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Hopeless #3
All Your Perfects
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Romance (2018)Colleen Hoover delivers a tour de force novel about a troubled marriage and the one old forgotten promise that might be able to save it.
Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.
All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?
Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.
All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?
305 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
About the author
Colleen Hoover
106 books732k followersInternational and #1 New York Times bestselling author of romance, YA, thriller, women's fiction and paranormal romance.
I don't like to be confined to one genre. If you put me in a box, I'll claw my way out.
My social media username is @colleenhoover pretty much everywhere except my email, which is colleenhooverbooks@gmail.com
Founder of www.thebookwormbox.com charity and Book Bonanza.
I don't like to be confined to one genre. If you put me in a box, I'll claw my way out.
My social media username is @colleenhoover pretty much everywhere except my email, which is colleenhooverbooks@gmail.com
Founder of www.thebookwormbox.com charity and Book Bonanza.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49,445 reviews
July 20, 2018
“I love you more in this moment than any moment that has come before it.”
This book was a raw and emotional reminder of why I read romance. It reminded me of the small magic within the big hardships we conquer for love. This speed-train of a novel hit me hard enough for it to become one if not the best of my reads this year. All Your Perfects acted very slowly like a vice on my heart and before I knew it - it had taken it and shattered it. I shall now write a resemblance of a review whilst picking up the pieces.
________________
The Story
Emotional whiplash, Ms. Hoover. That is what awaits every single person that picks up this book you've created.
I'm still crying. I finished this book at 4:06 in the morning and I'm still sitting here re-reading some of the paragraphs and sobbing to myself. I don't think I have ever not regretted reading a book like this one. (Sorry for the double negative, it's one of those days, bear with me)
I don't plan on writing a small ass summary of what this book is about or a blurb. I can't, because nothing I can possibly write will do it justice. I also recommend going into this one blind. Let it hit you full force, you may be on the ground for the next couple of days - but I guarantee you, it's worth it. At least it is for me.
Sometimes, I think I appreciate Colleen Hoover when she marries the romance genre with sensitive and usually, skirted upon topics within literature. This very rarely is approached in today's writer society and so, it's colossal in it's results.
I don’t five star often. In fact, those of you on here that are accustomed to my reviews know that it literally psychically hurts me to five star a book. That book would have affected me in such a way that every time I go back to loving it, there would be that familiar sting of worship. Not because I hate loving books, but because to me that last star is the seal of perfection. That last star means that I would take that book into fresh hell and back and still hold it like it’s everything beautiful in life. And near nothing - not even Shakespeare wrote perfection.
I’ve also found that every book has many little imperfections. The Old Bard of Avon included in this, but it’s about how all those tiny little imperfections (this metaphor is becoming very rhythmic with this book’s title) wrap up to make it perfect. That’s that last star - in a world where nothing can be perfect, that last star is handed to how beautiful an author can execute it's imperfections.
The Romance
Here's where I think Colleen Hoover will win and lose some readers with this book:
It's real.
It. Is. So. Real.
And in reality, happily ever afters don't come by the kilogram.
The focus of this book was partly infertility. However, in my opinion - I think it was more so hope. It was inextricably embedded with every chapter. Hope is a fucking horrible thing that humans feel. Even more so, when there's nothing you can do to help you get what you are hopeful for.
This love that Graham and Quinn shared was messy, beautiful and absolutely filled to the damn brim with hope. Their story showed an ugly truth to life, that hope isn't always something to lean on, rather something to keep close. There were some aspects in this book that I will talk about in the next section, only because I'm making everything above that last section spoiler free.
I thought this story was chemical, it broke my heart in the best way and as much as I hurt - I didn't want it to end. I didn't want to leave Quinn and Graham. I wanted to see every detail of what their lives would turn out to be.
Trigger Warnings
[Please Do Not Read This Section If You Don't Want To Be Spoiled For The Book]
There are a lot with this one. Some blatantly obvious, and some hidden under the surface:
-Grief
-Self Harm
-Infertility
-Infidelity
-Anxiety
-Miscarriage
-Self Hate
I want to address one of the above that links to all of the above. The Cheating
Cheating in romance books are a hard pass for me and very rarely do I overlook it, unless the character walks away from whoever they have been cheated by. Because THAT is a good role modeling system for any young people that decide to read this book. I would hate for younger me to read a book where one of the MC forgives the other for cheating on them.
Yet, here I am - giving this book five stars.
This is not a bash on anyone that disliked this book because of this, nor does this in any way make your opinion inconsistent. We all feel differently when we read, and that's one of the most beautiful things about reading.
All this is, is an explanation.
Please note: Cheating is never justified.
This book was a raw and emotional reminder of why I read romance. It reminded me of the small magic within the big hardships we conquer for love. This speed-train of a novel hit me hard enough for it to become one if not the best of my reads this year. All Your Perfects acted very slowly like a vice on my heart and before I knew it - it had taken it and shattered it. I shall now write a resemblance of a review whilst picking up the pieces.
“If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim.”
“I’m a grammar snob. It should be your perfections.”
“That’s what makes me like it. The one word they misuse is perfects. Kind of ironic.”
________________
The Story
Emotional whiplash, Ms. Hoover. That is what awaits every single person that picks up this book you've created.
I'm still crying. I finished this book at 4:06 in the morning and I'm still sitting here re-reading some of the paragraphs and sobbing to myself. I don't think I have ever not regretted reading a book like this one. (Sorry for the double negative, it's one of those days, bear with me)
I don't plan on writing a small ass summary of what this book is about or a blurb. I can't, because nothing I can possibly write will do it justice. I also recommend going into this one blind. Let it hit you full force, you may be on the ground for the next couple of days - but I guarantee you, it's worth it. At least it is for me.
" Sometimes I look at him and feel such an overwhelming appreciation for him, I almost want to write thank-you notes to our exes."
Sometimes, I think I appreciate Colleen Hoover when she marries the romance genre with sensitive and usually, skirted upon topics within literature. This very rarely is approached in today's writer society and so, it's colossal in it's results.
I don’t five star often. In fact, those of you on here that are accustomed to my reviews know that it literally psychically hurts me to five star a book. That book would have affected me in such a way that every time I go back to loving it, there would be that familiar sting of worship. Not because I hate loving books, but because to me that last star is the seal of perfection. That last star means that I would take that book into fresh hell and back and still hold it like it’s everything beautiful in life. And near nothing - not even Shakespeare wrote perfection.
I’ve also found that every book has many little imperfections. The Old Bard of Avon included in this, but it’s about how all those tiny little imperfections (this metaphor is becoming very rhythmic with this book’s title) wrap up to make it perfect. That’s that last star - in a world where nothing can be perfect, that last star is handed to how beautiful an author can execute it's imperfections.
"I recently concluded that there’s no other explanation for how you and I could end up on the same planet, in the same species, in the same century, in the same country, in the same state, in the same town, in the same hallway, in front of the same door for the same reason at the exact same time. If God didn’t believe in me, then I’d have to believe you were just a coincidence. And you being a coincidence in my life is a lot harder for me to fathom than the mere existence of a higher power.”
The Romance
Here's where I think Colleen Hoover will win and lose some readers with this book:
It's real.
It. Is. So. Real.
And in reality, happily ever afters don't come by the kilogram.
"If a scientist could figure out how to align the heart with the brain, there would be very little agony left in the world."
The focus of this book was partly infertility. However, in my opinion - I think it was more so hope. It was inextricably embedded with every chapter. Hope is a fucking horrible thing that humans feel. Even more so, when there's nothing you can do to help you get what you are hopeful for.
This love that Graham and Quinn shared was messy, beautiful and absolutely filled to the damn brim with hope. Their story showed an ugly truth to life, that hope isn't always something to lean on, rather something to keep close. There were some aspects in this book that I will talk about in the next section, only because I'm making everything above that last section spoiler free.
I thought this story was chemical, it broke my heart in the best way and as much as I hurt - I didn't want it to end. I didn't want to leave Quinn and Graham. I wanted to see every detail of what their lives would turn out to be.
“What’s the secret to such a perfect marriage?” The old man leaned forward and looked at me very seriously. “Our marriage hasn’t been perfect. No marriage is perfect. There were times when she gave up on us. There were even more times when I gave up on us. The secret to our longevity is that we never gave up at the same time.”
Trigger Warnings
[Please Do Not Read This Section If You Don't Want To Be Spoiled For The Book]
There are a lot with this one. Some blatantly obvious, and some hidden under the surface:
-Grief
-Self Harm
-Infertility
-Infidelity
-Anxiety
-Miscarriage
-Self Hate
I want to address one of the above that links to all of the above. The Cheating
Cheating in romance books are a hard pass for me and very rarely do I overlook it, unless the character walks away from whoever they have been cheated by. Because THAT is a good role modeling system for any young people that decide to read this book. I would hate for younger me to read a book where one of the MC forgives the other for cheating on them.
