Layla by Collen Hoover

 

Layla by Colleen Hoover is a bizarre novel sold to me as a romance novel, which it sort of was and sort of wasn't.  Look, I'm going to do major spoilers, so beware. Leeds meets Layla at Layla's sister's wedding when he's playing bass in the band and she's dancing like a maniac.  There's insta-lust as they spend the night together and soon they're ensconced in Leeds' Nashville home.  But then there's an "accident" and they both end up in a remote abandoned B&B in Kansas as they recuperate. Weird shit starts happening.  

It's part romance, part ghost story, part abusive jerk, part loving partner.  I am so confused as to what I actually think about this book and I'm hoping that writing this out will make my thoughts a bit clearer.

Leeds is a terrible hero.  That's my basic problem. I actually think the book is pretty good, otherwise. It's pretty predictable, but who am I to suggest that romance novel tropes shouldn't be assiduously applied to even a "part romance novel." You know there's going to be a happy ending, but you're just not sure how Hoover's going to lead us there.  You know what the "twist" is as soon as the narrator refused to tell you about it.  You sort of know all that, but the writing is enjoyable and it's a page turner, so you just let it happen.

But Leeds. Man. He's manipulative and controlling. He doesn't actually ask Layla what she wants to do, ignores her half the time, and then! Then! He's actually holding a woman hostage against her will and we're just expected to sit back and ADORE HIM for making hard choices?! (This reminded me a lot of how Lisa Kleypas had a lot of work to make Sebastian redeemable in The Devil in Winter, but she actually pulled it off, but Hoover did not pull it off here.)  I just...I can't.  

It's become clear to me that there are things that are immediate dealbreakers for me and romance novels.  I am genuinely irritated by the lack of consent in this book. I give a lot of books passes if they were written "in a different time,"  but this book was published in 2018.  Ugh.

So much promise. Hoover just didn't quite pull this one out for me.