Book Spotlight: This Girl (Slammed Series, Book 3) by Colleen Hoover

To Add This Girl to Goodreads Click HERE

This Girl

The Slammed Series, Book 3

By:  Colleen Hoover

Published:  April 30, 2013

Pub. By:  Atria Books

Source:  Publisher (NetGalley)

GR's Summary:

There are two sides to every love story. Now hear Will’s.

Colleen Hoover’s New York Times bestselling Slammed series has brought countless readers to their knees with a whirlwind of love, passion, and heartache.

Layken and Will’s love has managed to withstand the toughest of circumstances and the young lovers, now married, are beginning to feel safe and secure in their union. As much as Layken relishes their new life together, she finds herself wanting to know everything there is to know about her husband, even though Will makes it clear he prefers to keep the painful memories of the past where they belong. Still, he can’t resist his wife’s pleas and so he begins to untangle his side of the story, revealing for the first time his most intimate feelings and thoughts, retelling both the good and bad moments, and sharing a few shocking confessions of his own from the time when they first met.

In This Girl, Will tells the story of their complicated relationship from hispoint of view. Their future rests on how well they deal with the past in this final installment of the beloved Slammed series.

Lindy's Thoughts:

*To Read My Review on Slammed Click HERE

I am a huge Colleen Hoover fan!  She is on my top favorite New Adult Author's list, and anything written by her, is an automatic buy/pre-order for me!  I fell in love with Slammed and Point of Retreat, and then I fell in love with Hopeless.  When I found out that Ms. Hoover was releasing Will's point of view in the Slammed Series, I was beyond excited!!!  Will is my first official book boyfriend, and much like your first love, I will never forget him!

This Girl begins with Will and Lake on their honeymoon, and is told exclusively from Will's perspective.  On the honeymoon, while in bed, Lake asks Will, what he was thinking, as certain events took place during the two years they had known each other. Will flashes back to the past throughout the whole story, and then returns to the present time, in-between, and tells us what's happening during their honeymoon.  

Besides telling his perspective of their past, he also fills in story gaps, such as secret conversations that he had with Lake's mom, Julia, about his experience when he found out that his parents had died, a date he went on when he was trying to stay away from Lake, and other events that Lake, and therefore us readers, were not aware of in Slammed, which was told exclusively through Lakes point of view.  We also get a little bit of information about what happens after the honeymoon, and get a glimpse into Will and Lakes future, three years after they have been married.

Reading, This Girl, was like visiting an old friend that I hadn't realized I missed as much as I did, until I saw them.  I got really emotional during this story.  It was difficult reliving Julia's illness, the pain and suffering that Lake and Kellan had to endure, as well as learning all about what Will and Caulder had been through with the death of their parents.  I was also emotional reading about their happy moments, and realizing all they had to endure to get there, and the fact that they would never get to experience all their future joys and happiness with their parents.  

I loved all of the poetry that Will shared.  Some of it was already in Slammed, and some of it was new.  I loved the fact that even though Julia, (Lake's Mom) died, it was like her presence never left.  She would be a part of the family, give advice, and her memory would carry on.  Overall, I connected with these characters, felt like I knew them, and was a part of their inner circle.  I was rooting for them the whole time, and enjoyed how strong Will and Lake's love was, and how it healed them, and gave them hope for a happy future.  

My Rating:

I give, This Girl, by Colleen Hoover, 4.5 Stars filled with Magical Moments, Eternal Love, Heart-Wrenching Life Lessons, and Poetic Expression.  This Girl was a beautiful re-telling of Slammed in Will's point of view!  I fell in love with Will from the beginning of this series, and loved every moment of getting to see Lake and Will's story through his eyes!  If you are a hopeless romantic like me, you must read, The Slammed Series by Colleen Hoover!  It's one of my favorite series of all time, and I will always remember and treasure, Will and Lake's story!  Trust me, you want this whole series for your library.  It's such a stunningly beautiful and powerful love story!