Yet, here I am - giving this book five stars.
This is not a bash on anyone that disliked this book because of this, nor does this in any way make your opinion inconsistent. We all feel differently when we read, and that's one of the most beautiful things about reading.
All this is, is an explanation.
Please note: Cheating is never justified.
“You say that like marriage is a Category 5 hurricane.” “Not all the time. But I definitely think there are Category 5 moments in every marriage.”
September 30, 2022
"When you meet someone who is good for you, they won't fill you with insecurities by focusing on your flaws. They'll fill you with inspiration, because they'll focus on all the best parts of you."
I'm going to take a moment here to state upfront how raw this review will be, because this book focused on a subject that has made my heart both hard and tender over the years- infertility. I put off reading this book until the last second before a review was needed (I'm so sorry if I made you nervous Ariele!) because I was unsure of how it would affect me. Would it put me in a funky reading slump? The short answer is no, it didn't, and I'm 100% glad I took a chance on reading All Your Perfects, because I have never consumed a novel that felt so intimately crafted toward myself as a reader before.
"If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim."
My intent is not to make this review all about me, but about the book, so if you want to discuss anything regarding my family and I's personal journey (or need someone to talk to about your own), please feel free to send me a private message and I would be glad to do so. Regarding the format of the novel, I was grateful that Hoover chose to have the story unfold via alternating past and present tenses; we learn from the past how Quinn and Graham met and came to the point they are in present time, while also getting an inside glimpse into their current fragile situation. The present day tense, while excellent and beyond well done, was extremely emotional to read, and just as I would get to the place where I felt like I couldn't breathe, Colleen would switch gears to a happier time and I eased into a more comfortable state. Guys, I can't express enough how unique of a reading experience this created. For those readers who have been through a similar journey, or may be going through it now, this story is crafted in such a way that it is sensitive to those hurting while acknowledging that pain and giving it the validation and understanding it deserves.
I don't want to give anything away, so I won't go into plot specifics, but it goes way below surface level and discusses a myriad of issues and concerns that people deal with on the journey through infertility (or just fertility issues in general). All the insensitive comments of well meaning people, the guilty internal struggle when everyone around you is having babies, the expense that comes along with pricey fertility treatments that may or may not work, and the mental health decline as you pull out of yourself and get lost in a downward spiral of depression and self-deprecation is all touched on. Before you shake your angry fist and scream "But what about adoption!", don't worry, that's discussed as well. I found myself crying throughout almost the entire book, but especially during those moments that felt carved from my very being and placed into Quinn and Graham's narrative. I remember those nights when Mr. Humphrey (bless him, he really is the best) would hold me close and tell me that I was enough and that he wouldn't give up on us. That moment in the story where the old man tells Quinn that the secret to a long happy marriage is for both spouses to never give up at the same time is SO true, and it broke me to read that after living it.
I'm grasping at straws here, because I don't know what to say to convince you to read this book. Did I say enough? Did I mention all the right things? It could be that this book was so special to me because it was personal on many levels, so maybe it won't speak to you in the same way that it did me, but I have a feeling that All Your Perfects will give many readers a similarly satisfying experience as I had. The sign of an excellent read is when it challenges you while draining you physically and emotionally, and I haven't quite felt this way since I read It Ends With Us back in the day. Maybe one day I'll get the chance to meet CoHo in person and let her know just how grateful I am that she put pen to paper and brought the shame associated with infertility out of the darkness and is taking a stand against removing the stigma associated with it. If you are hurting and you feel it isn't the right time to pick this one up, trust me, I get it. However, if you do choose to read it, I'll be right here and offer a virtual shoulder to cry on if and when you need it. <3
*Review copy provided via the publisher.
I'm going to take a moment here to state upfront how raw this review will be, because this book focused on a subject that has made my heart both hard and tender over the years- infertility. I put off reading this book until the last second before a review was needed (I'm so sorry if I made you nervous Ariele!) because I was unsure of how it would affect me. Would it put me in a funky reading slump? The short answer is no, it didn't, and I'm 100% glad I took a chance on reading All Your Perfects, because I have never consumed a novel that felt so intimately crafted toward myself as a reader before.
"If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim."
My intent is not to make this review all about me, but about the book, so if you want to discuss anything regarding my family and I's personal journey (or need someone to talk to about your own), please feel free to send me a private message and I would be glad to do so. Regarding the format of the novel, I was grateful that Hoover chose to have the story unfold via alternating past and present tenses; we learn from the past how Quinn and Graham met and came to the point they are in present time, while also getting an inside glimpse into their current fragile situation. The present day tense, while excellent and beyond well done, was extremely emotional to read, and just as I would get to the place where I felt like I couldn't breathe, Colleen would switch gears to a happier time and I eased into a more comfortable state. Guys, I can't express enough how unique of a reading experience this created. For those readers who have been through a similar journey, or may be going through it now, this story is crafted in such a way that it is sensitive to those hurting while acknowledging that pain and giving it the validation and understanding it deserves.
I don't want to give anything away, so I won't go into plot specifics, but it goes way below surface level and discusses a myriad of issues and concerns that people deal with on the journey through infertility (or just fertility issues in general). All the insensitive comments of well meaning people, the guilty internal struggle when everyone around you is having babies, the expense that comes along with pricey fertility treatments that may or may not work, and the mental health decline as you pull out of yourself and get lost in a downward spiral of depression and self-deprecation is all touched on. Before you shake your angry fist and scream "But what about adoption!", don't worry, that's discussed as well. I found myself crying throughout almost the entire book, but especially during those moments that felt carved from my very being and placed into Quinn and Graham's narrative. I remember those nights when Mr. Humphrey (bless him, he really is the best) would hold me close and tell me that I was enough and that he wouldn't give up on us. That moment in the story where the old man tells Quinn that the secret to a long happy marriage is for both spouses to never give up at the same time is SO true, and it broke me to read that after living it.
I'm grasping at straws here, because I don't know what to say to convince you to read this book. Did I say enough? Did I mention all the right things? It could be that this book was so special to me because it was personal on many levels, so maybe it won't speak to you in the same way that it did me, but I have a feeling that All Your Perfects will give many readers a similarly satisfying experience as I had. The sign of an excellent read is when it challenges you while draining you physically and emotionally, and I haven't quite felt this way since I read It Ends With Us back in the day. Maybe one day I'll get the chance to meet CoHo in person and let her know just how grateful I am that she put pen to paper and brought the shame associated with infertility out of the darkness and is taking a stand against removing the stigma associated with it. If you are hurting and you feel it isn't the right time to pick this one up, trust me, I get it. However, if you do choose to read it, I'll be right here and offer a virtual shoulder to cry on if and when you need it. <3
*Review copy provided via the publisher.
December 5, 2018
To the author and any reviewer who justified hero’s cheating, blaming it on heroine:
Has it occurred to ANY of you that she was going through depression???
And he was SUCH a good guy and loved her SO much that instead of realising the love of his life is clinically depressed he cheats on her and then justifies this by claiming he was thinking of HER all the time.
Did she blame him for her miscarriage? No. She rather told him it’s not his fault. Did he return the courtesy and told her HIS cheating was not her fault? No. He blamed her for HIS weakness.
She lied to him about sickness? Anyone stopped and thought may be she’s NOT lying but she really is mentally sick? Instead of getting her help he cheats and everyone is blaming her and excusing him???
It is unforgivable to cheat on someone. And to cheat and abandon your spouse in illness??? NOTHING can redeem you.
I’m the residential bitch here, but I solemnly pray all of you who support this BS, never come to a hard time in your life when you go into depression and then get blamed for it and get abandon and betrayed by your spouse. That would be the only way you’d know what the heroine was feeling, but honest to God, no one deserves it.
Disclaimer: I HAVE read this book. So my judgement is as valid as any of yours. I was polite enough not to rate this one star like it deserves, however that changes now.
Also people who felt the need to personally tell me to read this book first: 1) reading the book didn’t change my perspective of cheating, 2) It didn’t make the it suddenly NOT cheating and 3) it didn’t make the author’s and most readers callous treatment and attitudes towards mental illness and depression any less callous.
Peace out!
Has it occurred to ANY of you that she was going through depression???
And he was SUCH a good guy and loved her SO much that instead of realising the love of his life is clinically depressed he cheats on her and then justifies this by claiming he was thinking of HER all the time.
Did she blame him for her miscarriage? No. She rather told him it’s not his fault. Did he return the courtesy and told her HIS cheating was not her fault? No. He blamed her for HIS weakness.
She lied to him about sickness? Anyone stopped and thought may be she’s NOT lying but she really is mentally sick? Instead of getting her help he cheats and everyone is blaming her and excusing him???
It is unforgivable to cheat on someone. And to cheat and abandon your spouse in illness??? NOTHING can redeem you.
I’m the residential bitch here, but I solemnly pray all of you who support this BS, never come to a hard time in your life when you go into depression and then get blamed for it and get abandon and betrayed by your spouse. That would be the only way you’d know what the heroine was feeling, but honest to God, no one deserves it.
Disclaimer: I HAVE read this book. So my judgement is as valid as any of yours. I was polite enough not to rate this one star like it deserves, however that changes now.
Also people who felt the need to personally tell me to read this book first: 1) reading the book didn’t change my perspective of cheating, 2) It didn’t make the it suddenly NOT cheating and 3) it didn’t make the author’s and most readers callous treatment and attitudes towards mental illness and depression any less callous.
Peace out!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2022
SPOILERS AHEAD - from this book and other Colleen Hoover’s books because I can’t stand her writing and if you love her books DON’T read my review because we’re not going to see eye to eye and I’m okay with that!
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The guy is a cheater and the book is 300 pages of angst, depression, sadness and betrayal and everything gets “solved” in the last 20 pages lol ok
Ps - Question time : Can Colleen Hoover write a book where the main character doesn’t go trough something traumatic and/or suffers through the entire book ????? because in ugly love the guys treats the heroine like absolutely shit and in the end he realizes that he’s actually in love with her (so romantic, especially when he calls her his ex’s name in the middle of sex #goals), in November 9 the mc is a burn victim (I think, I tried to block that awful book out) and she falls for the guy that was involved in her accident, in another book the heroine is an abusive relationship ... She’s constantly writing the same book with a different problem, it goes like this the heroine has a problem(infertility/abusive relationship/ deeply insecurity, then a guy come to rescue, they can’t be together(they can but they have to suffer so it’s more #romantic), angst for pages, then everything is solved in the last few pages and happily ever after, there you go… You have a cliche, basic af Colleen Hoover book, CONGRATS YOU FINISHED THE A BAD WATTPAD FIC. Don’t forget to promote on booktok!!!!
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The guy is a cheater and the book is 300 pages of angst, depression, sadness and betrayal and everything gets “solved” in the last 20 pages lol ok
Ps - Question time : Can Colleen Hoover write a book where the main character doesn’t go trough something traumatic and/or suffers through the entire book ????? because in ugly love the guys treats the heroine like absolutely shit and in the end he realizes that he’s actually in love with her (so romantic, especially when he calls her his ex’s name in the middle of sex #goals), in November 9 the mc is a burn victim (I think, I tried to block that awful book out) and she falls for the guy that was involved in her accident, in another book the heroine is an abusive relationship ... She’s constantly writing the same book with a different problem, it goes like this the heroine has a problem(infertility/abusive relationship/ deeply insecurity, then a guy come to rescue, they can’t be together(they can but they have to suffer so it’s more #romantic), angst for pages, then everything is solved in the last few pages and happily ever after, there you go… You have a cliche, basic af Colleen Hoover book, CONGRATS YOU FINISHED THE A BAD WATTPAD FIC. Don’t forget to promote on booktok!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2022
This entire book could've been 10 pages if they just COMMUNICATED
July 12, 2018
5 stars!!!
Colleen Hoover is one of my favorite authors. Not many can evoke the kind of emotion she does with each and every book. All Your Perfects may be her most emotional one yet, at least for me it was.
Quinn and Graham’s love story starts out in an unconventional way. From the moment they met, to when they married, to now, 7 years after that, it’s apparent that fate put them together. They are still just as much in love now as they were in the beginning, but things out of their control has changed things for them. Life has a way of doing that. Sometimes love isn’t enough, but sometimes, it is.
All Your Perfects went back and forth from past to present by each chapter. This was brilliant. Just as I thought the present was too much and I needed a break, I got to see a chapter of the past. Of Quinn and Graham blissfully in love. It made the book easier to read. And seeing their relationship build gave you insight into the couple they were. A couple that was destined to be together from the start.
My thoughts on this book are complicated. There are so many things about this book that were contradictions for me. I loved it and hated it at the same time. I could relate to the story and the main characters in ways I’ve never related to another book/character, yet there were many choices made and things done I couldn’t relate to at all. When it’s all said and done, this is the journey of Graham and Quinn. And I could never judge this couple on how they handled the hand the had been dealt. Unless you’ve walked a mile in their shoes, neither could you.
Though much of the book was hard for me to read, I thought Hoover ended this story perfectly. The last 10% had me sobbing, but those tears were mostly happy. I loved how the book ended. I loved how real, raw, and brilliant this book was. I loved that a light was shined on a topic that effects many of us, but most people don’t understand it or want to talk about it. I, for one, am glad that most people don’t get it and won’t be able to relate. But for those of us that can, I feel that Colleen did justice to this story and this topic and I’m happy that this book was written. As hard as it was to read at times, I’m glad I read it.
All Your Perfects is an unforgettable, unputdownable, and completely captivating read. It’s a book that will forever leave a mark on my heart. If you’re looking for a book to give you all the feels, one that shows the good, bad, and ugly side of marriage and life, but one that will leave you hopeful and believing in true love, pick this book up. It’s a journey you need to read to experience.
Colleen Hoover is one of my favorite authors. Not many can evoke the kind of emotion she does with each and every book. All Your Perfects may be her most emotional one yet, at least for me it was.
Quinn and Graham’s love story starts out in an unconventional way. From the moment they met, to when they married, to now, 7 years after that, it’s apparent that fate put them together. They are still just as much in love now as they were in the beginning, but things out of their control has changed things for them. Life has a way of doing that. Sometimes love isn’t enough, but sometimes, it is.
It’s hard to admit that a marriage might be over when the love is still there.
All Your Perfects went back and forth from past to present by each chapter. This was brilliant. Just as I thought the present was too much and I needed a break, I got to see a chapter of the past. Of Quinn and Graham blissfully in love. It made the book easier to read. And seeing their relationship build gave you insight into the couple they were. A couple that was destined to be together from the start.
My thoughts on this book are complicated. There are so many things about this book that were contradictions for me. I loved it and hated it at the same time. I could relate to the story and the main characters in ways I’ve never related to another book/character, yet there were many choices made and things done I couldn’t relate to at all. When it’s all said and done, this is the journey of Graham and Quinn. And I could never judge this couple on how they handled the hand the had been dealt. Unless you’ve walked a mile in their shoes, neither could you.
People can’t always control who their circumstances turn them into.
Though much of the book was hard for me to read, I thought Hoover ended this story perfectly. The last 10% had me sobbing, but those tears were mostly happy. I loved how the book ended. I loved how real, raw, and brilliant this book was. I loved that a light was shined on a topic that effects many of us, but most people don’t understand it or want to talk about it. I, for one, am glad that most people don’t get it and won’t be able to relate. But for those of us that can, I feel that Colleen did justice to this story and this topic and I’m happy that this book was written. As hard as it was to read at times, I’m glad I read it.
All Your Perfects is an unforgettable, unputdownable, and completely captivating read. It’s a book that will forever leave a mark on my heart. If you’re looking for a book to give you all the feels, one that shows the good, bad, and ugly side of marriage and life, but one that will leave you hopeful and believing in true love, pick this book up. It’s a journey you need to read to experience.
January 3, 2023
I changed my mind about writing a review about this book and decided write an open letter to Colho!
Dear Colho,
Firstly I’m so sorry that I gave five stars to your book. If goodreads application let me borrow five more stars to give this book, I happily do that!
Secondly thanks for nothing because I’m looking like an alien with blotchy face, red eyes, streaked makeup ( thankfully I’m living in L.A. and most women with extra Botoxed faces and plastic surgeries look worse than me so I easily hide myself in the crowd! )
I think I’m masochistic and I’ll discuss this with my new and 18th shrink: because anytime I start one of your works: I just cry. Even looking at the cover create same affect on me. After I read “ Slammed” I cried for two days and after reading Hopeless, I started to throw things against my wall when I’m replying the word “ Why” like a barking dog. After “ November 9” my cries turned into howling.
And All your perfects is realistic story about not so perfect couple who are estranged and when they build walls between them, ruining every beautiful memory they’ve created in years, only a small box of letters help them go on!
Their story takes the piece of your heart and after reading that you’ll never be the same person again.
The most important thing I like about it, everything was so real, natural , it’s about the marriage, it’s about struggle, it’s about unconditional love and it’s about learning to forgive each other but mostly learning to forgive yourself.
