Slammed Series

Slammed Series

by Colleen Hoover

Summary

Slammed

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.

Point of Retreat

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.’

This Girl

Layken and Will’s love has managed to withstand the toughest of circumstances and the young lovers, now married, are beginning to feel safe and secure in their union. As much as Layken relishes their new life together, she finds herself wanting to know everything there is to know about her husband, even though Will makes it clear he prefers to keep the painful memories of the past where they belong. Still, he can’t resist his wife’s pleas and so he begins to untangle his side of the story, revealing for the first time his most intimate feelings and thoughts, retelling both the good and bad moments, and sharing a few shocking confessions of his own from the time when they first met.

In This Girl, Will tells the story of their complicated relationship from his point of view. Their future rests on how well they deal with the past in this final installment of the beloved Slammed series.

My Review

Slammed

There aren’t a lot of books I’ve read that I can consider good, but I think that Slammed is one of those few. Honestly, I started out without much interest in this book. A friend recommended this book, but the first time I tried it, I stopped at chapter two. It wasn’t that the story was bad, it was more that I felt like it was just going to be another one of those love at first sight things, and for me that’s just completely unrealistic.

I don’t remember how I got around to giving it another shot, but I’m glad I did, because it only got better from that point. The main characters, Layken and Will, were interesting enough, and their struggle to keep their relationship amidst all the drama that threatened to pull it apart. I found Kel and Caulder undeniably adorable. I would have to choose Eddie as my favorite character, because I love her strength in how she doesn’t let the complications in her life dictate her feelings. She had this bubbly and fun personality that just made you want her to be your best friend, too.

Now, the book became more engaging with the introduction of Will’s passion – slam poetry. I thought it was great that the author was able to incorporate something unique despite the story being a bit typical. Without the slamming, I don’t think I would have loved this book as much I do. It was just the perfect way for the characters to express their feelings completely and let go of their fears. I loved that the plot also focuses on family aside from romance, because I’m a huge sucker for touching stories about familial love. It was good to see Layken’s family being brought closer after the death of her father and the discovery of her mother’s big secret. I thought Will’s relationship with his younger brother was sweet as well – how he would give up anything to keep Caulder happy.

The writing was pretty good, eliciting some laughs and a few tears from me, and I liked the song quotes that preceded every chapter. Slammed is definitely number one in my list of must-read new adult novels right now; I give it a full 5 stars!

Point of Retreat

The sequel to Slammed is just as good as the first book, if not a little bit better. The love story continues, but it’s from Will’s point of view this time. Kel, Caulder, Eddie, and Gavin are all back, and we are introduced to the new characters of Kiersten, a weird new neighbor whom Kel’s got a crush on, and her mom, Sherry, who’s equally as weird. But don’t get me wrong; it’s sort of an endearing kind of weirdness. Here we have Will and Layken as a couple, but soon enough, there’s drama yet again, and it prompts them to reevaluate their whole relationship and what it means to them. And then just when things seemed all right again, I was caught way off guard by a second incident, and it just felt like I was riding an emotional rollercoaster the whole time. Of course, it didn’t fall short of poems from the characters, which were as amazing and touching as ever. This book certainly didn’t disappoint!

This Girl

The third installment to the series is more or less just a narration of the events in Slammed from Will’s perspective, with just a few extra scenes. It was an okay book; I didn’t really feel much for it. Maybe it’s because there was not much that was new. I don’t know. Either way, I found Will’s thoughts amusing, and it was nice to read both sides of the first book’s story. There were some funny and cute moments, like Layken’s reactions to information that Will was just then revealing, and also this poem at the very end that I thought was really sweet. I think that Colleen Hoover ended the book nicely, and for me, this series is not one that can easily be forgotten.

Quotes I Like

“The points are not the point. The point is the poetry.”

“So you keep your ocean, I'll take the Lake.”

“I got schooled this year by a boy. A boy that I'm seriously, deeply, madly, incredibly, and undeniably in love with. And he taught me the most important thing of all... To put the emphasis on life.”

“Push your boundaries, that's what they're there for.”

“Choose your battles, but don't choose very many.”

“Sometimes two people need to fall apart to realize how much they need to fall back together."

“Sometimes things happen in life that you didn’t plan for. All you can do is suck it up and start mapping out a new plan.”

“I’ll never be able to give you everything you deserve, but I’ll definitely spend the rest of my life trying.”

“Love is the most beautiful thing in the world. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the hardest things in the world to hold on to, and one of the easiest things to throw away.”

“I just wanna make sure that you don't miss out on the things in life that are happening when you're not thinking. Because believe me, those are the best things in life.”