Sunday, June 16, 2013

Book Discussion: Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover

Title: Point of Retreat (Slammed #2)
Author: Colleen Hoover
Genre: Young Adult, Chick-lit
Source: Atria Books via NetGalley
Goodreads | The Book DepositoryAmazon







Hardships and heartache brought them together...now it will tear them apart.

Layken and Will have proved their love can get them through anything; until someone from Will's past re-emerges, leaving Layken questioning the very foundation on which their relationship was built. Will is forced to face the ultimate challenge...how to prove his love for a girl who refuses to stop 'carving pumpkins.'
 Review by Nara


**THIS ENTIRE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**

I actually read this book a while back, but didn't get around to reviewing it until now. I'm quite sure that people have read many spoiler-free reviews for the book, so instead I'm going to do a book review/discussion that will freely discuss the second half of the book (yeah, you know what I'm talking about). First, I'll start off with a quick spoiler-free section, then move into the spoiler section (which is hidden under a spoiler tag, so don't worry). Also, throughout, I'm going to assume you've read Point of Retreat, so I won't do any explanations of who the characters are and such.

The best thing about Point of Retreat was probably the fact that it was from Will's point of view! And after recently reading This Girl, dayum, that boy is fine. The worst thing about Point of Retreat was that it had drama upon drama upon drama. WHEN WILL IT END?! As soon as you read that Will isn't going to tell Layken about Vaughn being in his class, it's like DON'T DO IT!!

But what would I be hiding? Is it really necessary to tell her who all the students are in the classes I'm in? We've never discussed it before, so why do I feel the need to now? If I tell her, it will just cause her to worry unnecessarily. If I don't tell her, what harm is it doing? Lake's not in my class, she's not even in school the days I am. I've made it clear to Vaughn that I'm in a relationship...that should be good enough.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Now onto the spoilers

Click me to read spoilers

She [Vaughn] smiles and hugs me goodbye. I'll admit, it feels good finally having closure between us. I feel like I've had closure for a while, but maybe this is what she needs. Maybe being in class with her won't be so unbearable now. I give her a quick peck on the forehead when we separate and I turn to the door."
Again, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS WILL!?

Also really annoying was how Lake handled it. She was so freaking frustrating throughout the entire novel. OH MY FREAKING GOD, GET OVER YOURSELF ALREADY!! And then when they finally make up, BAM car accident. Which normally would annoy the crap out of me (as it's normally a stupid event put in to make the characters love seem more real) but in Point of Retreat, I found that it was actually acceptable, because of how powerfully Hoover wrote it.

Thursday or Friday, January 26th or 27th, 2012
Now that I have you back, I'm never letting you go. That's a promise. I'm not letting you go again.

"Wait," I say. I put my hand in my pocket. I pull out her purple hair clip and walk back to her bed. I open her hand and place it in her palm and close her fingers over it, then kiss her on the forehead again before we leave.

Sunday, Janurary 29th, 2012.
I've learned something about my heart.

It can break.
It can be ripped apart.
It can harden and freeze.
It can stop. Completely.
It can shatter into a million pieces.
It can explode.
It can die.

The only thing that made it start beating again?
The moment you opened your eyes.
There were a few things that annoyed me.
Right after the crash:
As soon as Eddie is lying on the ground, I climb into the backseat and shake Kiersten.
WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU DOING?! WHAT IF SHE HAD A BROKEN SPINE?! YOU COULD HAVE SEVERED HER SPINAL CORD AND PARALYSED HER FOR LIFE!!!

When consulting the doctor, he says:
"She's hurt. She has an epidural hematoma that's going to require immediate surgery."
DON'T STOP THERE YOU INCOMPETENT DOCTOR! EXPLAIN YOURSELF! THE PATIENT OBVIOUSLY ISN'T GOING TO UNDERSTAND THAT!!!

Again, while I normally hate the cliched ending with a wedding, in Point of Retreat, it was a nice end to the series (chronologically, that is, seeing as though there is also This Girl).

Random quotation that I wanted to include but didn't know where to put so I'll just tack it onto here:
She walks down the hallway and returns a moment later with a DVD in her hands. After she inserts it into the DVD player, she sits down on the couch beside me and turns the television on with the remote.
"What is it?" I ask.
"A close-up of me giving birth to Kiersten."
I jump up in protest and she rolls her eyes and laughs. "Sit down, Will. I'm kidding."

Well, this "review" was a bit unconventional, but I thought something interesting should be done rather than a normal review. If you didn't really enjoy the style, don't worry, my next review will be back to normal!

Liked it

Ratings
Overall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 4/5



2 comments:

  1. I feel the same way about this one! It's like there's so much drama in the book, but the way Colleen Hoover writes it makes it less dramatic. I cannot wait to read This Girl!

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    Replies
    1. This Girl is great! It's awesome how it's told in a series of flashbacks to the past :)

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