The Book Bump

First Published: 2018
Author: Colleen Hoover
Language: English
Genre: Romance/Thriller
My rating: 2.5/5

Struggling writer Lowen gets the deal of a lifetime when the husband of famous author Verity Crawford hires her to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife cannot finish.

Having seen Colleen Hoover all over TikTok, I decided I had to give her a go. I put it down as market research, as this novel fits within the same genre as my current WIP.

I almost wish I’d stayed ignorant.

The novel starts off strong. But you soon find out that the opening scene’s purpose is shock factor. Nothing more, nothing less. There is absolutely no mention of what happened in the first chapter again in the entire novel.

There’s a lot of criticism about the topics Coleen Hoover broaches in this novel. I read a lot of dark novels, I have no qualms with reading about the sordid underbelly of the world, the one we’d prefer didn’t exist. Nordic Noir is one of my favourite genres, and it’s hard to broach more difficult topics than this. However, Verity is trying to be something it’s not. It’s part (dark) romance, part erotica, part thriller, part paranormal… it’s all over the place.

I felt let down that the author didn’t push some aspects of the novel further. If you want to write about the dark and unforgivable, then dive in headfirst and go whole hog. I feel the author pussy-footed around the darker aspect of the plot, which in turn made it come across as an afterthought. Its purpose nothing more than shock value.

The entire plot relied on something highly unfeasible. This ruined the book. I can’t fathom how nobody caught onto what was happening.

The twist was more than predictable. It could have turned the novel into a serious psychological thriller had the execution been better. It’s a shame. There was so much potential in the premise.  

The graphic sex scenes are cringe. One or two would have been enough to realise how “good in bed” Jeremy is. But what is the point of knowing Jeremy is good in bed? What do the all the graphic sex scenes do to advance the plot?

The cast of characters were rather boring. Lowen is a weak female lead. She has nothing going for her. As a reader, I couldn’t relate to her. I felt nothing for her and her predicament. She didn’t manage to elicit any emotion from me.

Jeremy is a romance novel male lead cliché. Sometimes, I think it would be awesome to have a book where not everyone is super good-looking and muscular. Can we have some authentic characters please?

I felt nothing for Verity’s character either. She’s bland, dull. Of course she is. There’s no way for the reader to get to know her.

Perhaps the only character who I sort of felt sorry for was Crew, being stuck in such a toxic environment.

Colleen Hoover’s writing style didn’t help the book either. It’s clumsy and awkward. The novel dragged. The first person POV did this book a disservice in my opinion. Seeing everything through Lowen’s eyes gives the reader a blinkered view of the situation and other characters. A multiple third person POV might have been more effective in making the twist more convincing. It certainly would have added layers to the intrigue.  

I finished this book with the vain hope that it was going to get better. I mean 82% of reader rated this book four stars or more on Goodreads. Don’t get me wrong, if you loved this book, then that’s great. I guess, it just didn’t cut it for me.

I did give Colleen Hoover one more try… but that’s another story.