Without MeritAuthor: Colleen Hoover
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: October 3, 2017
Format: eARC
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth.
What an awful book! Not really. I actually loved it. I haven’t encountered a CoHo book that I don’t like, and let’s hope I never do. There’s something about her writing that completely sucks me in and makes me feel what the characters do. That was the case with Without Merit. I was so absorbed in the story that I completely lost track of time and didn’t pay attention to the sun. So I blame Colleen for the sunburn I suffered while reading this. Thanks for the melanoma, Colleen!
Anyway, when I finished reading Without Merit, I immediately wrote down a bunch of words that related to the story so I’d remember those parts/aspects. So I’ve decided that I’m going to list those words and write a little something about each one.
♥ Characters – There are many!
• Merit – 17-year-olds are quite the species, aren’t they? 😀 I love & feel for this girl, and can totally relate to her in some ways at that age.
• Sagan – Love the name and the character! I really like what Colleen did with him and his story that slowly unraveled.
• Luck – #TeamLuck! I had the biggest smile because of him. An odd duck, but completely lovable. There were a couple times it started to get a little weird, but … haha … I don’t even know. It’s just funny and weird and hard to explain. He’s ultimately a great guy.
• Family – This family is definitely unconventional, with plenty of dysfunction and secrets to go around. And, oh, are they ever entertaining!
♥ Perspective – That’s what it’s all about, baby! It’s very important.
♥ Mental illness – It’s tackled in a couple ways here. It doesn’t go into serious depth about the issues, but still handled well.
♥ Trophies – Merit and her trophy collection cracked me up. How the hell does Colleen come up with this stuff?
♥ Books/Bookstore – Haha! What the heck? That was a strange, but funny scene. *wink* And I love Merit’s favorite book!
♥ Feels – It has it all. I laughed, cried, got angry, and everything in between. There are some truly touching moments.
♥ Humor – I think this falls in the dramady (drama + comedy) category. There’s serious issues and situations going on, but it’s done with lots of humor in the mix.
Honestly, Without Merit is absolutely another CoHo hit. It’s a little different than her previous work, but still an awesome read!
Fantastic review Christy. You’ve got me curious. I will be listening to this one. 🙂
Awesome review. I love how you structure it. Yay, I’m planning to read this book, Christy. Coho is one of my favorite authors and after reading your review, I need to read it, like NOW. ?❤️??
Eepss.. I just preordered it. ?? it’s a bit pricey for an ebook but it’s Coho and I love the sound of it. Can’t wait to start it!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Her books are always worth the pre-order. 😀
oooh, honestis the most terrifying policy in situations like this, not necessarily the best one! I’ve never read ay of CoHo’s books I just realised. Hm. What should I start with do you think?
Oh boy, well … Maybe Someday is my absolute favorite of hers and a favorite book in general. I even love the original soundtrack for it. So I say start with that one. 🙂
Thank you!
The whole trophy collecting was a pretty fun angel, definitely something different! I loved this, for some reason I connected so much with Merit.
I was totally laughing about her trophies, especially when she texted her dad to bring one home because she had a bad day. lol.
I STILL need to read something by this author, but so many of them do sound good so it’ll happen. This one has me very curious!! I’m glad to hear it was a good read!
I enjoyed this one too. Wasn’t my favorite CoHo but I liked the family aspect a lot. Great review!
I really need to try Colleen Hoover. I’ve heard really good things abou her.
haha! I agree 17 years old are SOMETHING [including the younger moi] My first experience with CoHo wasn’t super [I wasn’t very happy with Me Before You but I love the way she writes! ad this sounds like so over the place is a good way! and mental illness is rep well so I’m IN! how could I you seriously make it sound SO GOOD! love this review!
Haha – I was a hellion at 17, so I have great sympathy for parents with child of that age. 😀 But Colleen didn’t write Me Before You.
Haha! My bad! I meant “This is where it Ends” ?. Hellion! Love that!
Omg I can’t believe that old info from my old blog was still in my IPhone’s memory! Didn’t realize until I had already clicked “post” ?
I already want to read this one and now I want it even more! Great review. 🙂
Great review, Christy! I’m deathly scared of reading Colleen Hoover books because she has completely wrecked me with some previous releases but I can’t help it…your review has got me all kinds of curious so on my wish list it goes. Sagan? That’s an interesting name. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I can’t wait. I got hooked on COHO again last summer. I have this on audiobook on hold at the library. I should be getting it any day. I am looking forward to this terrible book.
I have read a couple of Colleen’s books and her writing is awesome.
I haven’t read this author but now I’m intrigued.
A wonderful review! I am such a huge Colleen Hoover fan so I am so pleased that you enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed your review format!
Sharon – Obsession with Books
I’m so impatient to read this one!
Nice! Glad it was good. I like reading about dysfunctional families, especially when it’s a funny dysfunctional. lol I like how certain words came to your mind with this one. Sounds interesting!
I have only read one book written by CoHo and loved it. I have been meaning to get to her other books but have not done so. I need to rectify that, but I think I want to read this one first. 🙂
I still have yet to read a Colleen Hoover book even though I have several of them on my TBR. I tend to really like books that focus on families, especially if they’re a bit dysfunctional so I’m definitely interested in this one after reading your review. Glad you liked it so much!
bah the only book I read of hers I did not really enjoy, but I know you and I think Heidi even read a few good ones I skipped out on. This sounds like it deals with a pretty hard topic, lots of mental illness books lately?
I am glad to see that this book was another hit for you. I so need to pick up this author one of these days.
Sounds like another hit. I’ll have to pick it up. Great (and interesting) review 🙂
I was waiting for some friend’s reviews on this one and now I KNOW I need to read this. THANK YOU for the review. I’m such a fan of her writing and storytelling – I totally get what she does. I think I need to buy this now. YOU ROCK, my dear!!
Sorry about the sunburn but so, so happy you enjoyed the story! This was a brilliant review and I can’t wait to get my hands on this one. 🙂
I am a big Colleen Hoover fan and I can’t wait to give this one a try. My favorite of hers is Maybe Someday!!! I think it is good news that you liked this new one by her even if it was different! I better go place my hold at the library. 🙂
lol I want to read this one so bad! I like her books alot. Great review, glad you enjoyed it.
The first sentence had my eyes widening! Cheeky lady! I have this one and am soooo looking forward to getting into it!