Well, I’m speechless because you took out my words and use yours to stab my heart and gave me an incredible emotional roller coaster, and finally made me heal with your epilogue.
You’re the white queen of romances ( your Siamese twin Tarryn Fisher shows the ugly parts of romance as the dark queen :))
Thank you for your words, your efforts and your talent and sharing your gift with your readers.
Best,
Nilufer
Dear Colho,
Firstly I’m so sorry that I gave five stars to your book. If goodreads application let me borrow five more stars to give this book, I happily do that!
Secondly thanks for nothing because I’m looking like an alien with blotchy face, red eyes, streaked makeup ( thankfully I’m living in L.A. and most women with extra Botoxed faces and plastic surgeries look worse than me so I easily hide myself in the crowd! )
I think I’m masochistic and I’ll discuss this with my new and 18th shrink: because anytime I start one of your works: I just cry. Even looking at the cover create same affect on me. After I read “ Slammed” I cried for two days and after reading Hopeless, I started to throw things against my wall when I’m replying the word “ Why” like a barking dog. After “ November 9” my cries turned into howling.
And All your perfects is realistic story about not so perfect couple who are estranged and when they build walls between them, ruining every beautiful memory they’ve created in years, only a small box of letters help them go on!
Their story takes the piece of your heart and after reading that you’ll never be the same person again.
The most important thing I like about it, everything was so real, natural , it’s about the marriage, it’s about struggle, it’s about unconditional love and it’s about learning to forgive each other but mostly learning to forgive yourself.
Well, I’m speechless because you took out my words and use yours to stab my heart and gave me an incredible emotional roller coaster, and finally made me heal with your epilogue.
You’re the white queen of romances ( your Siamese twin Tarryn Fisher shows the ugly parts of romance as the dark queen :))
Thank you for your words, your efforts and your talent and sharing your gift with your readers.
Best,
Nilufer
December 26, 2021
no idea how to feel about this. it was a little too relatable and yet not relatable at all??
January 31, 2023
“I used to be fine when I was alone. But now that I have you, I’m lonely when I’m alone.”
“What's the secret to a perfect marriage?'
'Our marriage hasn't been perfect. No marriage is perfect. There were times when she gave up on us. There were even more times when I gave up on us. The secret to our longevity is that we never gave up at the same time.”
August 5, 2018
*Possible spoilers*
Quinn, our heroine, is infertile and consequently, she spirals into a depression that widens the disconnect between her and, Graham, her husband. The reader is then taken on a journey through Quinn’s five stages of grief.
Hoover interspersed past and present to bring us this couple’s story and it’s quite blatant that incorporating their “then” was an attempt to bring much-needed levity to a book that is intensely melancholic. A melancholy I’m sure was meant to tug at our heartstrings; and while it didn’t move me to tears as it did other reviewers, I was sympathetic toward Quinn and wished she would get help for depression and PTSD. Otherwise, this story was quite forgettable.
April 29, 2022
3 stars
Okay... here goes nothing.
This was kinda insufferable. Let me set something straight though—I GET why people liked this one, it just wasn't for me mainly because of the tropes. However, I can't deny that this is one of CoHo's better books, and for that, it does get a higher rating. I say this in every review for the books I've read of hers; Hoover's work is hit or miss for me but this one ultimately is middle grounded.
CoHo usually writes male characters I despise but Graham is an angel baby. This time around I despised the fmc, Quinn. Incredibly selfish and uncaring (for a supposedly caring character), overall very unlikeable for me. She acknowledges her behavior but doesn't care enough or desire to change it. Trauma/grief or not, nobody deserves to be treated the way Quinn treated Graham. He said some things that were offensive at times but Quinn kinda needed to hear them. He also did something he shouldn't have but I don't think it compares to the years of shit Quinn put him through.
I did get emotional but I didn't cry and that was only because of Graham's character and his affection/words. Graham deserves someone better than Quinn and I stand by that.
Buddy read with Catherinee <3
Okay... here goes nothing.
This was kinda insufferable. Let me set something straight though—I GET why people liked this one, it just wasn't for me mainly because of the tropes. However, I can't deny that this is one of CoHo's better books, and for that, it does get a higher rating. I say this in every review for the books I've read of hers; Hoover's work is hit or miss for me but this one ultimately is middle grounded.
CoHo usually writes male characters I despise but Graham is an angel baby. This time around I despised the fmc, Quinn. Incredibly selfish and uncaring (for a supposedly caring character), overall very unlikeable for me. She acknowledges her behavior but doesn't care enough or desire to change it. Trauma/grief or not, nobody deserves to be treated the way Quinn treated Graham. He said some things that were offensive at times but Quinn kinda needed to hear them. He also did something he shouldn't have but I don't think it compares to the years of shit Quinn put him through.
I did get emotional but I didn't cry and that was only because of Graham's character and his affection/words. Graham deserves someone better than Quinn and I stand by that.
Buddy read with Catherinee <3
May 10, 2024
“Our marriage hasn’t been perfect. No marriage is perfect. There were times when she gave up on us. There were even more times when I gave up on us. The secret to our longevity is that we never gave up at the same time.”
Colleen, you made me cry! I hate you, no I love you so much but please stop making me sad... :'(
---------------
Colleen Hoover shared an Excerpt from "All Your Perfects". ❤
http://allyourperfects.com/#excerpt
Open the link and then click "Read an Excerpt". 🙂
--------------
OMG somebody, please hold me!!! A new book from my all time favorite author!!! YAY! 😍
Expected publication: July 17th 2018
Colleen, you made me cry! I hate you, no I love you so much but please stop making me sad... :'(
---------------
Colleen Hoover shared an Excerpt from "All Your Perfects". ❤
http://allyourperfects.com/#excerpt
Open the link and then click "Read an Excerpt". 🙂
--------------
OMG somebody, please hold me!!! A new book from my all time favorite author!!! YAY! 😍
Expected publication: July 17th 2018
February 16, 2019
✨ This is a spoil-free review✨
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
“When you meet someone who is good for you, they won’t fill you with insecurities by focusing on your flaws. They’ll fill you with inspiration, because they’ll focus on all the best parts of you.”
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
This book is so deep, I think saw Adele rolling in it.
Listen, between me and you, I think Colleen Hoover’s main purpose in life is to step on me.
My evidence:
She constantly steps on me with her:
🡆 Soul-crushing plots
🡆 Unforgettable characters
🡆 The romance
🡆 I forgot the rest because I was too busy being STEPPED ON
Honestly, why do I bother with the human life?? I might as well become a part of the floor so Colleen Hoover has an ACTUAL reason to step on me. Like YouTube has so many tutorial videos on so many things. Maybe someone out there felt nice enough to upload a tutorial video on, “How to become a part of the Floor?”
Now you’re probably thinking, “What’s wrong with this girl?¿?¿?”
Well, read a Colleen Hoover book and then come back to me.
I went into this book as prepared as I ever could be. I knew I was going to sob, swoon, be sucked into the plot, and drool over the writing. However, I was oblivious to the fact that this book was also preparing itself for me. I think it was preparing to activate every emotion in my smol body and leave me completely defenseless. In other words: this book fucked me up so good, I don’t know the difference between the wall and the ceiling.
I am utterly DEVASTATED.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
“We’re all full of flaws. Hundreds of them. They’re like tiny holes all over our skin. And like your fortune said, sometimes we shine too much light on our own flaws. But there are some people who try to ignore their own flaws by shining light on other people’s to the point that the other person’s flaws become their only focus. They pick at them, little by little, until they rip wide open and that’s all we become to them. One giant, gaping flaw.”
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
All Your Perfects, is the type of book that will immediately grip your soul from the beginning and hold onto it until the very end. Maybe even longer than that.
I had a bit of rough time trying to write a review that’ll do this book justice. I lasted approximately 5 minutes before deleting everything. I bet my non-existent cat can write a better review than me because wow whatever I typed out was NOT English. I blame it on the fact that I always found it hard to review a book that has touched my smol heart so dearly. This is a heavy book that deals with issues that REAL people face in the world and it is just so well-written.
Let me repeat that in all caps: VERY WELL-WRITTEN.
You know it’s good when you find yourself so enamored by the plot that you end up skimming through the whole page because you want to know if everything and everyone is okay. I don’t know why I torture myself like this but hey this is the life, us, readers signed up for. You hate spoilers but your eyes are like “yeah right let’s skim. You know you wanna do it. Let’s do it. It won’t hurt.” Hint: it WILL hurt.
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
“I probably didn't notice because sadness is like a spiderweb. You don't see it until you're caught up in it, and then you have to claw at yourself to try to break free.”
♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Now, onto the actual review.
Warning: My thoughts are a mess which means this review will be a mess. Please proceed with caution.
