November 9 by Colleen Hoover

November 9
Author:  Colleen Hoover
Published: Atria Books
Released: November 10, 2015
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Read on: November 21 2015

Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpected muse.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

First of all, this review might not be so much as a “review” as it may just be my rambling and fangirling over the awesomeness that is Colleen Hoover. To this date, I have not been let down by this amazing woman. Majority of all her books have been read in one sitting because I JUST CAN’T PUT THEM DOWN and this was no exception. I had no intention of even sitting down and reading this book yet because I had just finished reading Winter by Marissa Meyer and wanted to give my mind a break. However, because I have been super excited for this book I just picked it up last night to read one chapter to see how it was. Well next thing you know it’s 4:00 AM and I am clutching my chest and crying and can’t go to sleep because my heart is hurting and CoHo did it again.  COHO IS QUEEN OKAY ❤ 

So let’s get into this book shall we?

“She “loved me” in quotations She kissed me in bold I TRIED TO KEEP HER in all caps She left with an ellipsis . . .”

The book follows Ben and Fallon, the most adorable couple! These two meet in a random diner when Ben pretends to be her fake boyfriend on November 9th and thus begin their whole arrangement. Every November 9th, they would meet and discuss the happenings throughout the year. However, they would not have any contact during the year except on that one day of the year. Being that Ben is an aspiring writer, he makes it his goal to write a book about their romance story and Fallon must follow her passion for acting and put herself out there more. I can’t stress enough how fantastic this book was. I loved reading their meetings on this one day that would have been akward being that they hardly knew each other, but they had such a fantastic connection and chemistry it was refreshing. You watch these two fall in love in a short amount of time over the span of 5 years and it was deep. I don’t know how CoHo does it, but she writes the best love stories I have ever read and each one shine its own light.

“Whether or not the couple ends up together at the end of a book doesn’t determine whether that book has a happy ending or not. As long as the two people end up happy, it doesn’t really matter if they end up happy together.”

Fallon was so dang relatable and I loved her for it. She is insecure. She is flawed and she learns and grows throughout the entire novel. She makes mistakes and she owns up to them. I admit, I was a little put off by how much she was insecure when Ben has done nothing but show her how beautiful she is despite her scars, but hey I would be the same way. It takes time. And it definitely took Fallon some time. She had a great sense of humor and a quick tongue that is expected from CoHo that had me LOLing all over the place.

Ben on the other hand. Oh Ben, you precious cupcake. 

I am so in love with Benton James Kessler. He has just possessed a top on my top 5 Book Boyfriends, right along with Miles Archer and Dean Holder. Sorry guys, but Ben is giving you guys a run for your money.  Ben is such a sweetie pie! He is loyal, and passionate, and funny, and dorky in the most sexy sort of way! I loved how he made it his mission to show Fallon that she was beautiful and wanted her to be happy in her own skin. He was protective of her and was so alpha-male without even knowing he was doing it. I can go on and on about how much I love him. He goes through some terribly awful things in the book that you just want to give him a tight hug and never let go. Seriously, my heart was breaking for him. But he always followed his heart and that was makes him admirable.

“She’s not the kind of girl you choose your battles for. She’s the kind of girl you fight to the death for.”

THEIR ROMANCE IS LIFE!

“I think about you every second of every day and I don’t know how to get over you,” she says.

“Don’t,” I beg her. “Please don’t get over me.”

Honestly, this concept was such a delight. There was so mystery behind Ben and what his situation was that kept me so anxious to find out what he was hiding. I was literally so scared because being a CoHo book you just know something is going to go down! I loved how she involved Ben’s book that he was writing and that was how everything unraveled. Honestly, every time I thought I had it figured out I was still thrown for a loop. Plus, it was so awesome how much love was thrown towards book lovers and all our lingo. Ben was writing his own novel, how can that get more adorable?!

“If we’re going to kiss, it has to be book-worthy.”

Bonus: if you’ve read previous novels by Colleen, you will definitely appreciate a special cameo in this book. I was fangirling so hard I started jumping up and down when I read it. I was that excited! 😀

“When you find love, you take it. You grab it with both hands and you do everything in your power not to let it go. You can’t just walk away from it and expect it to linger until you’re ready for it.”

Edit: Okay I forgot to add this because I was too busy fangirling, but I thought I’d mention what I didn’t like about this book. I honestly hated the that fact Fallon completely shattered Ben’s heart. And she does it in a ridiculous way. After going back on her word and using the cliche “I’m doing it for your own good” is just completely frustrating. I was so angry! Then when she shows up the next year to meet him and to find out that things weren’t exactly the same between them is insane. How could he be the same after how badly you broke  his heart? I understand she didn’t want to fall in love until she was 23 because of some insane theory that her mother had, but that doesn’t mean that you need to cut off all contact with him. She could have been talking to him and just getting to know him more than just seeing him one day a year. But I guess that’s just the premise of the book. It bothered me because it made me want to shake Fallon over her actions where Ben is concerned, but not enough to make me not enjoy the novel. Because I still did, clearly.

Overall, this book was great. Colleen is great. She has never let me down and I will continue to read literally everything she writes. Beautiful story, beautiful characters, beautiful writing as always. Do yourself a favor and pick this up. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Can I give all the stars? Oh well it’s my blog. ALL THE STARS! 😀