Confess is one of many books by a well known author – Colleen Hoover! You might have noticed that some time ago I did reviews (1, 2) of her work Never Never – part one and two that she is still writing together with Tarryn Fisher (and which I enjoyed quite a lot), but other than that I have’t read anything from her. Confess was published this year in Spring and has received a lot of love.
This story tells of a painter Owen, who receives anonymous confessions from passers by and every time he gets inspired by a confession, he paints his own vision of it. He has a exhibition every month and on one of the show days Auburn steps into his gallery. He has dreamed about this moment and has his own confession to make – about how he knows Auburn already for five years, when she sees Owen for the first time. They might seem like a perfect couple, if it wouldn’t be for the mistakes they’ve made until this moment – the time, when they are so desperate to be together, that they might as well just be ready to confess.
I was really surprised, how predictable this book was. There was really just one main plot twist for me that I didn’t expect (which was silly that I didn’t see it, but I’m glad at least about not seeing something coming) and the story didn’t seem that original, comparing to similar themed films and books. At the beginning I kind of enjoyed the romance and how cheesy it all was, because it was set in a bit different environment than usual romances and I loved the idea about painting confessions, so I wanted more of that. But unfortunately, it all took a bad turn, when events started to unfold fast and unfair. If a book features events that have been used a lot, is predictable, is unfair and also puts the main characters in a bad light just because they need to be stupid for a moment, in order to develop the plot, then it cannot be a very good book. I hate that all of it is combined in this book.
The writing style didn’t bother me much, until at one point I noticed that it sometimes is so simple and unnecessary, like it was just a filler text: She picked up the cat. She sat down on the bed. She stared in the empty wall and started to cry.
Those are just facts, without any writing magic, emotion or beauty to them and once I noticed it for the first time, I couldn’t stop noticing it.
I was a bit sad that there weren’t more pictures of paintings in this book, because I absolutely loved the paintings and although I sometimes felt like the confessions associated with the paintings were a bit too shallow, I still find that to be my favourite part of the book.
As a character Owen is the perfect guy as they very often are ideal everywhere but the reality. He looks, acts and is trough and trough perfect and it gives a bad vibe. I’m sure I am not the only one, who gets turned off by perfect and unrealistic characters. And even more – the reader always compares him to Trey, because Auburn does so and honestly I sometimes felt like Owen has the same possessiveness and bad habits as to “owning” or “having” a person, because that little speech he gave while Trey was out of town really sounded fucked up. If someone would say things like that to me, I would hit and run. And I though it doesn’t show the perfect love and care, it shows the bad traits that we hate in Trey.
That was a turn for me in the book, where I started to expect Owen to snap and felt like his speech was justified only because of Auburn’s feelings for him, while Trey’s way of talking was repulsive only because Auburn’s feelings weren’t that strong. I honestly thought that those are double standards, although of course the perfect book Owen would never act as Trey, but if that all would happen in real life, I wouldn’t be so sure.
Trey was a classic case of a bad person and I don’t really have anything to say about him that hasn’t been said already, because most of the things he did were predictable just because that type of character is already set in the history of literature and television.
Overall, I had to push myself to finish this book and opposed to the cheesy start which I kind of enjoyed, I didn’t really like the middle to end parts and it was all so classical and I just fail to see how it could actually happen to people that are as intelligent as the described ones (let’s not call the police, because it only makes it worse for me, right? What the hell? If the person your son lives with is an abuser, that is the first thing you should do, because it will prove that the environment he lives in is bad for him.)
I think this is another teenage girl dream book. I think that AJ might ruin those dreams slightly as that is not a scenario of a typical girl’s life (at least I hope so), but other than that, it has the romance and a prince. There’s also a sex scene, some violence and drug and alcohol abuse, so that might be the only thing that is not really suitable for youngsters under age (although I doubt that the modern teenager hasn’t already know all those things). This book received two stars out of five from me on my goodreads page.
If you have read this book, let me know, if there was something that frustrated you too! Or you loved it? What did you think of Owens outburst? What letters AJ stand for? How did you enjoy the art?
If there’s a book you would like me to review, leave it in the comments and I will consider it!
November 23, 2015 at 01:04
I’m reviewing this book this week too and I agree with what you say here. I’m quite relieved it’s not just me 🙂 I had some serious issues with the book and had to resort to skim reading to finish it. That said, I think I would give Colleen Hoover another shot…
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November 23, 2015 at 08:52
I would too, because I kind of liked Never Never and expected more from her. This seemed really cheap and I don’t really know, why would a book that has been written and produced so many times, would get so much hype and high ratings.
I can’t stop but wonder, if she is just pushing out everything she can, because she had another book published few weeks ago.
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November 23, 2015 at 09:09
oh damn. Too bad it didn’t turn out all that well. It sounded promising.
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November 23, 2015 at 09:39
Yes, it was one of those cheesy bits that you actually enjoy and don’t just shrug at the sweetness of the book, but by the end, I pushed myself quite hard to finish.
Still hope to love other her books!
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November 23, 2015 at 09:40
I haven’t read any of her books. I’ll look forward to your reviews on them
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November 23, 2015 at 12:31
Everyone seems to love this book, but I absolutely hated it. There wasn’t a single likable character. I agree with what you said about Owen. It irks me so much when characters don’t seem to have any flaws. I’ve read 3 Colleen Hoover books so far, and didn’t like a single one of them. I really don’t understand the hype around her. Great review! Sorry for the rant 😉
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November 23, 2015 at 17:02
Hello! Love your review, and thanks for checking out my review it really means a lot to me.
Could you help me write better book reviews?
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November 25, 2015 at 12:35
This sounds like such a frustrating read! I often feel like guys in YA books display some pretty unacceptable behaviour that isn’t portrayed as such. It worries me to think of girls that much younger than myself reading these things and thinking those actions are okay. I think I’ll avoid this book. Thanks for the great review!
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November 25, 2015 at 17:03
Hi there! After reading Finding Cinderella and being smacked down by that outrageous plot twist, I have not been even remotely interested in any other of Colleen’s books. I enjoyed reading your review though. 😀
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December 3, 2015 at 05:11
Hi! I’m following you. We both posted about the same book. What do you think about the fact that it won the Goodreads award?
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December 3, 2015 at 09:23
I don’t think much of it, as people vote for it and people tend to be ‘young adult girls’, which means that they have their own preferences on what is good and what not.
I haven’t read most of the winning books, but from my impressions about the authors, it seems like, it is a big boom of ya, who know how to advertise and write about things that ya seem to be loving, but might not always work on the logical side, which means that new adults or adults will not really enjoy them.
But in general, I actually think that ya category awards are not to be taken seriously and I do not base my choice of reading on awards the books have received, simply because it doesn’t really show to me, if the book is good or not.
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