My Favorite Quotes:

"Sometimes two people need to fall apart to realize how much they need to fall back together."  (Nook, pg. 14)

"I'm not one to believe that there is only one person right for me in the world.  But the tug and pull Lake has on me, even when she isn't in my presence, it makes it feel like she's the most right for me."  (Nook pg. 89)

"Wife, I say, staring straight into her eyes.  Think what you want, but there isn't a single woman in this whole damn universe that I could ever love like I love you."  (Nook, pg. 95)

"You're the greatest thing that's ever happened to my life, I whisper.  As soon as I push myself inside her, our lips collide, our tongues collide, our bodies collide, and our hearts collide.  Then this girl completely shatters the window to my soul and crawls inside."  (Nook, pg. 196)

"I don't know how one minute, a person can think his life is nothing more than a barren valley with nothing left to look forward to.  Then, in the blink of an eye, someone can come along and change it with a simple smile."  (Nook, pg. 201)

The Way Ria See's It

Gahhhh!!! So...There may or may not be a lot of nay sayers (regarding the same story alternate POV) out there! Well poo poo on you! Ms Hoover is a GENIUS.Seriously.SHE.is...BRILLIANT!! I’ve had the extreme privilege to read the same story with a different POV or alternate POV.  I’ve always described them as an “enhancer” sure, sure nothing changes, but your experience with the same story is “enhanced”...Follow? Good. 

Well 

This.Girl.

This.Girl.

BREAKS THE MOLD!

Bare with me for a sec... 

Imagine a baseball breaking through a window...Shocking right?

Now

Imagine that same baseball breaking through an entire wall of stained glass.  Imagine it shattering to bits, creating the most beautiful rainbow of every color imaginable, as they make the loveliest little melody when connecting to the ground...

That.Was.

This.Girl. 

Beyond an enhancer, This Girl is a must read. You might think you know...But you have no idea! 

The entire Slammed series is a little puzzle piece that will melt your heart, find its place and remain with you forever.

T-houghts, after years of discipline and struggle two hearts that have faced so much hardship, may now begin to live as one. Nothing left in between them, all that remains are stories of the past.

H-umor, the person whom you love should make you laugh. Though their road wasn’t easy, the ease and the joy with which they share it, everyone knows they were created for each other.

I-nterpret, things left unsaid and secrets kept, always find a way to surface and inflict pain, especially towards those who least deserve the pain.

S-olution, their dreams are a reality, a reality that has already began for them. Together there isn’t anything either one wouldn’t face, to fight for their happiness, for their love.

G-oal, to love and to cherish, to grow old, to be good examples, to be each others puzzle piece, and their sweet, forever.

I-n Love, sharing their passion, getting ready to share their lives together. 

R-eality, with a heavy heart both realize all they have lost and given up, nothing matters, nothing matters more than their family and their love.

L-ife, has continued, and has moved on, with so many angels looking down, hearts open, pasts will present themselves, with guidance and love, forever and ever.

I CRIED.  I CRIED!  I cried SO butterflying hard, that my boyfriend ran out of our room and sat next to me on the couch reacting to my sobs and hyperventilation.  It's my own fault.  I thought I knew what was going to happen, boy was I wrong!  This Girl, is a must read, the way Will tells his side of the story was so refreshing...It was almost an entirely different story!  I loved it! From beginning to end, the ease and the flow of this book NEVER falters.  GET THIS GIRL NOW! 

My Fav’s

Will

It took me a little bit to fall in love with Will.  At first I thought he was mean. When I fell, I fell hard. I’m still falling.  The series is seriously over, and I’m still falling.  Will has a heart that is made of gold!  His depth, and the way he loves Lake!  UGH!!  I love him to pieces!  It was such a treat being inside his head :)

Lake

I’ve loved her since the zombie bit with her little brother.  In This Girl, she does most of the “outlining,” but again her role was perfect.  I would not have done anything differently.

