Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover

Heart Bones is Hoover's 2020 young adult romance novel. Beyah Grim's mother dies from an overdose two months before she's supposed to leave for college. As an eviction notice looms over her, she reaches out to her absentee father and ends up spending the summer on a Texas peninsula and falling in love with the boy next door.

I have mixed Hoover thoughts. From a DNF (All Your Perfects) to a couple of meh books (It Ends with Us and Layla), I went into this one with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. (I also requested this book at the end of December and the hold just came in. This was going to have to be some book to meet expectations after a three month wait.)

This cover is repulsive. I dislike it intensely.

Interesting characters:

I found Beyah's development to be quite strong in this novel. She comes home from working her shift at McDonald's to find her mother dead from an overdose. It's not exactly unexpected, but it's bad timing since she's not due to start college for another two months. At this point in the book, Beyah is prickly, standoffish, and it all makes sense since she's basically had to fend for herself since she was a young child. Her grieving is subtle, but you can tell she's off her game a bit, what with staying in bed for days and sobbing on the balcony. She's also a bit of a judgmental jerk, immediately making assumptions about her newfound stepsister and the people she meets, but that is all completely understandable based on her upbringing.

As she starts to feel more comfortable and her basic needs of food, shelter, and safety are met for the first time in her memory, she is able to see that she's been judging other people unfairly and you can see how this would leave her vulnerable to the first nice guy who shows her attention. 

Enter Samson. He's secretive and refuses to answer Beyah's questions about his past, even though she answers his. He seems thoughtful and kind, but there's obviously something he's hiding. Because of his tight-lipped nature, it's kind of hard to get a handle on him as a character and he's far less interesting than Beyah is.

Believable conflict:

I am not an expert on childhood trauma, but this seems like exactly the sort of relationship progression that two young people with traumatic upbringings would have. Lots of misunderstandings because what's going on inside your head doesn't match what you say because you've spent so long hiding your feelings and true opinions. It seemed believable to me.

Emotional tensions:

Eh. I always assumed that these two would end up together. It's actually a bit of a problem because it seems like each of them should actually play the field a little bit to make sure they're not just settling because they were each the first person who was nice to the other. On the other hand, it's not a problem because the book is about how they help each other grow up, so the lack of emotional tension isn't that huge of an issue.

Happily ever after:

Hm. There's a happy moment. I don't want to give away spoilers, but Samson is going to face some serious challenges at the end of this book and those challenges are brushed aside. There are some parts of the ending I really liked, but I wish there'd been more discussion about what was going to happen next because in my imagination things aren't going to turn out all sunshine and roses. 

Probably the best Hoover I've read yet. 4/5 stars

Lines of note:

I hear people talking about good men, but I'm starting to think that's a myth. (page 17)

Ha ha. I felt like this right up until I met my husband. Oh, I wish I could tell young women that there are good men out there.

Sometimes I believe personalities are shaped more by damage than kindness. (page 20)

Trauma does shape you, I suppose.

This new guy isn't quite as tall as the guy with the camera, but they smell the same. Like golf. Is golf a smell? It should be. I could bottle it up and sell it to pricks like these. (page 36)

Is golf a smell? I laughed out loud at this. Sweat, grass, and the leather of golf gloves, I guess. I enjoyed this little foray into Hoover writing about a sense that isn't just sight.  

Every encounter I've had with him has been humiliating and I'm not sure if that's his fault or mine. (page 60)

There's someone I work with and I have this same thought every time we meet. I just don't know if this strangeness is on him or on me. 

Admitting he was nothing like I assumed he was makes me disappointed in myself. I've never looked at myself as judgmental, but  I think I am. I judged him. I judged Sara. (page 104)

This was such a turning point for Beyah. Nicely done on the part of Hoover in terms of character development.