Colleen Hoover is one of those authors that could literally write a book about anything and I’ll buy it. In fact, if she wants to publish a book about elephants eating chocolate chip muffins….I’ll probably judge a little but I’d still buy it. I’m that loyal. My bank account may not support my life as a reader but it gotta learn one day that Colleen Hoover is queen and exceptions need to be made.
The reason why I’ll buy any of her books in a heartbeat is because of the way they make me feel. There’s something about her plots that demand my heart to think about it for days. Weeks. Months. Years. I’m not surprised that this book isn’t any different from the rest of her books. I was just mostly surprised of the tremendous toll it really took on me. Like I’m not fine. At all. Will I ever be? I don’t know. This story…...YOU have NO idea what’s waiting for YOU. This book made me feel like it was a paper shredder. All it did was shred me to tiny little pieces. And then shredded those tiny little pieces into even more tinier little pieces.
🌸 PLOT 🌸
☂ What is this book about? Well, I hope you’re sitting down because it’s about to get real. This was a captivating yet messy story that will make every cell in your body explode. We know that in most fairy tales, once you have a ring on your finger, you’ll live happily ever after. In this story you’ll find out that in real life; it does not work like that. There is no definitive list of “dos or don’ts” or like any easy steps to achieve a happily ever after. If you want a happily ever after then it’s going to take some effort to keep the love burning in a world filled with countless things that can stifle it.
☂ “All your perfects”, is told in alternating past and present chapters. In the past, you’ll learn about how Quinn and Graham meet when their worlds are crumbling apart, fall in love, and deciding to build a future together. In the present, you’ll learn about how Quinn and Graham are struggling to hold on to their happily ever after. They struggle to mend their relationship because they face a lot of challenges that threaten their broken marriage. In this story, you’ll learn that there is no manual on how to fix a marriage or make it perfect. And it’s up to Quinn and Graham to choose whether they’ll overcome or succumb to the challenges. Whether they’ll step out of the constraints of the norm and be willing to forge a new path. Either together or alone.
☂ And look, it’s not entirely designed to make you cry but there are funny moments.
☂ THAT IS ALL I AM SAYING
☂ I went into this book blind. I don’t want to reveal too much of the plot but I want you to know that this is a story that will hit some readers harder than the rest of us. As someone who has never been married; I’m speechless. I’m gutted. I’m heartbroken for those who ACTUALLY deal with half of the things that occur within this book. I just……..wow. I’m sending a bunch of virtual hugs your way.
🌸 CHARACTERS🌸
☂ what can i even say?
☂ HOW DOES ONE EVEN EXPLAIN THEIR LOVE FOR A CHARACTER? I’M ASKING FOR A FRIEND.
☂ I can definitely tell you this: from pages 1 to 306, I felt every emotion.
☂ I felt their heartbreak, frustrations, anger, love, happiness, hopes, loss and expectations. I felt every single emotion as if I were THEM. My own mother questioned me. She asked me, “who hurt you?”. I replied back, “I don’t even know.”
☂ I won’t reveal ANYTHING about Quinn and Graham. I’ll let them tell you who they are through their own story.
☂ Then feel free to join me in the “floor life”
🌸 WRITING🌸
🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
☂ Name a better way to explain yourself other than using emojis??? I am waiting.
☂ Colleen Hoover always leaves me breathless when it comes to her writing.
☂ She’s just phenomenal.
☂ The ability to weave a story with such raw emotion. It gives me the CHILLS
🌸 TRIGGER WARNINGS🌸
☂ You will find a lot of things within this book but this is what I picked up so far. Feel free to correct me :)
• Infertility
• Depression
• Miscarriage
• Infidelity.
🌸 OTHER THINGS I LOVED🌸
☂ i loved everything.
☂ I can start from page 1 until page 306
☂ y’all got time??
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“We’re also going to have bad days and sad days and days that test our resolve. Those are the days I want you to feel the absolute weight of my love for you.”
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Well.
That’s it folks.
I’m going to go crawl into my bed and spend approximately 2 years sobbing over this book and the pain it brought upon me.
Before I leave.
You should already know what to do :)
☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺
Pre-review:
"what's your greatest accomplishment"
me: colleen hoover liked two of my reviews.
also me: we're practically best friends now
☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺
me calculating how bad the emotional damage would be if i read this book:
July 17, 2018
6 STARS
I’ll be honest, I was scared going into this book. I knew it was going to be angsty. I knew I’d cry. From friends who had read it, from seeing comments here and there, I expected pain. What I did not expect was to be completely broken, and it's safe to say that I have never felt pain like I did while reading All Your Perfects. Sure, I’ve had my heart crushed in books before, but not like this. Never like this. I’m still reeling. This story is powerful. A raw, poignant portrait of the breakdown of a marriage. And man does it hurt, it hurts because it’s so indescribably real! From start to finish, the reality of this couples issues suffocate you. Page after page it gets harder, grittier, deeper, until you’re so consumed you can’t exist outside of the story. It becomes everything—all you see, breathe, feel. Wholly compelling, so very very very real. Honestly, the BEST BOOK I’ve read in 2018. I don't think I'll ever get over it.
All Your Perfects is the kind of novel where you know the difficult road traveled leads to a lesson that permanently marks you. And that’s what it did to me. It marked me, leaving cuts and bruises and bloody hand prints all over my heart. I can’t describe it. It physically affected me. Mentally drained me. Emotionally scarred me. It was a reading experience I can’t do justice. And I’m so breathless from it. So moved by it. So fucking wrecked. It’s a crazy feeling. So much of me is almost numb as I write this review (it’s the day after I finished), but so much is also alive. I’m looking at my husband, thinking things, deep things, and I feel a perspective shift happening inside me. Graham and Quinn’s story has such sorrow in it but it also such profound hope, and that's what truly shined in the end.
Moving from past to present, All Your Perfects shows us Quinn and Graham's budding relationship at the start, while also flipping to the decaying state their marriage is currently in. And man, you’re ravaged by this couple. It’s brutal yet exquisite as you read about these two people who were once so in love, so happy, so free and fun and fantastic that are now completely consumed by pain and sadness, hopelessness and frustration. I know that I felt tortured by it, itchy inside of my skin. My heart bled and pounded and cried, and at times felt like it was trying to claw it's way out my chest. I was so deeply affected by this couples struggles. What happens to Quinn and Graham, can happen to anyone, and that's why it's so painful. There is not one moment of unbelievability in this story. Every word is an accurate portrayal of what can happen in a marriage when you focus on the things you can’t have, when you begin to let the negatives frame your outlook and consume you.
Colleen Hoover is a strong writer and storyteller. This is only my 4th book of hers—I’ve read Slammed, Hopeless, It Ends with Us, and now All Your Perfects—and I’m so impressed. All Your Perfects feels like a story that people need. I truly think this book will help couples. It’ll change perspectives, open eyes, heal marriages, make you assess your heart and actions. It's powerful. I’m still so very overwhelmed by it, and I know I haven’t said much about the plot but I’m giving nothing away. This is THE BOOK OF THE YEAR. It’s beyond anything you'll read. Just dive in, feel all those feels. I’ll know I’ll never forget this story. It’s seared on my soul, in my brain. I’ll remember the vivid details, the tangible feelings it induced. It's everything. Unforgettable. Truly profound. Absolutely heart wrenching. Incredibly beautiful. And I just loved it. I love it with every fiber of my being. I can't recommend it enough. GO. READ.
I’ll be honest, I was scared going into this book. I knew it was going to be angsty. I knew I’d cry. From friends who had read it, from seeing comments here and there, I expected pain. What I did not expect was to be completely broken, and it's safe to say that I have never felt pain like I did while reading All Your Perfects. Sure, I’ve had my heart crushed in books before, but not like this. Never like this. I’m still reeling. This story is powerful. A raw, poignant portrait of the breakdown of a marriage. And man does it hurt, it hurts because it’s so indescribably real! From start to finish, the reality of this couples issues suffocate you. Page after page it gets harder, grittier, deeper, until you’re so consumed you can’t exist outside of the story. It becomes everything—all you see, breathe, feel. Wholly compelling, so very very very real. Honestly, the BEST BOOK I’ve read in 2018. I don't think I'll ever get over it.
All Your Perfects is the kind of novel where you know the difficult road traveled leads to a lesson that permanently marks you. And that’s what it did to me. It marked me, leaving cuts and bruises and bloody hand prints all over my heart. I can’t describe it. It physically affected me. Mentally drained me. Emotionally scarred me. It was a reading experience I can’t do justice. And I’m so breathless from it. So moved by it. So fucking wrecked. It’s a crazy feeling. So much of me is almost numb as I write this review (it’s the day after I finished), but so much is also alive. I’m looking at my husband, thinking things, deep things, and I feel a perspective shift happening inside me. Graham and Quinn’s story has such sorrow in it but it also such profound hope, and that's what truly shined in the end.
