense they were from the moment he laid eyes on Sky. They love story is epic - it is the story of two young people who have cared for each other for over a decade and who are now drawn to each other all over again, like two magnets unable to fight the pull, the growing love between them healing their hearts and giving them the courage to face the impending truth. They are kindred spirits who might be falling in love with one another for the first time, but their hearts have known each other and have been connected for a very long time."I've loved Hope since we were kids. But tonight? Tonight I fell in love with Sky."Nothing in this book is accidental or without purpose. Ms Hoover uses her words with intent and with impeccable skill. Even the simplest of sentences make us feel so much, fortuitously manoeuvring our emotions from one direction to another. What left me speechless once again is the author's ability to use humour to lighten even the heaviest of subjects. Holder's letters to his dead sister are an unexpected highlight of this story, equally heartbreaking as they are comical at times, often making me genuinely laugh through tears of sadness."Why would you leave your jeans on the floor if you knew what you were about to do? Wouldn't you at least throw them in the hamper? ... Well, I'm not picking them up."I must stress again the importance of reading Hopeless first as this book is in effect a companion novel. Several very important scenes are rushed over this time around as they were told in detail previously and nothing needed to be added. This being Holder's story, the focus is not only on his relationship with Sky but also on overcoming his feelings of grief and guilt stemming from the untimely loss of his sister.I have said so much about this book and I still consider myself speechless over it. I believed Hopeless to be a complete story but I am now convinced that neither book should be read without the other one. I am doing a standing ovation to Ms Hoover, once again, and I get a feeling I should be used to it by now. A truly spectacular read."I don't want her to feel nothing when I kiss her. I want her to feel everything."

I have not been able to put down most of Hoover's books until this one. Most of her books take me only a couple of days to read but this one took me nearly a week because I felt like I already knew what was going to happen next. I really enjoyed Hopeless and was not sure where Losing Hope would pick up. Unfortunately, it was almost the same story from the beginning, sometimes word for word, all over again. There was about 30% new material that kept me interested but skipping to parts that I feel like I had not just read in Hopeless. I like the idea of a story from Holder's POV but it was not different enough compared to how Midnight Sun was for Twilight.I enjoyed reading about events that I would not have otherwise known in Hopeless and do look forward to the story hopefully progressing in the next book in this series.If you have not read Hopeless in a while, this is a good refresh. It just was not as enjoyable to read immediately after Hopeless.

I realize that retellings from an alternate POV are not for everyone. I, however, am one of those people who loves a good retelling that gives me not only a new perspective, but also new content. Cutting and pasting scenes and making minor changes is not a retelling for me. Give me something I didn't know, offer me new emotions, provide a new perspective, and make me fall for the characters all over again and I'm yours. Fortunately for me Colleen Hoover did just that!I purposely did not reread Hopeless before Losing Hope. I'm very glad I didn't. While I was tempted a couple of times to pull out my Hopeless copy and do a side-by-side comparison of a couple of scenes, I decided not to. But that wasn't because I thought it was just a copy-cat scene; it was because the scene actually felt different. But to me that was a good thing, because the scene should feel different because it was from Holder's POV, not Sky's. So I kept on reading and kept on loving this story.I also wanted to see if this would be a book you could read before Hopeless instead of afterwards. While technically you could do it, as there is enough information and story to make it have its own story, I still wouldn't suggest it. What I loved about reading Hopeless was the mystery element of trying to figure out Holder's deal and Sky's past. If you've never read Hopeless, you still get the mystery element of Sky's past, but not Holder's, and I feel like the impact would be so much greater if you read Hopeless first. So that is my opinion: read Hopeless first.What's new in Losing Hope that's not in Hopeless, you ask? Holder! Lots and lot of Holder! He is such a fantastic character, with such depth to his character, but also such humor, compassion, and love that it was a real pleasure reading from his POV. One thing I really enjoyed about Holder's POV was learning more about Lesslie, his relationship with her, and how he handled all that tragedy on his own. There was so much for me to learn, and what he expressed to Less were among my favorite, and emotional, bits of the book. I teared-up twice that I recall, and both involved Holder and Less. We also get more about Holder's friendships, his family, and then, of course, his feelings about Sky. Learning why he reacted to her the way he did, what was behind his actions and motivations, what his true feelings were toward her - all of that I loved and gobbled up. Having Sky's feelings in the back of my head from Hopeless, and then gaining Holder's perspective here, truly rounded out this relationship for me. Holder and Sky are truly a beautiful couple inside and out.Was there anything I didn't like? Honestly, not much. I did miss a couple of secondary characters at the end, and wanted to know more about them, but I realize that this wasn't their story, so I wasn't overly disappointed. Beyond that I have no complaints except, like a greedy child on Halloween who wants to continue to trick-or-treat despite my overflowing bag of candy, I just want more.Bottomline: I loved this retelling from Holder's POV and fell in love with these characters and their heart-breaking but heart-lifting story all over again. Thank you, Colleen Hoover, for giving us more Holder and making this story come alive even more than it already was.