What I'm Reading :: Maybe Someday

It's been a while since I've written a What I'm Reading post because, well, it's been a while since I've read a book worth writing about. I figured it's about time, especially I've been looking for Colleen Hoover to put out a new book for quite a few months now. I absolutely LOVED Slammed, though the Hopeless series has to be one of my favorites. Ever. As soon as I read the summary for Maybe Someday, I knew it was going to be another one that I liked.

About Maybe Someday...

At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next. 

Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…

I had really, really high hopes for this book, probably because her other two series were just...beyond. It's not that I didn't like this book, it's just that my expectations really were that high. I mean, if you've read Hopeless, you know how intense her books can be and I guess I was just hoping for the same type of emotional roller coaster. 

Now, if you don't know what type of book I typically read, know that I read a lot of what's called New Adult. It's just now starting to be recognized in the mainstream, and I'm kind of used to most people being unfamiliar with this type of genre. Some of my favorites are Beautiful Disaster (duh), Sea of Tranquility (times a thousand - might be my favorite book ever), and Thoughtless (SO GOOD). A common thread for all these books is the age of the protagonists (typically later high school to mid-twenties), steamy sex (I admit it - not as explicit as Fifty Shades, though that series tends to be considered New Adult as well), and a really, really emotional story-line. 

As much as I love these types of books, however, there are a few things that I tend to dislike. As much as I love a good love story, it needs to be part of a bigger story line. I prefer a couple that has to overcome an obstacle together, one that isn't just their relationship. Think a traumatic childhood or adolescence (probably the most common) or outside forces attempting to alter one or both of their lives outside of their relationship. 

Once a couple gets together, I tend to prefer that their relationship move on from that. The exception to this might be Beautiful Disaster and Thoughtless, though if you've read these books, you understand why everyone obsesses over them. 

Anyway, that might be why Maybe Someday didn't hit as much of a chord with me. Colleen Hoover's most recent work, Hopeless, was an emotional roller coaster to the extreme - sure their relationship had it's ups and downs, but it was their personal stories intertwined that really made you cry. It was them trying to fix her life, and their realization of their past, that hit home. That story was so incredibly written that I think I just had high hopes. 

Maybe Someday was a powerful, unique story. Colleen Hoover really is amazing at creating a heartwrenching storyline, beautiful dialogue, and, in this book, one of the most compelling and sensual scenes I've ever read. But it was their story - the problem being in their relationship at its core - that made me skeptical. 

I loved the book, don't get me wrong. I gave it four stars on Goodreads because she's an amazing author and comes up with the most creative stories. But in the end, I have to say that it just didn't meet the expectations that I established after reading Hopeless.