Moving from past to present, All Your Perfects shows us Quinn and Graham's budding relationship at the start, while also flipping to the decaying state their marriage is currently in. And man, you’re ravaged by this couple. It’s brutal yet exquisite as you read about these two people who were once so in love, so happy, so free and fun and fantastic that are now completely consumed by pain and sadness, hopelessness and frustration. I know that I felt tortured by it, itchy inside of my skin. My heart bled and pounded and cried, and at times felt like it was trying to claw it's way out my chest. I was so deeply affected by this couples struggles. What happens to Quinn and Graham, can happen to anyone, and that's why it's so painful. There is not one moment of unbelievability in this story. Every word is an accurate portrayal of what can happen in a marriage when you focus on the things you can’t have, when you begin to let the negatives frame your outlook and consume you.
Colleen Hoover is a strong writer and storyteller. This is only my 4th book of hers—I’ve read Slammed, Hopeless, It Ends with Us, and now All Your Perfects—and I’m so impressed. All Your Perfects feels like a story that people need. I truly think this book will help couples. It’ll change perspectives, open eyes, heal marriages, make you assess your heart and actions. It's powerful. I’m still so very overwhelmed by it, and I know I haven’t said much about the plot but I’m giving nothing away. This is THE BOOK OF THE YEAR. It’s beyond anything you'll read. Just dive in, feel all those feels. I’ll know I’ll never forget this story. It’s seared on my soul, in my brain. I’ll remember the vivid details, the tangible feelings it induced. It's everything. Unforgettable. Truly profound. Absolutely heart wrenching. Incredibly beautiful. And I just loved it. I love it with every fiber of my being. I can't recommend it enough. GO. READ.
October 31, 2020
CW:
It’s been a while since I’ve truly sat down and read a Colleen Hoover book until I came across the blurb for this one.
I was excited to pick it up because one, it has a marriage-in-peril trope that I love in my books. Two, the blurb along with the first chapter the author shared on social media truly captured my interest. Three. The meet-cute was quite unique. The whole book itself, however, was disappointing.
Quinn and Graham are two married couple whose marriage is on the brink of collapse. There were many things that contributed to this collapse, which readers will slowly learn through the course of the book. However, the main contributor to their marriage’s demise was Quinn’s infertility. It’s really the main thing that drives the plot and the conflict. And if this trope is not your thing, I would suggest to skip this one because it’s this book’s main theme.
Disclaimer: I do not suffer from the same infertility issues that Quinn went through but I personally thought this was handled well by Hoover. As the book is told by Quinn, we get to experience her pain and bitterness first hand. And a lot of the scenarios that she mentioned rang very true.
We immediately understand that this is a woman who wants to have a child desperately but can’t and it’s slowly tearing her on the inside that she can’t and is barely holding on. Quinn’s POV benefited a lot from Hoover’s sparse but emotional prose which captured Quinn’s pain so well.
Unfortunately, the past and present storytelling ruined the momentum for me. I hated it. Just when the story starts to get really interesting, you get pulled into another scene from the past and it became so frustrating! It was like Ugly Love all over again!
It felt like an unnecessary attempt to make the story more suspenseful and emotional than it is. But whatever reason Hoover had in using this narrative style AGAIN, it didn’t work for me. I found myself getting angry and feeling manipulated. But more on that later.
Another thing that didn’t work for me were the secondary characters. Quinn’s mother was also a piece of work and wasn’t a very developed character. She’s just there to be terrible and make Quinn feel bad. And now that I think about it, this book didn’t have a lot of characters. We get to briefly meet Quinn’s sister and her husband, Quinn and Graham’s exes, and Graham’s sister, but they’re not very well-developed characters either. They’re there to prop up (Quinn’s sister) or tear down (Quinn’s mother) the two main protagonists.
I didn’t really like Graham either. He is, in my opinion, one of Hoover’s weakest heroes. And I don’t know if it’s because we didn’t get his POV or whatever but he was just boring. The whole cheating thing—yes, it was cheating and there was really no justification for it—made me dislike him even more. I’m not even going to touch on his asinine reason for doing so but yeah, I wasn’t a fan of Graham at all. Not even his letters could make me like him.
And that ending? Ehhh. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t fleshed out either. It felt very rushed. They opened the box, they cried, and everything just smoothed itself out. However, it was worth mentioning that they apologized to each other and renewed their commitment. But overall, it felt, I don’t know, underwhelming and rushed after all that build up.
Ultimately, this book was too heavy-handed for me. Like it’s not enough that Quinn is infertile, she has to suffer more tragedy and gets cheated on by the love of her life. And that wasn’t enough for Hoover apparently ‘cause not only did Quinn suffer through another miscarriage, she ultimately had to get a hysterectomy. You’d think ‘goodness, surely she’d suffered enough, maybe the author will give her some relief now. NOPE. I mean, goodness, even the option to adopt was even taken away from her.
It’s too much! And this is the thing that I’ve come to hate about Hoover’s stories. There is never enough suffering. It has to be more! More suffering, more hopelessness until it becomes a never-ending cycle of suck.
It has to be noted as well that Hoover does this suffering thing to her female characters. The only hero who may have suffered the same amount of tragedy is Miles but considering what the female characters went through in his book, it’s really not much at all.
Her last few releases had been a torture-fest for her female characters. I should be happy, I guess, that at least they’d get HEA but my gosh, the amount of suffering they had to go through almost negates the happy ending they get.
Which brings me to my last point. Other readers have said this was an emotional book and I can see that but this felt very manipulative, calculated maximum tear jerk. But one thing I realized about myself as a reader is that the more an author makes the heroine suffer by letting her go through tragedy after tragedy, after the fewer the tears i shed.
This book had potential but from the way the whole story was structured to the ungodly amount of tragedy heaped on the heroine, CoHo made it really hard for me to care for the characters and the story.
An ARC was provided the publisher
It’s been a while since I’ve truly sat down and read a Colleen Hoover book until I came across the blurb for this one.
I was excited to pick it up because one, it has a marriage-in-peril trope that I love in my books. Two, the blurb along with the first chapter the author shared on social media truly captured my interest. Three. The meet-cute was quite unique. The whole book itself, however, was disappointing.
Quinn and Graham are two married couple whose marriage is on the brink of collapse. There were many things that contributed to this collapse, which readers will slowly learn through the course of the book. However, the main contributor to their marriage’s demise was Quinn’s infertility. It’s really the main thing that drives the plot and the conflict. And if this trope is not your thing, I would suggest to skip this one because it’s this book’s main theme.
Disclaimer: I do not suffer from the same infertility issues that Quinn went through but I personally thought this was handled well by Hoover. As the book is told by Quinn, we get to experience her pain and bitterness first hand. And a lot of the scenarios that she mentioned rang very true.
We immediately understand that this is a woman who wants to have a child desperately but can’t and it’s slowly tearing her on the inside that she can’t and is barely holding on. Quinn’s POV benefited a lot from Hoover’s sparse but emotional prose which captured Quinn’s pain so well.
Unfortunately, the past and present storytelling ruined the momentum for me. I hated it. Just when the story starts to get really interesting, you get pulled into another scene from the past and it became so frustrating! It was like Ugly Love all over again!
It felt like an unnecessary attempt to make the story more suspenseful and emotional than it is. But whatever reason Hoover had in using this narrative style AGAIN, it didn’t work for me. I found myself getting angry and feeling manipulated. But more on that later.
Another thing that didn’t work for me were the secondary characters. Quinn’s mother was also a piece of work and wasn’t a very developed character. She’s just there to be terrible and make Quinn feel bad. And now that I think about it, this book didn’t have a lot of characters. We get to briefly meet Quinn’s sister and her husband, Quinn and Graham’s exes, and Graham’s sister, but they’re not very well-developed characters either. They’re there to prop up (Quinn’s sister) or tear down (Quinn’s mother) the two main protagonists.
I didn’t really like Graham either. He is, in my opinion, one of Hoover’s weakest heroes. And I don’t know if it’s because we didn’t get his POV or whatever but he was just boring. The whole cheating thing—yes, it was cheating and there was really no justification for it—made me dislike him even more. I’m not even going to touch on his asinine reason for doing so but yeah, I wasn’t a fan of Graham at all. Not even his letters could make me like him.
And that ending? Ehhh. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t fleshed out either. It felt very rushed. They opened the box, they cried, and everything just smoothed itself out. However, it was worth mentioning that they apologized to each other and renewed their commitment. But overall, it felt, I don’t know, underwhelming and rushed after all that build up.
