Without Merit

enough drama to satisfy me but too much incest... like more than Colleen Hoover usually writes in a book.

I am a Colleen Hoover stan through and through, love her writing, love the drama she brings to the table but the women clearly has an incest kink and she gotta sort that out in therapy and not in the NY times best sellers chart.

So this was different. Not in a bad way. It still had the same writing and unique characters I've come to expect in a Colleen Hoover novel. The thing that sets Without Merit apart from her previous novels is that the romance aspect of the book isn't the main focus.

The main focus is Merit Voss and her quirky family, including her identical twin sister, two brothers, her dad and step-mother, and her mother who still lives in the basement of the Voss family home despite being divorced from her father. Each family member harbors their own secrets and issues and instead of confronting them, they pretend like they don't exist.

Merit is not very likable in this book. She has a very negative view of everyone in her family and very low self confidence. She finally hits a breaking point and the Voss family is forced to deal with everything they've been sweeping under the rug for so long.

I really liked this book and appreciate that Colleen tried to branch out a little bit from her typical romances and focused more on the dynamics of this crazy family. My only issue is that I wish we would have gotten an epilogue a few months or a year in the future after they've been in therapy because I feel like the story ended without really wrapping anything up. I still have so many questions.

3.5
This is not like the other CoHo books I've read, in this we get various messed up characters who have secrets that they don't want anyone knowing. And the book shows us how nobody is perfect and how everyone is different from each other.

Honestly during the first 45% (roughly) I thought I might dnf it coz it took almost an entire chapter to describe the house(which was a church b4) and I wasn't interested in knowing abt it. But after the 50% mark it got really interesting coz all the characters flaws and secrets were getting revealed bit by bit and it got so drama filled.
I was getting annoyed with the mc Merit during the first few chapters but after a while I got used to her and she didn't bother me anymore.

Also during the last few chapters there were some scenes that were so funny and I kid you not it was abt 2:30AM and I was trying so hard not to make a noise by laughing coz it was that funny.

But aside from that the book deals with some dark topics and I really appreciated how it was dealt, it was very chaotic yes, but at the same time done properly. (Not listing the triggers here coz it might spoil the book, but dm me if you want to know them:)

I don't think this is a romance(coz the romance in this was on the side and the book was more focused on Merit and her family), more like a character study.

If you are looking for a very messing,chaotic book filled with very flawed characters this book is perfect for u:)

I enjoyed this so much that I am not sure how to put it into words. As much as I like the romance novels but the difference in this book was really well done. Don't get me wrong you will get your romance, there are just other topics, that open your eyes.
Another intriguing, captivating read from Colleen Hoover. This hits on the functional dysfunction of family, and how we live, love and evolve through it all. I was so engaged into how the Voss families legacy would emerge, that I was reading in every free moment that I could grab. I love the introduction of a gay character! Colleen Hoover I think this is my favorite book I have read so far this year!

I couldn't put this book down. I wanted to, but I couldn't. I was tired and needed sleep, but instead, I kept reading.

I don't know if I was more fascinated with the book's main character, Merit, or her bizarre family. To think of a family living in a repurposed church was odd enough. The fact that they kept the crucified Jesus on the wall because it was built-in was even weirder.

Merit and Honor are identical twins in their last year of high school, but that's sort of where their similarities end. It doesn't help that Merit is attracted to the guy she thinks is her twin's boyfriend. This is only one of Merit's misperceptions, but it's hardly her fault. No one tells anyone anything in the family. Dad never says why he divorced mom, who still lives in the church/house basement. Or why he married his ex-wife's nurse.

The twins' older brother, Utah, is as confused as everyone else, especially after their step-uncle, Luck moves in. But then, Sagan, who Merit believes to be her sister's boyfriend, has also moved in—not that anyone told Merit. And I won't even try to tell you how the former church's former pastor's dog plays into all this, but he/she/it does.

What starts as a book of a calamity of people turns into a book about the truth about family. Hoover does a masterful job of never leaving us wondering about anyone in a book full of strange motivations.

Needless to say, I had to finish it, just to know if these crazy (but basically nice) people made it through the chaos. Get the large print edition of this book so you can read it when your eyes are tired because putting it down isn't an option.