Book Review: Slammed (Slammed #1)

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Title: Slammed
Author: Colleen Hoover
Series: Slammed
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Published: 9/18/2012
Format: e-book, 364 pages

Synopsis: Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope.

Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.

Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.

I was never a fan of poetry. My closest relationship to poetry was with song lyrics, and I don’t even consider them as poetry, just lyrics. Seriously, the only way I could’ve understand poetry before was from my teacher’s explanation. I could read pages and pages of novels, but no, you can’t make me appreciate poems. And this book change the way I looked at poetry.

You know you’ve read a good book when you’re trying to come up with words to describe it and you’re left with nothing but a blinking line telling you that you’re mind’s completely blank. This is my first Colleen Hoover book and I am hungry for more! I wasn’t disappointed. There was never a time while reading this that I got bored, or annoyed. Rather, this book just got me. This book brought me laughs and tears my dad thought I was going crazy. Colleen Hoover really did a great job in writing this book. It was as if I was there witnessing every emotions and events that has happened in the story. I love this book, it gave me flutters and tears, yet it wasn’t exhausting to read. The characters were ordinary yet they were refreshing.

The story starts at the last leg of Layken Cohen’s move with her mother and 9 year old brother Kel, from Texas to snowy and chilly Michigan. They had to move after months of their dad’s death due to financial pressing and because Layken’s mom was offered a job with a better pay. She thought she was gonna hate their new place. Layken just turned eighteen and was about to start her senior year in high school. She thought, after high school, she’d still be able to move back to Texas. She didn’t like the move, she didn’t like moving to an unfamiliar place and leaving memories and the place she considers home. That was until she met her neighbor, Will Cooper. Will, whose younger brother, Caulder, became fast friends with Kel. It was a whirlwind romance. All it took was a coffee on her first Michigan morning, drive going to grocery, and a date, and they were already falling for each other. Then Layken goes for her first day in her new school and discovers that Will Cooper is her poetry teacher.

Oh yes, I know. I had a mini heart attack then. I was able to survive and write this review.

Well it doesn’t stop there. After all the revelations and mini heart attacks came all the weird encounters. All the “push and pull” and the “what should and what can’t be” debate. It was a given, it was never appropriate to date a teacher at YOUR school. But what are you gonna do if all your feelings contradicts what your head is telling you?

“Find a balance between head and heart”

The title was from Will’s interest in slam poems. Honestly, due to lack of love for poetry, I didn’t have a clue what slam poems are. I had to google it and see if there really were slam poems or if it were only on this book. Anyways, our dashing male lead is into them and even took Layken to a club that had performances for slam poems every Thursday nights. He even made a deal with his students, to attend and perform at the slam to be exempted for finals. I actually liked that Will was the mature male lead in this book. It kind of balanced Layken’s emotional, sometimes immature, character she possess. I even considered Will as the most considerate male lead I have ever encountered. He juggles work, school, his younger brother, and even Layken.

I never expected anything from this book, I thought it was just another love story with all the jealousy and past relationships bothering them. But I was wrong. This book was so much more. Yes it was about Layken and Will, but the characters surrounding them did play a big part in the story. It wasn’t just about love. It was about love, loss, and life. I don’t know if my emotions were biased because the big “C” was involved, nevertheless, the story was amazing. I loved Layken’s relationship with her mom, and with her younger brother as well as Will and Caulder’s relationship which is comparable to a father and son. I’ve read from somewhere that this was optioned to be a movie, and I hope it’s true. All in all, I really loved Slammed. It was an eye opener and a breath of fresh air. This is my first Colleen Hoover and definitely not my last. Now I’m looking forward to reading the sequel and her other books.

5 out of 5