Ugly Love
Colleen Hoover, 2014
A nurse restarting her life falls for a man who offers only sex and no past—and discovers how much pain can hide behind a closed door. A tender, longing pull runs through it, with witty exchanges and grief that keeps the mood lyrical and heavy.
Feels like longing, tenderness and grief. About love, death and family.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy contemporary romance that mixes easy banter with raw feeling and a love interest who stays guarded. The sex-only arrangement and the grief underneath make for some heavy, emotionally raw stretches.
Why read it
It gives you a close look at how tenderness and pain can share the same space, and why someone might close himself off.
A page from the book
What love costs when you stop pretending it is beautiful.
Ugly love becomes you. Consumes you. Makes you hate it all. Makes you realize that all the beautiful parts aren’t even worth it. Without the beautiful, you’ll never risk feeling the ugly. So you give it all up. You give it all up. You never want love again, no matter what kind it is, because no type of love will ever be worth living through the ugly love again. Colleen Hoover.Before becoming a novelist, Colleen Hoover worked as a social worker and teacher; she self-published her first novel, Slammed, in 2012.
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A music student who hides her own songwriting listens every night to the guitarist across the courtyard — until he catches her watching.
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A broke newcomer takes a last-minute job at a Dallas artist's studio, where anonymous confessions painted on canvas make strangers feel less alone.
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Questions readers ask
- Is Ugly Love for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy contemporary romance that mixes easy banter with raw feeling and a love interest who stays guarded. The sex-only arrangement and the grief underneath make for some heavy, emotionally raw stretches.
- What is Ugly Love like?
- A tender, longing pull runs through it, with witty exchanges and grief that keeps the mood lyrical and heavy. Feels like longing, tenderness and grief. About love, death and family.
- What should I read after Ugly Love?
- If you liked Ugly Love, try Not in Love (Ali Hazelwood), The Last Letter (Rebecca Yarros) and Beautiful Disaster (Jamie McGuire).
A taste of the feed
How it feels to be seen as someone’s exact dream.
I’d never felt more beautiful than when he looked at me. Like I was the final prototype of someone’s entire fantasy life.
Not in Love · Ali Hazelwood
What it costs to be trusted by someone who has stopped believing.
I would do anything for you.” His eyes locked onto mine in the dashboard lights, intense and a little hurt. “What is it going to take for you to believe me? To trust me? You want my background checked? Do it. You want my credit score? Awesome. My bank account? I’ll add you on. You have my word, my body, my time, and I’m standing here offering my last name. What else can I give you?
The Last Letter · Rebecca Yarros
What it sounds like to be told you're the one thing someone got right.
You know why I want you? I didn’t know I was lost until you found me. I didn’t know what alone was until the first night I spent without you in my bed. You’re the one thing I’ve got right. You’re what I’ve been waiting for, Pigeon.
Beautiful Disaster · Jamie McGuire
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