Confess by Colleen Hoover
5.5 stars
Synopsis
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a new novel about risking everything for love—and finding your heart somewhere between the truth and lies.
Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.
For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.
The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…
My thoughts
God, I love how Colleens mind works. Everything she writes is just phenomenal. How she puts these engaging, amazing characters on paper, how skilled she is in finding the perfect words. I could go on for a while. Colleen Hoover is one of those writers that, the second I open a newly released book and start reading, I exhale a deep breath and smile and I think to myself, ‘This is the reason I love reading.’ I feel relief just knowing that for a little while, I am privileged to crawl into the epic mind of Colleen Hoover and be a part of what’s in there.
Before I started, I had heard about the confessions, but while I was reading and I found out exactly how they were a part of the story, they became more than amazing. Knowing they come from actual readers of Colleen Hoover’s books gave this whole story this extra dimension and it blew my mind. Colleen is known for her exceptional elements in her books, and knowing these are real-life confessions written by very real people brings the book so close to the reader. My heart melted and ached for them.
Confess is about sacrifices and selflessness. It’s about the strength of a family bond and the path you’re willing to take to make your loved ones happy and keep them safe. It’s about love and loss and friendship and coincidental encounters that can change the rest of your life. Or is it? It could be faith you know?
Auburn and Owen are such amazing characters. They’re real and beautiful people what fight for what they love and cherish the most in their lives. I loved Auburn from the start. I liked her way of thinking, I recognized her thoughts and feelings very well, it’s how I love the characters the most. She is so strong and pure and she has balls, I’ll can tell you that. She refuses to give up and I admire than about her so much.
And then there’s Owen. OMG. Green eyes with thick black hair?? Consider me drooling in a puddle on the floor. And he’s a cat lover! A man after my heart! And boy, was he. I swear, if I ever walk into a man like Owen, please just give me a sign and I’m never letting him out of my sight again. I’m serious. I don’t know if I ever said this before, but the guys from Colleen’s books are one of very few reasons that keeps me having faith in the other gender of this planet. Why, they’re just fictional characters, right? They can be made as perfect as wanted.
No, because when someone asked Colleen where her inspiration came from to create these caring, perfectly flawed and yet real guys in her books, she answered that she was married to one. And that, right there, that gave me the faith for not losing trust in the male population of this planet and call them all off as lying, manipulating and hurtful dipshits in a time where the ones around me showed me they couldn’t be trusted. (No, I do not think there are no good men on the planet, they’re just pretty rare. But this is not about me or my weird issues, so let’s go back to Confess.) I love that about Colleen, because of her, I know that they’re out there.
And Owen is… definitely someone worth waiting and fighting for. More than that. He’s caring and sweet and protective and jealous in just the right proportions.‘People don’t get jealous unless there are underlying feelings at play.’ He stands up for the ones he loves and would do anything to keep them save. He’s an amazing artist with a heart of gold.
I could go on for a while, but it’s best to experience him yourself. I could never bring across what a truly amazing person he is, that they both are. So, I think it’s pretty clear by now that the recommendation is more than 100%. Honestly, I think you’re missing out on life if you’ve never been a part of Colleen Hoover’s epicness and once you had a taste, you never want to get out.
*************WARNING; SPOILERS**********
Confess had me smiling bright from chapter one. I loved the witty replies between Auburn and Owen. I loved that he has a black cat and named her Owen. I loved his smile. I loved both of their thoughts. I loved… well what not?
Trey and Lydia. I swear I want to kick their asses. And I know it’s been done but I want to kick them some more just to be sure. I am so beyond mad with those two. I already hated Lydia the first time I heard her speak in the prologue and that never left again. And don’t get me started on Trey. I think he got away WAY too easy.
So I loved many, many, many things, but then as the truth of their lives slowly revealed itself and it was clear what they were struggling with, my heart broke for both, because it was just so unfair. Two people who can ruin the lives of two hardworking, loving and true people for what? Jealousy? Just because they’re assholes and selfish?
And then there’s Adam. My god, I was so sad when I read the prologue. And then the last chapter. He is so good and sweet and holy shit I can’t believe that Auburn had Owen’s very first painting in her room for five years. And talking of the painting, that right there showed just how amazing Owen is. The painting and the punching just to grant someone a second more of happiness when it was ripped away by others. Shit, I really want a Owen, too.
The love blooming between these two is just so beautiful. It goes fast, but that’s exactly what they need and who they are. “There are people you meet that you get to know, and then there are people you meet that you already know.” And Auburn’s mother is so right. I’ve experienced this for myself once, and there is no other way to explain it. It’s an amazing feeling.
I could talk and fangirl about these two for a long time, but you just need to experience this book for yourself. It’s more than amazing and I have so much respect for Colleen Hoover as an author. She finds the perfect words to describe feelings and situations, she breaks your heart but then melds it back together in the best way. She creates characters that feel like real-life people with real-life problems and amazing hearts and every time I’m blown away by how she does it. Because she does it every time.