My Rating

5.0 Butterflying, Grilled Cheese, Slam, The Ocean, Last kiss, Measuring Tape, Carved pumpkins, Schooled, Pink Star, Final Piece, This Life, Filled Stars!!!  GREAT!!  I’M BALLING AGAIN!!  Aaahh!!  Go get this book NOW!!  Do it!  It's a MUST read!  SERIOUSLY!  MUST!!

My Take on this Journey:

This Girl, By Colleen Hoover is the repeat story of Slammed, and the continuing story from that point on.  In this segment, the reader get's Will's point of view, which is nice to know what he was thinking throughout the dramatic first novel of this series.  I did feel that it was a bit redundant, but there was moments of insight also.  In This Girl, Will and Lake are on their honeymoon, and Lake is begging Will to give her a blow by blow account of their entire relationship to the end.  She wants to know what he was feeling, not knowing that she may not be too happy with what he might have been thinking about, and doing.  

This third, and final novel from the Slammed Series, by Ms. Hoover, was very interesting.  I was glad to get Will's point of view.  It is always interesting, to get both perspectives.  I love novels done in dual perspective, and just wish that it would have been done that way from the beginning, so that I wouldn't already know the outcome.  Will discusses his parents, their deaths, Vaughn, (his ex-girlfriend) and her heartless manner in which she dumped him at the lowest ebb of his life, and all he endured and survived, after she left him.

The reader is taken through all of the obstacles that were laid before them in Slammed, with the added insight that was so full of love and tenderness from Will's perspective.  He was a tender and loving man, with quite a temper.  Especially when Vaughn walks out on him, because of his built in responsibility, of now being a parent to his younger brother, Caulder.  Poor Caulder is so broken, and Will realizes where his priorities need to be, and from that day forward puts his brother first.

From the first moment Will saw Lake, he knew there was something very different about her.  She was the complete opposite of his ex, and it warmed his heart.  The characters came to life for me, and I was able to relate to Will a lot more in this segment of the series.  The first time around, there were so many misunderstandings about his feelings, and the reader was feeling sorry for Lake because she was so crushed.  In Slammed, I wanted her to kick Will to the curb.  In This Girl, I realized why he did what he did.  It made things become crystal clear, and made me love him for not being such a complicated guy with a million conflicting signals that were all frustrating!

Colleen Hoover does a great job, as she always does, keeping the interest of the reader.  Her prose are outstanding, and I love her style of writing.  I look forward to reading more books in the future written by this relatable author.  The reader's have long awaited the final union of these two characters, and believe me, the scenes are hot!  I loved the way she wrapped up this series, and did not disappoint.

I give, This Girl, By Colleen Hoover, 4 1/2 love filled stars.

Casting

Book Trailer:

Guest Post:

We would like to invite the talented Colleen Hoover to our blog!  We are both honored, and excited for you to share a little bit about you, with all of us!!  #FanGirling 

Hi Ladies! 

Here are the five things I like to do in my spare time: 

1. Watch Real Housewives (It doesn't matter which town, I LOVE them all.)  

2. Listen to Avett Brothers' music 

3. Play/Hang out with my boys 

4. Write...of course!  

5. Stalk other authors on Facebook

Purchase At:

Amazon (Paperback) | Amazon (Kindle)| Barnes and Noble

About the Author:

I love music. LOVE music. Namely The Avett Brothers, Lumineers, Pink, Eminem. I have eclectic taste? If you have any recommendations, send them my way!

I'm addicted to diet pepsi and could tell you in a taste-test which restaurant it came from. It's a serious addiction, I tell you. 

I get stoked whenever I get a message from goodreads saying I have a new friend request...so request me, dangit! 

If you want to know when I have new books out or just want to be inundated by random, pointless blog posts, follow me at www.colleenhoover.com 

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway