It feels like I read the same book and somehow enjoyed it even still. And that ending

same story, different POV as Hopeless. It had added journal entries for more depth to the story.

As expected, once I started this book I could not put it down for a single second. Cover to cover in just under 5 hours!

Colleen Hoover maintains her top spot on my favorite authors list ... in fact, she may be one of my favorite people in the world. Her written words have the ability to somehow touch your soul - profound, I know - but it's the fucking truth!

Dean Holder is absolute perfection & we are all amazingly lucky to have this superb story from his perspective. I was already in love with him after Hopeless, but his story makes him even more exraordinary. He is, without question, my #1 book boyfriend ever - not sure how anyone would ever be able to take his place. His letters to Les were the perfect way to bring readers closer to his inner thoughts. I also found myself with a renewed appreciation for Sky, seeing her through Holder's eyes.

Hopeless is still my favorite book of all time ... but really, the 2 books are like sides of a coin - the story's not complete without both perspectives. I will no doubt read both books again (many times) in my life - it's just a story that I'm happy/sad to see end & want to re-live again & again & again ...

See Hopeless review.

Review originally posted on www.fictitiousdelicious.com on 10/09/13:

I've never really understood the comments I sometimes hear people say about wanting to take their time to slooooowly read a book they love so they can savor it. I read books I love the same way I eat cotton candy: quickly while bouncing from the rush being delivered into my bloodstream. And then along came LOSING HOPE.

LOSING HOPE is the second book in the Hopeless series by Colleen Hoover. Some might say it's a retelling of HOPELESS in Holder's perspective, but I would scold them for saying such things without mentioning that it's SO MUCH MORE than that. I've read retellings of stories in the male POV and been severely disappointed. This one made my heart sing--sometimes it was an Enya song, sometimes it was Barry White melody and sometimes it was something sung by angels with trumpets and harps.

I loved HOPELESS. Hard. I was more than a little leery of Holder's creeper ways to begin with and fell in love with him just as Sky did. (While I can't stop talking about Holder, it's really important to throw in this: Sky ROCKS!) Seeing the world and this story through Holder's eyes in this installment sealed the deal for me. Holder is firmly in the top 10 of my favorite book boyfriends of all time.

Sure, you'll see some key scenes that you'll have experienced first in HOPELESS, but you get to see what happened with Holder while Sky wasn't around. Remember those two weeks after the bracelet incident? Yeah, have fun living through THAT with Dean. How about that time he said he lived Sky? Yeah? Oh, yeah.

The most profound discovery in this book, though? Les. Sure, we all know the story behind Holder and Sky, and you might *think* you know all about Les, but... you. know. nothing. I actually feel sorry for anyone who doesn't read this and see the rest of the story.

You'll be seeing a lot more of Dean Holder around here come the "Best of 2013" posts in December. I'm kinda obsessed right now. <3

It was definitely cool to read it from Holder’s perspective but a LOT of the book was repetitive of the first one (same conversations, stories, etc.) All in all, it was still a great read!

Hopeless was the first book that I read by Colleen Hoover and I adored the characters and was swept up in the tale, so I was really excited and nervous to read Losing Hope. Told from Holder’s point of view Hoover gave us a fresh look at the events and insight into Holder himself. Three word review: captivating, heartbreaking, beautiful.

Say good-bye to your heart as Hoover whisks it away in the very first pages of this tale as she takes us into the mind of Holder, his sister’s suicide and his interactions with Sky. In Hopeless we learned everything from Sky’s perspective and in Losing Hope the tale that unfolds shares those events as well as things we didn’t see and the impact it all had on this swoon-worthy, broken, sensitive young man. The tale held my heart hostage.

I connected with and enjoyed both Holder and Sky in the previous novel, but getting inside Holder’s head as he deals with losing his sister, returning home and discovering Sky took my emotions on one heck of a ride. Hoover slowly peeled back Holder’s layers showing his emotions and the guilt he carries regarding his sister and the little girl who disappeared. We see his sensitive side; how he struggles, his concern for Sky, his parents and doing the right thing. It is powerful and raw and felt very genuine. In the midst of YA and NA bad boys Dean Holder is refreshing. He is basically an all around good guy dealing with some pretty traumatic crap. Yet, he has just enough of an edge to appeal to those who adore their bad boys. Sky is innocent, complicated and naive; I loved seeing her through Holder’s eye. Holder’s best friend Daniel is back and he is a strong secondary character who is loyal, hilarious and supportive. Now Breckin is Sky’s best friend and I adored him and his sense of humor in the first book and we get more glimpses of him and his interactions with Holder making me one happy reader. While Les, holder’s sister gets less page time, her presence is powerful and her story captivating.

This is the second author to amaze me when telling the same tale from a different POV. The first was Jamie McGuire with Travis’s story in Walking Disaster and as much as I adored that book Hoover took it to another level. This wasn’t just a play by play of the same scenes from Holder’s POV, she gives us new scenes, information is revealed, answers are given. Tremendous insight into Holder and his struggles apart from Sky make this unbelievably fresh, and had me whipping the pages and devouring the words. OMG, I think I’ve gone all fan-girl and no I haven’t had any Monster Java today! While this plays off the first book, it can stand on its own. Both books toyed with my emotions, had me connecting to the characters and caught up in the tale as it unfolded. A part of me loves Losing Hope even more than Hopeless, but I am honestly not sure if it’s because I read the first book and together they made me fall completely and madly in love with a smexy, sweet, troubled young man named Dean Holder.

originally published @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Lots of the same reading as Hopeless.

Reading this version of the story made me pick out plot holes