Ultimately, this book was too heavy-handed for me. Like it’s not enough that Quinn is infertile, she has to suffer more tragedy and gets cheated on by the love of her life. And that wasn’t enough for Hoover apparently ‘cause not only did Quinn suffer through another miscarriage, she ultimately had to get a hysterectomy. You’d think ‘goodness, surely she’d suffered enough, maybe the author will give her some relief now. NOPE. I mean, goodness, even the option to adopt was even taken away from her.
It’s too much! And this is the thing that I’ve come to hate about Hoover’s stories. There is never enough suffering. It has to be more! More suffering, more hopelessness until it becomes a never-ending cycle of suck.
It has to be noted as well that Hoover does this suffering thing to her female characters. The only hero who may have suffered the same amount of tragedy is Miles but considering what the female characters went through in his book, it’s really not much at all.
Her last few releases had been a torture-fest for her female characters. I should be happy, I guess, that at least they’d get HEA but my gosh, the amount of suffering they had to go through almost negates the happy ending they get.
Which brings me to my last point. Other readers have said this was an emotional book and I can see that but this felt very manipulative, calculated maximum tear jerk. But one thing I realized about myself as a reader is that the more an author makes the heroine suffer by letting her go through tragedy after tragedy, after the fewer the tears i shed.
This book had potential but from the way the whole story was structured to the ungodly amount of tragedy heaped on the heroine, CoHo made it really hard for me to care for the characters and the story.
An ARC was provided the publisher
July 19, 2018
ARC provided by Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.
“The problem is, love and happiness are not concordant. One can exist without the other.”
All Your Perfects is a book that made me feel every emotion in the world. It broke me, and it healed me, and it made me not feel so lonely. I wanted to hug my iPad, and throw my iPad. I wanted to give it five stars, and I wanted to give it one star. I swear, this book made me feel everything. And even though I had problems with some of the content, I still think this book is super important. And the subject matter of this book is something I’ve never read about before, and it’s a topic that we need to be normalizing and start discussing more.
I’m going to put the trigger and content warnings below this paragraph! But if you want to go into this book completely blind, like many of Colleen Hoover’s readers do, please do not read my review. Plus, honestly? If you don’t have any triggers, it probably is best to go into this book blind. I won’t post any spoilers about the events of this book, but the rest of my review will talk about what this book is centered around.
“Our marriage didn’t collapse. It didn’t suddenly fall apart. It’s been a much slower process. It’s been dwindling, if you will. I’m not even sure who is most at fault.”
Trigger and content warnings for: infertility, miscarrying, depression, grief, cheating, loss of a loved one in the past, abuse, a self-harm scene involving cutting with glass, and a really gross comment about how stay at home moms are looked at as bad because of “feminism and all that”, and another really questionable paragraph about how therapy/therapists aren’t helpful for the main character that I felt was done really poorly.
All Your Perfects is a hard-hitting book about a topic I’ve never read about before; infertility. And this book is told in alternating chapters, from past and present, where we see a couple fall in love, but we also get to see their marriage break apart because they cannot become parents. We get to see the guilt, the grief, the depression, and all the other dark things in between. This is a hard book to read, so please use caution going in.
Full disclosure, as I get older and older, I think about wanting to become a mother more and more. I know that our world and the society we live in also enforces that we should become “younger mothers” and gross things like that, but on top of this added pressure I also feel like my clock is ticking because many of my family members have had to have hysterectomies as result of a hereditary health issue. And the older I get, the more and more I can almost hear that clock ticking. When I was younger, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to have kids, but more and more I think it is something I want in my life. So, needless to say, this book hit me very hard and had me really introspecting my thoughts and feelings after every page.
“It’s funny how you can be so happy with someone and love them so much, it creates an underlying sense of fear in you that you never knew before them. The fear of losing them. The fear of them getting hurt. I imagine that’s what it’s like when you have children. It’s probably the most incredible kind of love you’ll ever know, but it’s also the most terrifying.”
And the juxtaposition of seeing Quinn and Graham when they meet in the most fated meeting of all time, to their marriage completely falling apart because they both feel so much guilt, makes for a reading experience I don’t even have words for. Side note: CoHo writes the best first chapters in existence. Every one is a mini masterpiece that completely draws the reader in and enthralls and captures them, and All Your Perfects was no exception.
I easily and effortlessly fell in love with Quinn. Everything she was going through, and the way that CoHo wrote about it, felt like such an accurate depiction of depression. I felt for her constantly and my heart is still filled with so much empathy for this fictional character.
Graham, on the other hand, was much harder for me to fall for. And even though some of his actions were really beautiful and selfless, I never fully loved him because some of his other actions were so nasty and selfish. And I get it, we are all human, we all make mistakes and do bad things sometimes, but his mistakes just prevented me from ever rooting for him. Graham does some really abusive stuff in this book that is never told like it’s abuse, too.
But seeing these two main characters' stories weave and unweave together, apart, and sometimes a weird mixture of the two, made for a really unique reading experience, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed while reading. I know CoHo isn’t for everyone, but her writing always completely captivates me.
“I wish I could say I’m sorry for wanting a baby more than I want him. But that wouldn’t help, because it would be a lie. I’m not sorry.”
My favorite thing about this book is the discussion about how heavy of an emphasis we put on women to have children, especially women that are getting older, and women that are married, but still without kids. I mean, I’m not sure about you all but all the adds that pop up on my Facebook and Twitter? They are all for pregnancy and/or children things. Quinn literally deletes all social media in this book because of her mental health from the constant pressure it put on her. And that’s something we don’t talk about as a society either. Plus, how we perceive woman are inherently broken if they can’t, or choose not to, birth children. From sexualizing wide hips and big breasts, to a million other things that inherently mean “motherhood” is something so ingrained in our society, but so taboo to speak about. This book really made me step back and think, and feel, and reflect. And that’s something that normal romance books never do.
Overall, this was just like all of the rest of Colleen Hoover’s books, whether I love them or hate them, I can’t put them down. I read this in two sittings, mostly while crying my eyes out, but nothing could stop me from flipping the pages. And again, this topic was really close to my heart and something I think about a lot. I implore you all to use caution when picking this book up, but I also implore you all to do so.
“If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim.”
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The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
Buddy read with Kayla! ❤
August 29, 2024
im making this mandatory reading for my future husband
April 23, 2022
I was in the process of writing my CV when I started this book, which naturally made me wonder: Is being a dumb bitch a soft or a hard skill?
Hi. My name is Jonathan and I lie.
I lie when people ask me how I’m doing and I say fine even though I’m on my seventh panic attack of the day and, apparently, I lied when I said I would never read another CoHo book ever again – even if held at gun point.
What can I say?
Hahaha.
No really. What.
If you know me, and none of you reading this do, you know that I am a sucker for second chance/marriage in crisis romance. It’s just very *clenches fist* painful. All that opportunity for angst, and yearning, and longing, and just the sheer amount of potential for heartbreak, and have I mentioned the angst.
If you want to see me cry – which, rude? why would you want that? – give me a second chance romance and it will probably deliver.
Plus points when it makes me feel like I need to save my own marriage in crisis – even though I am not married, not even close to being in a relationship, and have never been in a relationship I wanted to fight to save - I am usually the one to kill them.
Either way I was scrolling through Twitter the other day (follow me @arcticskeleton cough, cough) (editor’s note: shameless self-plugging) when I saw a book quote on my timeline that just made me feel so much pain, I knew I needed to read the book immediately.
So, I checked the replies to see which book it was.
And wouldn’t you know it.
It was a CoHo book.
Fuck my life.
When is the universe ever on MY side?
So, I decided not to read it. Obviously.
Sadly I am a mood reader, so when my brain decides it has to be THIS particular book RIGHT NOW and NO OTHER, I have no way of arguing.
Long story short. *Sigh* Your boy read another Colleen Hoover book. Rejoice …
As always, this will contain🚨SPOILERS🚨
Good news first: It wasn’t her worst book. I’d call it her best actually.
Greater news: I still didn’t like it.
Granted, I don’t think this book was written for me. I said a few paragraphs ago that I love me my marriage in crisis books. I have to retract that statement a bit: I love marriage in crisis books – unless they focus strictly on the couple’s ability (or more so, lack thereof) to have children.
This book is divided into two parts: the Now-chapters and the Then-chapters.
The Then-chapters focus on the way Graham and Quinn met and fell in love. They have their cute moments and Graham was really hot in them but ultimately, they lack depth.
The Now-chapters focus on the current state of Graham’s and Quinn’s marriage and are basically Quinn hating herself for being infertile. And this is where we have a problem.
