Lizzie Recommends Books

November 9 by Colleen Hoover
Publishing Date: August 2, 2016
Genre: Contemporary Romance
You’ll enjoy it if you feel your emotions too deeply one day and want to ride that emotional roller coaster a bit longer. Just kidding. Kind of.

“…November 9th or nothing. And we’ll stop after five years?” he asks. “When we’re both twenty-three?”

November 9 by Colleen Hoover

I read November 9 by Colleen Hoover on November 9th, and it was the most satisfying read I’ve had in a while simply because it was the same date.

This book was an impulse buy that afternoon after seeing it everywhere I turned. Instagram? Post after post of rave reviews. TikTok? Lip syncs, parallels, and how people were absolutely ruined after reading it. After seeing it on my feeds constantly for a number of hours, I was easily swayed into reading it that night. You know it’s good when that many people come out to say that they’re rereading it or they’re emotionally unavailable for the next few days.

I should admit that I don’t recall reading the synopsis or the reviews before diving into it. I went solely based on the hype which is a new one for me. Then to find out exactly what happens in the plot? I was purely emotionally wrecked, and I haven’t stopped thinking about the story since Tuesday.

My emotions and thoughts varied throughout the novel. I was surprised, then horrified, then crying all in one sitting. I took a few breaks to take a breather from the plot. It also takes a lot in a book to have me read straight through, but I finished it just after midnight, which seemed appropriate based on the novel’s ending.

This wasn’t my first Colleen Hoover book as It Ends With Us was, and I probably have an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t like it that much. I’d rated it three stars. My review can be found HERE.

However, the sheer difference in how I felt reading November 9 versus It Ends With Us was worth it enough for me to go and purchase six of Colleen’s books, including a hard copy of November 9. Why a hard copy in addition to my Kindle version? I highlighted at least one hundred quotes or passages throughout the book. While I love using e-readers, nothing beats a hard copy of a favorite book, highlighters, and tabs. Maybe this is also an unpopular opinion, but I enjoy annotating my books. More of that another time!

I’m rating this 5 stars because it drew me in immediately by describing two very likable characters who did everything they could not to fall in love then failed. It was cute, I cried my eyes out, and I wasn’t expecting half of the plot to play out the way it did. I only guessed one part of it, and it wasn’t even the biggest twist.

This book made me understand the hype around Colleen Hoover’s books, and I ran (drove at a normal speed) to Barnes and Noble to pick up the books that weren’t free on Kindle Unlimited. Will I ultimately regret that I didn’t purchase hard copies later? Probably. That’s a problem for future me though.

Side note, is it not the craziest thing that so many of her novels were written long before she became popular? Is this not the perfect lesson and example of patience and waiting for your moment? How did we all go so long without knowing a world where these characters and their intense lives exist? It’s truly incredible what spaces such as Instagram and TikTok can do for someone and their career. Reality can make the best plots if we listen closely and pay attention.

Keep an eye out for future reviews coming:
1) Girl, Unstrung by Claire Handscombe
2) Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover (for obvious reasons)
3) Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult