Confess: A Novel Paperback – March 10, 2015

This book pulled me in from the very first page and didn’t let go. Confess is full of emotion, unexpected twists, and the kind of heartfelt romance that Colleen Hoover does best. The concept of incorporating real anonymous confessions into the story was so creative and made the plot feel even more raw and authentic.Auburn and Owen’s connection is intense and believable, and I found myself completely invested in their journey. The pacing kept me turning the pages late into the night, and the reveals along the way hit me right in the heart.It’s a perfect blend of romance, mystery, and emotion, with just the right amount of drama to keep you hooked. I finished it in two days and already want to read it again. Highly recommend for anyone who loves a love story with depth and originality.

THE STORY:Becca: I actually went into Confess completely blind, having read the synopsis quite some time ago I decided to avoid reading anything else so that I could go in with an open mind and no premonition of what was to come. Besides knowing that it would have something do with Art I was clueless. That is my favorite way to go into a book (movies too!) This approach really worked with how Colleen Hoover built this story. Bits and pieces about both main characters lives are introduced throughout the story until at the end we have a complete picture of not only their past, present and future, but also a clear picture of who both Owen and Auburn are. I really cannot reveal too much about the story without spoiling it, but I will see that as things were revealed Lisa and I were texting back and forth “OMG!” and then “OMG AGAIN!!” (and by the way for those who have read this.. pun intended on the OMG!) Oh and by the way… that prologue?! It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read, it sets the tone for the entire story and once I read that I was completely hooked! I was so enraptured by Confess that I did not want to put it down! Once again Colleen Hoover has worked her epic, magic, writing genius and my love her has grown grown even more!“I love you so much.” His voice is breathless and full of fear. “I’ll love you forever. Even when I can’t.” My tears fall harder at his words. “And I’ll love you forever. Even when I shouldn’t.”Lisa: CoHo, you can do no wrong in my eyes. You continue to blow me away with your creative writing style, insanely gorgeous words, and knack for pulling your readers in instantly and never letting go.Becca’s definitely right about that prologue. It was so, so beautiful. Sweet, and sad, and definitely set the stage for story. Like Becca, I went into this story with no idea whatsoever about what I was going to encounter. I rarely read descriptions, so this is the norm for me. I just love going into a story with a blank slate. And with Colleen especially, this always pays off. The way she tells a story with so many questions, then revealing bits and pieces throughout, is one of my very favorite things about her. It definitely encourages the “I cannot stop reading!!!” behaviors we all struggle with from time to time. ;)She’s like a light, unwittingly brightening up the darkest corners of a man’s soul.THE CHARACTERS:Lisa: This beautiful story is told through the alternating points of view of both Auburn and Owen. (Oh, how I love me some dual narration!!) Auburn has relocated recently, living with a girl she just met in a small apartment near the salon where she works. She has her entire life planned out for her… minus the part where she needs more money. And fast. She stumbles upon an art studio looking for an assistant where she can make some major money, so she immediately agrees to the job. This is where she meets Owen, the studio’s owner. Owen was a bit of an enigma at first. Even though we have the pleasure of his voice for a lot of the book, at the beginning I wasn’t quite sure on how I felt about him. He had a few secrets, and I unsure of whether I would want to smack him or hug him as the story progressed.This is one of the things I love most about Colleen Hoover and her ninja writing skills… so many secrets that really keep you guessing until they are finally revealed… and then… SO MANY FEELS! Good feels, bad feels, ugly feels… she brings them all out of me! Oh, Colleen… how you torture me so!Owen smiles, and I suddenly wish we were in the cleaning aisle, because someone is going to have to mop me up off this floor.Becca: So many feels is right and this book had them all! I would go from grinning, to crying and then to irrationally angry as I read! But these were all good things because each emotion was an integral part of the story!I liked Auburn a lot, she was so strong and her perseverance was one of the things I loved the most about her! As I learned more about her, my heart went out to her. She worked so hard for everything and never gave up on what she wanted, no matter how hard it was.Lisa is right about Owen, I wasn’t too sure about him either. My head couldn’t decided if it should trust him, but my heart was screaming at me to do so! His creative mind was absolutely beautiful! The way that he thought and spoke was as if his words were painted with colors and it was magical. The art work/paintings are such a major part of this book. Because we had an E-ARC we did not get to see the paintings and it made me so sad :( Luckily, I received my pre-order in the mail shortly after finishing and I immediately searched through to re-read the passages and look at te art work… OMG the paintings are AMAZING!!!!! I seriously just stared at them and petted them while my brain soaked them in! By the way, the Artist’s name (not it’s not Owen LOL) is Danny O’Connor :DI tilt my face toward her neck and inhale the scent of her. If her smell had a color, it would be pink. Sweet and innocent with a touch of roses.OVERALL:Becca: Once again, Colleen Hoover has amazed me! She is so talented and her writing speaks to my soul. I will continue to devour any and everything that she writes because her ability to incorporate real characters and beautiful stories packed with so many feels keeps me coming back for more! I had a serious book hangover after reading Confess, I was still so in love with Auburn and Owen and the amazing art that I had to give my brain and heart time to recuperate! If you have not read this yet, DO IT! Trust me, I don’t think that you will be disappointed!Lisa: As I’ve said before and will continue to say, I always rate books based on how they make me feel, and not necessarily on any technical aspects. Because of this, I have zero hesitation about rating this book a full 5 stars. I loved it. From page one I connected with this book, and it never faltered. I’m continually blown away by Colleen Hoover’s talent in writing such realistic and shockingly-defined stories. Her mind is a powerful tool, and I feel lucky to have the chance to experience it when reading her books. Once again, Colleen has made me feel things. ALL the things. And I couldn’t be happier. If you enjoy Colleen’s books (Are there really people out there that DON’T enjoy her books?!) this is one you will not want to miss!

“Some secrets should never turn into confessions. I know that better than anyone.”As any Colleen Hoover fan out there, I was so excited when these arrived at my doorstep, but then afraid to open it because I knew it would break my heart all over again. And I tell you, it didn’t disappoint. I was heartbroken, not even five minutes into the book and not even through the prologue yet.I was contemplating on continuing reading cause some of the first words you’ll see are “Part One” and I was like, “does this end in a cliffhanger?” because I couldn’t take cliffhangers, especially if the release dates are so far apart. Lucky for all of us, it is a standalone. :)“In order to be embarrassed, a person has to care about the opinions of others first.”There are a lot of things I liked about this book.First, the art. The art here are just lovely and to incorporate the art into the story and really show what it looked like brought in a lot more emotion and understanding of each of the confessions or inspiration behind them.“Surface friends” is what I call it. When your friendship is merely a facade and you’re enemies on the inside.Then there were the confessions. The book said that all these confessions were real, and I couldn’t believe it at first, but when I think about all these confessions some more, I see why the need to use real confessions rather than make up some. It makes people connect more with the story and realistically, makes you feel that kind of “normalcy” that Auburn felt when she first read those. “If these are all true, then maybe my life isn’t quite as bad as I think it is.”And then there are the characters and the witty banters. I had mixed emotions regarding Auburn. I don’t know if I like her that much cause I didn’t like how she did and thought about a few things, but I do know I wanted to throttle her for most part of the book. I mean, I get her situation and all, but couldn’t she think of a better solution, a more long-term one rather than succumbing to the demands of others all the time? I don’t like pushover characters, and for the most part, in this book, she was one. She also frustrated me to the point of taking breaks in between a few later chapters because she was indecisive and just seems to be settling in with what she had. :(“I think love is a hard word to define. You can love a lot of things about a person but still not love the whole person.“Owen. What can I say? He was a dream! I was bracing myself for that confession he was going to say, it turns out it wasn’t that big. That major secret I thought would blow my mind just earned him brownie points in my book. Really, he was just being this caring and helpful son and that doesn’t make his confession against him at all. And if the major secret is the one involved with Adam, I admit that was a total mind-fuck moment but in a really wonderful way. I really loved Owen, and the depth of how he cared about Auburn and his love for her and his family… *sigh*Confession: I didn’t like Auburn that much (and this is probably the reason of the rating below) but Owen makes up for her character. I think the ending is not really an ending and I’d like to read maybe a novella of what happened to their relationship after all those issues cast aside. I’d like to think Trey would want revenge on both of them, and I would really like it if both Trey and his mother would pay for the years of mental abuse they did.“… but sometimes in order to save a relationship, you have to sacrifice it first.”The concepts of family, love and most of all, fate. The concept of family was a tricky one. Here on one side, we see a sort of messed up group of people who thinks a lot of themselves and shows love only to their family by blood. On another side, we see Auburn who is less confident and is trying to go after the only family member she has in Texas because she left her siblings and her parents in another part of the country. And to the side, we see Owen struggling and basically doing everything he can to maintain a relationship with the only family member he has left. It’s mind boggling, ironic, and really sad.“Selflessness. It should be the basis of every relationship. If a person truly cares about you, they’ll get more pleasure from the way they make you feel, rather than the way you make them feel.”Love. As romantic stories go, this was mostly predictable. I did think of a few things the story could go over in my head while reading chapters and I am happy to say I did predict a few outcomes, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just maybe, I’m used to being surprised by this author that I didn’t see that coming. So yeah, surprised maybe a word for it after all. :)Lastly, fate. I am one of those people who, like most, believe in this kind of thing. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, right? I loved the concept of fate here. Wherein she had one past lover who maybe brought her together with her second fate. It’s hard to understand this concept and I am really happy that it was so easily shown in this book. “If we’re meant to be together and fate really does exist, maybe one of these days she’ll wind up at my door.” You may not understand it, you may not know how it came about, you may not have a valid reason for any of it- it’s just that when it happens, “that could be fate, you know”. That, in itself, is beautiful.With it’s realistic portrayal of life, family, death, love and fate, Confess will most definitely reel you in, make you laugh, make you wonder, break your heart and leave you breathless.“I’ll love you forever. Even when I can’t.”