{Review} "Slammed" and "Point of Retreat" by Colleen Hoover

Title:  Slammed
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher:  Self Published (at this time)
Publication Date:  January 5, 2012
Genre:  YA Romance
Format:  Kindle 719 KB  |  Paperback 312 pages

Buy this book on Amazon:  Kindle Edition  |  Paperback
Author's Website:  http://colleenhoover.com/ 
Author's Goodreads Profile:  Colleen Hoover

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

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. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Title:  Point of Retreat

Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher:  Self Published (at this time)
Publication Date:  February 25, 2012
Genre:  YA Romance
Format:  Kindle 694 KB  |  Paperback 320 pages

Buy this book on Amazon:  Kindle Edition  |  Paperback

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

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.’

Diving in... 

I am just going to just do a quick review of this series as a whole instead of splitting it up, also it will be quick because I don't want to post any spoilers!  I waited too long to read these books, I picked them up off a recommendation from Amazon and Goodreads since I liked Easy and Beautiful Disaster.  These are, hands down, my favorite of all the YA type romance I have read in the past year.

I am not going to talk about the story much, because of spoilers, but I want to talk a little bit about the characters.  This series has such great characters.  Will and Layken are easily one of my favorite book couples.  They have some pretty serious rough spots that they have to get through, but they shine as individuals.  They are both very grown up and while they still encounter a lot of the problems that young couples face they still are very adult because of the hardships they have each gone through.

I was very, very drawn to these characters.  I went through a very similar experience to what Layken did when I was just a little younger that she is in the first book.  I applaud that she was so adult about it, I know that I wasn't at that age.  The character development in these books is incredible, Colleen Hoover did such a great job pulling me in and making me care for each and every one of them.  I think that the supporting characters in this series is the best of any I have read.  Each one is so unique and you can't help but love all of them.  My absolute favorite was Kiersten.  She is absolutely adorable and she steals every scene that she is in.

Another thing that I LOVED was the poetry, it's amazing, it truly is.  Will's poetry is especially beautiful.  I love the whole free form poetry thing and these books make me want to go out and find a place that hosts a Slam night!  This one especially, was a favorite and the context in which Mr. Cooper uses it is wonderful!

"The points are not the point; the point is the poetry." - Allan Wolf

I also loved that the first book is written from Layken's POV and the second on is from Will's POV.  It works out perfectly to give a balance between the characters and it's great to get an inside glimpse of both of them.

I guess you can see from this that I loved the books, just in case you didn't get that...I BUTTERFLYING LOVED THESE BOOKS!  If you haven't picked them up yet, you really should.  I laughed with these characters, I cried with them, I adored them, and I think you will too.

I was very happy to discover that I won a blog giveaway for signed copies of both of these books so I can tell you now that I will most definitely be reading them again!