Maybe Someday
by Colleen Hoover
Summary: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a passionate tale of friendship, betrayal, and romance.
At twenty-two years old, Sydney has a great life: She's in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her best friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter's cheating on her--and she is left trying to decide what to do next.
Sydney becomes captivated by Ridge, her mysterious neighbor. She can't take her eyes off him or stop listening to the passionate way he plays his guitar every evening out on his balcony. And there's something about Sydney that Ridge can't ignore, either. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one...
Original music created for Maybe Someday by musician Griffin Peterson can be accessed through the website listed in the ebook and paperback.
Source: I purchased a kindle copy.
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Review:
It’s hard to really summarize how I feel about Maybe Someday. There’s no doubt it was an original, well written, amazingly executed novel about tough choices, connections, the power of touch and music It was emotional, every single character was amazing, and I found so many things I loved about it. And despite the issues I had with the story, I can’t argue that it wasn’t executed very well and shed light on a situation I might not have otherwise been able to understand. I also highly applaud the author for being able to write about a certain kind of language and lifestyle that felt as natural as breathing and I think it was probably difficult to do that as well as she did.
There’s not a doubt in my mind that Colleen Hoover is a master at her genre and she’s definitely a must read author for me.
However, despite my praise, I was faced with some situations I didn’t quite like. Sydney’s boyfriend was cheating on her. Ridge gave her a place to stay with him and his other roommates when she found out, punched her boyfriend and her best friend in the face, and moved out with nowhere to go. Ridge had a girlfriend, but the two of them had an attraction to each other that just didn’t seem to fade. Essentially, that’s the plot. Which was fine..
While the parts of the book from his point of view clearly pointed out his love for his current girlfriend, I noticed that he never once mentioned her to Sydney in any of their interactions. And while it was easily explained that they were discussing subjects that never would have normally brought her up specifically, I had a problem with it. For instance, one of my friends noticed that when I’m talking to people I don’t know very well (or even people I do), I bring up my husband in some way in the conversation and it is natural to me and to the conversation as anything else I could have said. I subconsciously talk about him and as a result, never end up giving any guy who is attempting to carry on a conversation with me the wrong idea. It’s natural, not something I think about, and not something I even notice until later on. It’s natural because he is an extension of myself. People who are in love frequently do that. I hear it. All of the time. And so, when I noticed how Ridge never brought her up, I came to the conclusion that no matter how much he claimed to love Maggie, there was something obviously missing for him to fail to bring her up when I know he had the best of intentions. That was my first issue.
The story is about how we don’t choose who we fall in love with,how you can love two people at the same time, an how certain people are made for each other. I totally agree with two of those things. I do not think that you can love and be in love with two people at the same time. I feel like there has to be something, even something small that is missing emotionally in order for someone to even be open to feeling that way about a second person.
I also think that, while Sydney and Ridge didn’t cheat on his girlfriend, Maggie, except for a minor kiss that they both acknowledged was wrong, neither of them seemed to understand the concept of emotional cheating, which I think is almost more damaging than physical cheating. To have the book miss this concept kind of irked me, despite the way I was rooting for their relationship. I liked Maggie as a person, as did everyone else. I liked Sydney. I understood the conflict. But it was obvious that Ridge, despite telling Maggie everything technically, wasn’t connecting with her emotionally and was seeking an emotional connection with Sydney because he was missing that with Maggie. I kind of hated that absolutely no one saw that. Every single character was fixating on Ridge and Maggie’s solid love for each other and not once did anyone stop ask themselves how this situation could have happened if that were wholly true. I think the book forgot you can love someone and not be in love, which is what I think was really happening.
My last issue is the amount of crying that took place. It was over the top. And I understand being emotional, but there’s something about crying during physical moments that makes me cringe. I wish that the author could have cut the waterworks for at least most of those moments. I liked Sydney and Ridge and I enjoyed the way their relationship progressed and I did think they belonged together. I loved the way it all unfolded between the two of them, apart from the issue of Maggie. I don’t like how the whole thing was handled or concluded in that regard, either. If the book didn’t have the whole looming girlfriend conflict and handled it the way it did, I would have definitely given the book 5 stars. I loved absolutely everything except the whole girlfriend conflict scenario and conclusion.
Maybe Someday is a great book and it was another gem from Colleen Hoover. I definitely recommend it. I truly loved the story, it’s just that I can’t sweep aside the couple of things that just didn’t sit well with me and they kind of hang over my head and prevent me from giving this the 4 or 5 stars I normally would.
Labels: contemporary, New Adult, Review, romance
