Book Review: November 9 by Colleen Hoover

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 off, I would like to say that this book totally made up for the disaster that was Never Never (check out my reviews for Part 2 and Part 3 ) and it totally made me fall in love with Colleen Hoover’s writing. She creates characters that are easy to connect with. Her characters are flawed in a way that most people are not and that made her books oh so irresistible.

This is a love story between a guy (me) and a girl (Fallon).
I think.
Can it even be considered a love story if it doesn’t end with love?
Mysteries end when the mystery is solved.
Biographies end when the life story has been told.
Love stories should end with love, right?
Maybe I’m wrong, then. Maybe this isn’t a love story. If you ask me…I’d say this might even be considered a tragedy.
Whatever it is—however it ends—I promised I would tell it. So without further ado.

Once upon a time…I met a girl.
THE girl.

-Benton James Kessler

 

Just because I love the characters too much, and I don’t wanna give out spoiler about the story itself (but I’m not promising!) , I’ll review the book through the characters, just like what I did for Maybe Someday ( review HERE!!! )

 

Fallon

“Why didn’t you tell me that the foundation you taught me to stand on is made from quicksand?”

Fallon is an up and coming teen actress when she got in an unfortunate incident. Almost half of her body was covered I scars from the fire that happened in her father’s house. She survived but the fire took more than just her appearance. It also took something more of her. It was November 9 and she’s still suffering the long term effects of that fire. I thought Fallon was a strong willed young woman. I mean, I cannot even start to think about what she went through or what I would do if the same thing happened to me. I’ll probably just stay in my room buried under a pile of books like a recluse silently cursing the world for what happened but she’s not like that. She’s not the flashy type either. She just wanted to blend in, to be normal and to be treated like her scars are not on full display and just normal. She’s a girl with dreams but since the fire, she didn’t have the primary thing that her chosen field looks at with most importance. Instead of wallowing and just being plain miserable, Fallon decided to take her life on her own hands. She decided  that Hollywood was a bit too discriminating when it comes to looks so she planned to move across the country to New York and try yo find her calling there as a broadway actress.

When she met Ben, she felt like she was normal for the first time in 2 years. She felt like she’s normal again. She felt like she’s just a girl who’s falling in love with a normal boy under normal circumstances. She fell in love, she fell out of love, learned how to forgive, and finally fall back in love… But really she never fell out of love with Ben. Her feelings for him are still there but the pain of being lied to was almost too mch for her to bear.

Ben

“And I’m in love with her. Like, really in love with her. Crippling, debilitating, paralyzing love. So please accept my sincerest apologies, because she’s coming home with me tonight. I hope. I pray.”

Bent0n James Kessler… Now this guy has a lot of layers. When you meet him, he seems like a normal guy who has no care in the world and all his problems are either college or girl related but that’s what you thought. Ben may look like he doesn’t care for anything but he’s actually broken. He’s broken by the things that happened to him in the past and the things that he did because of it. He’s a writer but sometimes, he just couldn’t find he word when he really need them. He wants to be honest but he just couldn’t bear to lose someone he loves because of it. He couldn’t change the fact but he figured he could make things better for the one he loves.

 

THE STORY

Okay, I lied. I just couldn’t talk about this book through the characters. I have to talk about the story. The freaking story! I would categorize it into 3 parts; the First Part, the Bearable Part, and the Dafuq-Just-Happened part. This book literally made me go through a lot of phases and feelings and levels of devastation unlike any other. The First Part made me laugh a lot. Like, a lot. I was laughing like a crazy person because of the dialogue and Ben’s antics and Fallon’s retorts. It was all fun and light and not a lot of stuff going on. This was the first November 9. They’re just two people attracted to each other pretending to be a couple for a few hours. It was when they agreed that they should meet up at the same time at the same day, same place for the next 5 years to see where it goes. Also, Ben would be working on a novel based on their arrangement. The second November 9 is still categorized as the First Part because it was still light and funny and entertaining. However, there are parts where you’ll think that the tone of the story is starting to get a little serious. They’re 19 years old and still figuring themselves out but one thing is for sure, Ben and Fallon are falling in love. The third November 9 comes and this is where all things starts being a bit complicated and heavy. They are 20 years old and it was Ben who’s supposed to be coming to New York to meet Fallon but something came up that made that impossible. But of course, they only meet once a year and this thing happened just around the time they are supposed to meet up and that’s just so inconvenient. So Fallon did the most logical thing to do. You guessed it, she came and went to Ben to be with him. Now this is the Bearable Part because they’re together again despite the odds though my heart goes out to Ben. What happened to him was almost too much. It’s almost like he’s lost or something and Fallon was there to guide him through. However, things started escalating from there. I apologize because from here on forward things started going up and down like a freaking rollercoaster.

The Dafuq-Just-Happened Part. This was the fourth November 9. Fallon was back to where they started. The same restaurant, same time, same Fallon, same Ben… But is it really? This part was especially heartbreaking because I was hoping that they will finally be together but no, sh*t keeps on happening and they just couldn’t find the right place and time to be together. Then there’s a dreaded third party. Turns out, Ben misunderstood the last time they saw each other and things just happened and now Fallon decided not to meet with him anymore even though he was one of the reasons why she came back to LA. This was the first dip. Then comes the 5th November 9, Fallon decided not to show up. She decided what better way to celebrate this awful date by going out clubbing and drown her emotions and all that. However, Ben suddenly shows up and tells her he loves her and he wouldn’t come home unless she goes with him. Of course, Fallon is still in love with him and he’s just so persistent and so apologetic that she had to take him back. Things happened and I was holding my breath because this is finally the ending that I want for the both of them but no. Just when I thought that there couldn’t be something more than a third party to ruin their relationship, turns out, there’s still one more thing ( which I wouldn’t discuss here because you have been spoiled enough).

 

Suffice to say, I enjoyed the ride and I just fell in love with Colleen Hoover’s brilliance. Her way of storytelling is spot on. I love the characters and the story and the plot twists (emphasis on plural twists). I loved everything about it even if it did made me cry a bit. it seems  to me that a lot has happened in those 6 November 9s they’ve been together. So much feels squeezed into a limited timeline but it worked. I so worked that I just had know what happens next and by the end of the story, I couldn’t stop smiling because they both deserve to be happy. Everyone else does.

“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.”

 

OBVIOUSLY 5 HEARTS. CAN I GIVE  A HUNDRED HEARTS FOR THIS? I CAN’T? TOO BAD, I’M GIVING IT ANYWAYS <3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3