Good evening, bibliophiles! We’re almost at to hump day, and all I gotta say is that I’m ready for the weekend.. already! I’m still catching up on bog posts to bring to you guys, and I’m also strategizing some new content coming to The Blabbing Bibliophile. The site might be down for maintenance a bit this weekend, but I’ll let you know before I pull the rug out from under your feet. I made a little post about it earlier today, here, and I’d love to hear from all of you! Lastly, After over a year of having this webspace, I finally have a working newsletter, so if you haven’t subscribed to updates and newsletters from me, you should punch in your email and get it done! If you’ve signed up with me in the past, it looks like the addresses didn’t carry over with the new widget, so you’ll have to give it another go. Sorry about that, guys!
Anyway. Review time! The book I’m talking about tonight is one that I kept in my purse and binged on during my bridge-and-tunnel commute to Book Expo a couple of weeks back. It’s called Too Late by Colleen Hoover, and pardon my language, but holy hell, it just blew me the frig away. I’m not just saying that because I was able to cross paths with her at Book Expo and talk about her Write Vegan shirt for a little bit. Blogger’s Note: She’s totally rad and this was a definite weekend highlight. I’ll elaborate more when I get to the Expo post I keep meaning to tell y’all about.
Okay, so my ride from New Jersey to NYC was roughly an hour, and I’ve had Too Late sitting on my shelf since I got my copy for Christmas. This is not the first of her books I’ve read… far from it actually, but while It Ends With Us always sat proudly in the top spot of Hoover books for me, I’m 99.999% sure Too Late is giving it a solid run for its money. That’s saying a lot because It Ends With Us was my favorite read of all 100+ books I read in 2016.
This was truly a unique story, and I really mean that. Of course you’ll see all your favorite elements mingling together like angsty drama, romance, sensuality, thrills, danger, and suspense; to name a few. The overall mood created honestly makes this book un-put-downable. I’m sure there’s nothing proper about what I just said, but that’s how I feel. It’s sexy and dark, and if you know me, you know how much I love sexy and dark.
Sloan is a girl in a spot. She’s grown up with a rough life, but she busts her butt every single day to make something of herself and do right by her family. Problem is, there’s nothing easy or direct about the path to her bright future. There’s a major roadblock keeping her from success and happiness, and its name is Asa.
Asa is Sloan’s boyfriend. He’s rich, suave, well-dressed, and takes care of her. However, he’s not at all what he seems. His perception of love is completely skewed, his money is dirty, and the worst? He’s straight up dangerous. Drugs, weapons, other women, and his gang of friends/employees he has at their house have Sloan constantly looking over her shoulder.
Her only reprieve is Spanish Class with Carter. Once the pair meet, they instantly hit it off, and even though they both have their boundaries as to why they can’t pursue one another, they can’t seem to stop their chemistry. In most stories involving a love affair, there’s trouble and an insurmountable amount of hurt and betrayal. In Too Late, even a hint of lingering eyes or a “feeling” will get one person, if not everyone involved, killed. Reading it was like witnessing a modern day Shakespeare play unfolding before my eyes. I was nervous as hell to make progress in this book, but I couldn’t stop myself from turning the page.
This trio dance around each other, they trick one another, and of course, we have our star-crossed lovers. Carter is a savior and hero in disguise. He knows Sloan is in a bad situation with Asa, and she’s completely stuck. Emotionally, physically, financially, you name it, she’s tied to him, and he’s too clever to slip up and give her an easy way out. Carter has to mind his mouth and watch every step he takes. Breaking character to try to save Sloan will not only end what they’re building in secret, but it could end her.. and quickly.
What kills me the most, is what I felt for Asa. Of course I despised him. He was lethal and had no excuses for how he treated Sloan or anyone around him for that matter. Except, I felt myself feeling something for him… sympathy, perhaps. In the flashback chapters to his upbringing, I ached for him. I’m not supposed to feel compassion for the bad guy! Dammit, Colleen!
Weeks after finishing this book, and the minute I think about it, I get chills. Good chills, and bad. My bookshelves are full to the brim, but I have a very small and personal stack of re-reads. Stories that just sit with me. Stay on my mind and in my heart, and this book just added itself to that shelf. I loved the mix of past and present, and prologues at the end of the story right before the epilogue. This was such a heart-stopping journey.
I know Colleen has written posts on social media in the past about how hard she works to try and create a story that readers have never read before, so that we can always experience something new. Mission accomplished with Too Late. Get this book. Get it NOW. I’m not kidding.
My Final Rating: five out of five stars
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