This is the first book I've read by Colleen Hoover, mostly due to the fact that I hardly ever read romance/heavily romantice books. But I'm attempting to branch out and read new things, and in regards to romance, I think "Slammed" was a great place for me to begin.
Hoover has a writing style here that is both familar but fresh- she combines tropes (and yes, a few cliches) with well-crafted phrases and imagery. Even though Lake says things such as, "I'm not like other girls" (ugh), I really enjoyed other aspects of the characters voices, like when Lake declares she's not ready to "stop carving pumpkins" (she wants to stay in the happy times and not think of the sadness ahead - this will make sense when you read the book!)
Also, I loved seeing slam poetry in a novel. I can't think of any other novel that has incorporated it, so the poetry just made "Slammed" all the more enjoyable. There probably could have been even more poetry included, but what was there was definitley good!
The main reasons I'm not giving it a full five stars are because of the aforementioned cliches, and the lack of solid character development. As much as I loved the relationship between Lake and Will, I don't think enough growth happened between them, as with Will individually. Lake showed quite a bit of growth, and I really enjoyed the family relationships she had. The mother/daughter growth was excellent, but with this being primarily a romance novel, I think there should have been more character development on Will's behalf.
It's a solid 4/5 stars for me - now I just need to decide which Colleen Hoover novel to read next! ( )

Really enjoyed this and read it very quickly. ( )

Questo ragazzo è praticamente perfetto.

Sto iniziando davvero a odiare questa frase (e le sue consimili). Alla fine e con triste probabilità salta fuori che il ragazzo in questione è: o l'insegnante, o un Dom ricchissimo e pretenzioso o un pazzo affetto da turbe psichiche. In Tutto ciò che sappiamo dell'amore siamo nel primo caso.

Proprio per questo scatta il dramma alla Romeo e Giulietta, che è solo una goccia nell'oceano della sfiga che sembra perseguitare questi due (Will e Lake). Sebbene abbia l'animo sensibile tipico delle fanciulle e mi sciolga volentieri per storie lacrimevoli, i drammi di Will e Lake sono così costruiti da risultare patetici e imbarazzanti.

La loro storia d'amore (sempre che così si possa definire) inizia in quarta: ignari di essere insegnante e studentessa, i due si frequentano e si innamorano. Il loro amore non può definirsi un insta-love, ma non ha nemmeno l'equilibrato sviluppo che dovrebbe avere. È tutto troppo veloce: capisco che la Hoover dovesse passare alla parte Romeo e Giulietta, ma la sensazione è che non ci sia abbastanza carne al fuoco per dare credibilità all'amore impossibile.

Dopo aver scoperto di essere insegnate e studentessa, i due iniziano un bailamme di avvicinamento e allontanamento tale da far girare la testa. Certamente spicca l'immaturità di Lake, che preferisce sproloquiare invece di parlare civilmente. Prima fa tutta la matura e dice di capire la situazione di Will (e di riflesso la sua) e poi pesta i piedi come una bambina. Bah.

Will, dal canto suo, le tiene testa con ormoni che colpiscono all'improvviso (“Scusa, non dovevo baciarti, mi sono scappate le labbra. Non succederà più”) e agghiaccianti reazioni di gelosia.

Will picchia uno studente che molestava Lake. Poi si scopre che Will ha gonfiato il tizio solo perché era geloso. Cavolo, se Lake fosse una ragazza intelligente, scapperebbe dall'altra parte!

Gli unici elementi che ho apprezzato in questo romanzo sono stati lo slam e la migliore amica di Lake, Eddie (sic. La Hoover ha un debole per i nomi strambi evidentemente). Lo slam, una gara di poesia, è stato un elemento di originalità, sebbene non tutte le poesie nel romanzo mi siano sembrate all'altezza. Eddie è la spalla perfetta della protagonista fiacca: originale, sveglia e poco melodrammatica. Il tipo di personaggio che ti aiuta ad arrivare alla fine. ( )

The reason why Lake and Will couldn't be together seemed too exaggerated for me. And the solution was quite simple and obvious if only they weren't looking for extra obstacles for themselves.

But in general, I liked this story. One can see from the very beginning that there will be a lot of poetry in it. That was a bit unsettling for me. I don't like poetry, especially the modern one. And this book is about poetry slam - not only reading poetry but also performing it. And quite unexpectedly I was excited by it. Those pieces of poetry have so many emotions, so much one's soul in them, that only now I got to understand how the words that don't rhyme can be called poetry.

And this isn't a love story only. It's multidimensional. It's about poetry as means for understanding oneself; about a family that is related not by blood but by heart; about the power to laugh facing a horrible disease and continue living despite the death of loved ones. ( )

She's in high school, he's her teacher. I don't know if I need to dissect power and balance relationships, or that age gaps that far are creepy, or that he's handled probably hundreds of kids and he knows how to handle kids, and how to guide them, and he's entering in a relationship where he's somebody guiding her; totally not grooming.

Oh Colleen when will you stop haunting me with terrible topics? It feels like every book is a risque topic that you want to pick up and toss around. Incest? Let's do it but tasteless. Abuse? Let's reenact it using my mother's story. Oh another abuse? Let's make it terrible but also say it's a romance. Stalker? It's sexy because he loves her.

I swear if it wasn't for this author being shoved in my face I would have never experienced so many terrible books within a year. Like I'm behind I'm writing these reviews because my brain has just molded them all into the same book because they might as well just be a giant world like a cursed Stephen King universe. I can't unimagine at least talking to the burn girl because I don't remember her name quite well right now. Or stalker talking to Ryle.

There is no reason for a teacher to ever lust after one of his students especially if it's not in a college setting, school is not a sexy place, and students are not sexy.

It's not like I haven't read some teacher student relationships, mostly college books but I've never really read one that's good and isn't grooming. Which means that basically if I sat down and reviewed every book that I've read that is teacher student, I would come out with almost none passing three stars. When they are minors you do not interfere with their life, you are entrusted by the government as teachers to raise these kids when their parents aren't there, and not molest them.

This is a simple basic sentence that anybody can understand. A teacher should not be targeting his students. A child, a teenager, somebody who is underage, cannot consent. Lack of consent is rape. Grooming someone until they're of age is pedophilia and grooming. This is child grooming romanticized.

I can put aside a lot and tolerate a lot, and I tried to tolerate this book as let's pretend she's an adult but there are so many moments that made me uncomfortable and felt like power play for no reason other than he's an adult and she's a child.

And I'm going to be honest, if this book had just had her in college and and her 30s and him just her teacher or a guy she met in college, I would have rated it so much higher because she would have been an adult, and so would he. And that would make everything right in the world and I probably would have given it three or four stars.

But this isn't even a trope at this point this is just children being targeted by adults and it played up as romance when it's actually predatory.

0.5 stars. ( )