🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Synopsis:
Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
It feels like I have waited forever to read this book. I'm so glad that it finally became available at my local library because I felt like I was going crazy waiting to read it. I have read all of Colleen Hoover's other books and loved each and every one of them. The woman is a freak of nature! She is incapable of writing a bad book! She is easily one of my favorite authors so I automatically want to read anything new that she comes out with and Without Merit was no exception. If anything, I got more excited about this book because it seemed different from Colleen's other books. A family that lives in a church? A girl who collects trophies? Sign me up! The only worry that I had going into this book was that it might usurp my favorite, Maybe Someday. (Without Merit did not end up usurping my favorite Maybe Someday but it is easily my second favorite book from Colleen Hoover!)
I have no issues whatsoever about anything pertaining to this book. Well...that's not completely true. I wanted it to be longer. I ended up loving all of the characters and formed some kind of connection with all of them by the end of the story. All I will say is reserve judgement of each of the characters until the end because there is a side to every story and Colleen Hoover gives the reader each and every one. I will say that I connected with Merit the most. I saw so much of myself in her as a teenager. There were many times where I felt unnoticed, left out, or forgotten when I was younger within my family and while at school. I really felt for her as the story progressed because I could tell that although she was angry and struggling that she was trying so hard. She bottled up so much inside of herself and there was nowhere for those feelings/secrets to go. She was also a bit of an odd duck and I don't think that anyone who has been around me would say that I am "normal" so I found that aspect of her to be refreshing.
The story itself was so profoundly beautiful! There were moments where it was just gut-wrenching and I felt like my body was shaking. It was like the author took pieces of me and portions of my life and stuck them in this book. Then there were moments in the book that I found uplifting. There were a few times where Merit is having conversations with members of her family and Sagan when I thought that Colleen Hoover would make a great therapist is she ever quit being a writer. Some of the statements that are made in the book are things that I or others have said as a counselor. This book is not so much a love story as it is a story about what it means to love yourself and what it means to be a family. I would urge anyone that is struggling in a similar way to Merit or wants to understand people that have issues with depression to read this book. Yes, it is a work of fiction but I think that it can help readers to see that you are not alone in feeling that way or to give a better understanding of what it is like to be in the shoes of someone dealing with it.
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
It feels like I have waited forever to read this book. I'm so glad that it finally became available at my local library because I felt like I was going crazy waiting to read it. I have read all of Colleen Hoover's other books and loved each and every one of them. The woman is a freak of nature! She is incapable of writing a bad book! She is easily one of my favorite authors so I automatically want to read anything new that she comes out with and Without Merit was no exception. If anything, I got more excited about this book because it seemed different from Colleen's other books. A family that lives in a church? A girl who collects trophies? Sign me up! The only worry that I had going into this book was that it might usurp my favorite, Maybe Someday. (Without Merit did not end up usurping my favorite Maybe Someday but it is easily my second favorite book from Colleen Hoover!)
I have no issues whatsoever about anything pertaining to this book. Well...that's not completely true. I wanted it to be longer. I ended up loving all of the characters and formed some kind of connection with all of them by the end of the story. All I will say is reserve judgement of each of the characters until the end because there is a side to every story and Colleen Hoover gives the reader each and every one. I will say that I connected with Merit the most. I saw so much of myself in her as a teenager. There were many times where I felt unnoticed, left out, or forgotten when I was younger within my family and while at school. I really felt for her as the story progressed because I could tell that although she was angry and struggling that she was trying so hard. She bottled up so much inside of herself and there was nowhere for those feelings/secrets to go. She was also a bit of an odd duck and I don't think that anyone who has been around me would say that I am "normal" so I found that aspect of her to be refreshing.
The story itself was so profoundly beautiful! There were moments where it was just gut-wrenching and I felt like my body was shaking. It was like the author took pieces of me and portions of my life and stuck them in this book. Then there were moments in the book that I found uplifting. There were a few times where Merit is having conversations with members of her family and Sagan when I thought that Colleen Hoover would make a great therapist is she ever quit being a writer. Some of the statements that are made in the book are things that I or others have said as a counselor. This book is not so much a love story as it is a story about what it means to love yourself and what it means to be a family. I would urge anyone that is struggling in a similar way to Merit or wants to understand people that have issues with depression to read this book. Yes, it is a work of fiction but I think that it can help readers to see that you are not alone in feeling that way or to give a better understanding of what it is like to be in the shoes of someone dealing with it.
