Never Never

I can't believe I'm giving a Colleen Hoover book a four-star rating. She had a cowriter on this one, so maybe that made the difference. I normally gobble up everything she writes in a couple days. This took me longer and I almost didn't finish it. (Yikes!) I'm glad I did. It's a good story with a thoughtful premise and an unanticipated outcome.

Charlie (a girl) and Silas (her boyfriend) have always been in love, but they are only 17. Still, it's a love that is unquestionable until it suddenly falls apart. The reason the relationship ends isn't your normal, high-school stuff. It was much bigger. In fact, it's pretty much thanks to the adults in their lives that their relationship hit the skids.

The characters were well-drawn, with Charlie somewhat more believable than Silas. Charlie had more hardship enter in her life which may be why she has more dimension. Still, Silas has his own quirks that make him real too.

When the book starts, both Charlie and Silas have completely lost their memories. The book tells about their attempts to recover their pasts. This became a real challenge when they would make progress for 48 hours, then lose it all again and have to start over. This also became a challenge for the authors, who eventually handled it by having Charlie and Silas leave themselves clues.

The repetitive nature of memory loss was wearing to read about until the main characters found a way to move forward. I did like how the story ended and it was a truly sweet idea.