Quinn is characterized as this kind-hearted and caring woman. But she isn’t. Her behaviour is selfish and uncaring. I get that she is hurt/grieving because she can’t have children, but she is basing her entire self-worth (and at one point EVERY person’s entire self-worth) on having children. She is constantly going on about how she and her body are broken and how she is failing her responsibilities to Graham by not being able to give him children – which he has never said. Quite the contrary. He TRIES to make it clear to her MULTIPLE TIMES that he is with her because he loves HER and while he may want to have children, he’s ultimately okay with not having them, because he is with her because of HER and NOT because of her ability to give him a child.
She on the other hand is distant to him. Uses him and his body for one and one purpose alone. Gets upset when he calls her out on this. She basically plays corpse when he is trying to make love to her, essentially making the poor man feel like he’s r*ping his wife instead of having the consensual and sensual love making he is used to.
She never talks to him. Never tells him how she feels. And yet, she still manages to blame him for not knowing how she feels.
Graham tries to tell her that he is alright with not having kids. He is loving and caring toward her, still, even though she’s been cold and distant for years, going well out of her way to avoid him.
Listen, I don’t want kids. I have never wanted kids and I will never change my mind about that.
The whole idea of basing your entire self-worth on your ability to conceive and being this obsessed with having a child is foreign to me. I don’t think it is my purpose in life to have a child. Quite frankly, I find that to be a disgusting statement. I understand that there are people who want children, and that infertility is a traumatic experience for some – which is why I said this book wasn’t written for me.
What this book boils down to for me is: I loved Graham and I hated Quinn.
This is the first time Coho managed to write a male character that I actually liked. Graham was soft, Graham was caring, Graham was loving. You could really feel his love for Quinn. You could feel him trying for her. Even when times were hard, he still tried. I believed him that he loved her. Every action of his showed how much he loved her.
Did he cheat on her? Yes.
Shouldn’t he have? Also, yes.
But ultimately, I feel his cheating was so minuscule, that it hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things. I mean, not even Quinn really cared after the initial shock wore off.
Quinn on the other hand? I don’t believe her for one second that she loved Graham.
Nothing she said or did made me feel like this is a relationship where both parties are, or were, equally emotionally involved. There were times where I would say that she definitely only used him for one thing and one thing only: a necessary ingredient for making a child.
Their problems could also easily have been resolved had she just talked to him and LISTENED to what he said. This constant And the dance continues was just annoying as fuck. You have been married for seven years, open your goddamn mouth. Or get a divorce.
Also there’s miscommunication and then there is one partner communicating things clearly while the other refuses to but simultaneously blames them and pretends they are saying the complete opposite of what they are – that’s just putting yourself into a victim role. No.
Other than that, it was the same CoHo shit as always.
The Then-chapters had so many fake deep conversations happening, I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes.
There was a plot twist, if you want to call it that, just introduced to make things more tragic – unnecessarily so. Was there an actual need to have her have a miscarriage? And loose her uterus in the process? Also, you want me to believe this woman, OBSESSED with getting pregnant and being TERRIFIED of getting her period every month, wouldn’t notice that she didn’t have it for three months? Sure.
I have to make one concession though. I did tear up a few times. Some of it because I felt sorry for Graham and felt the pain of their unhappiness with their situation, but most of it because I was sad about something else, and any mild inconvenience would have made me cry. So I am not sure how accurate this is as an indicator of the emotionality of the book.
Bottom line: Graham, and quite frankly I, deserved better.
Hi. My name is Jonathan and I lie.
I lie when people ask me how I’m doing and I say fine even though I’m on my seventh panic attack of the day and, apparently, I lied when I said I would never read another CoHo book ever again – even if held at gun point.
What can I say?
Hahaha.
No really. What.
If you know me, and none of you reading this do, you know that I am a sucker for second chance/marriage in crisis romance. It’s just very *clenches fist* painful. All that opportunity for angst, and yearning, and longing, and just the sheer amount of potential for heartbreak, and have I mentioned the angst.
If you want to see me cry – which, rude? why would you want that? – give me a second chance romance and it will probably deliver.
Plus points when it makes me feel like I need to save my own marriage in crisis – even though I am not married, not even close to being in a relationship, and have never been in a relationship I wanted to fight to save - I am usually the one to kill them.
Either way I was scrolling through Twitter the other day (
So, I checked the replies to see which book it was.
And wouldn’t you know it.
It was a CoHo book.
Fuck my life.
When is the universe ever on MY side?
So, I decided not to read it. Obviously.
Sadly I am a mood reader, so when my brain decides it has to be THIS particular book RIGHT NOW and NO OTHER, I have no way of arguing.
Long story short. *Sigh* Your boy read another Colleen Hoover book. Rejoice …
As always, this will contain🚨SPOILERS🚨
Good news first: It wasn’t her worst book. I’d call it her best actually.
Greater news: I still didn’t like it.
Granted, I don’t think this book was written for me. I said a few paragraphs ago that I love me my marriage in crisis books. I have to retract that statement a bit: I love marriage in crisis books – unless they focus strictly on the couple’s ability (or more so, lack thereof) to have children.
This book is divided into two parts: the Now-chapters and the Then-chapters.
The Then-chapters focus on the way Graham and Quinn met and fell in love. They have their cute moments and Graham was really hot in them but ultimately, they lack depth.
The Now-chapters focus on the current state of Graham’s and Quinn’s marriage and are basically Quinn hating herself for being infertile. And this is where we have a problem.
Quinn is characterized as this kind-hearted and caring woman. But she isn’t. Her behaviour is selfish and uncaring. I get that she is hurt/grieving because she can’t have children, but she is basing her entire self-worth (and at one point EVERY person’s entire self-worth) on having children. She is constantly going on about how she and her body are broken and how she is failing her responsibilities to Graham by not being able to give him children – which he has never said. Quite the contrary. He TRIES to make it clear to her MULTIPLE TIMES that he is with her because he loves HER and while he may want to have children, he’s ultimately okay with not having them, because he is with her because of HER and NOT because of her ability to give him a child.
She on the other hand is distant to him. Uses him and his body for one and one purpose alone. Gets upset when he calls her out on this. She basically plays corpse when he is trying to make love to her, essentially making the poor man feel like he’s r*ping his wife instead of having the consensual and sensual love making he is used to.
She never talks to him. Never tells him how she feels. And yet, she still manages to blame him for not knowing how she feels.
Graham tries to tell her that he is alright with not having kids. He is loving and caring toward her, still, even though she’s been cold and distant for years, going well out of her way to avoid him.
Listen, I don’t want kids. I have never wanted kids and I will never change my mind about that.
The whole idea of basing your entire self-worth on your ability to conceive and being this obsessed with having a child is foreign to me. I don’t think it is my purpose in life to have a child. Quite frankly, I find that to be a disgusting statement. I understand that there are people who want children, and that infertility is a traumatic experience for some – which is why I said this book wasn’t written for me.
What this book boils down to for me is: I loved Graham and I hated Quinn.
This is the first time Coho managed to write a male character that I actually liked. Graham was soft, Graham was caring, Graham was loving. You could really feel his love for Quinn. You could feel him trying for her. Even when times were hard, he still tried. I believed him that he loved her. Every action of his showed how much he loved her.
Did he cheat on her? Yes.
Shouldn’t he have? Also, yes.
But ultimately, I feel his cheating was so minuscule, that it hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things. I mean, not even Quinn really cared after the initial shock wore off.
Quinn on the other hand? I don’t believe her for one second that she loved Graham.
Nothing she said or did made me feel like this is a relationship where both parties are, or were, equally emotionally involved. There were times where I would say that she definitely only used him for one thing and one thing only: a necessary ingredient for making a child.
Their problems could also easily have been resolved had she just talked to him and LISTENED to what he said. This constant And the dance continues was just annoying as fuck. You have been married for seven years, open your goddamn mouth. Or get a divorce.
Also there’s miscommunication and then there is one partner communicating things clearly while the other refuses to but simultaneously blames them and pretends they are saying the complete opposite of what they are – that’s just putting yourself into a victim role. No.
Other than that, it was the same CoHo shit as always.
The Then-chapters had so many fake deep conversations happening, I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes.
There was a plot twist, if you want to call it that, just introduced to make things more tragic – unnecessarily so. Was there an actual need to have her have a miscarriage? And loose her uterus in the process? Also, you want me to believe this woman, OBSESSED with getting pregnant and being TERRIFIED of getting her period every month, wouldn’t notice that she didn’t have it for three months? Sure.
I have to make one concession though. I did tear up a few times. Some of it because I felt sorry for Graham and felt the pain of their unhappiness with their situation, but most of it because I was sad about something else, and any mild inconvenience would have made me cry. So I am not sure how accurate this is as an indicator of the emotionality of the book.
Bottom line: Graham, and quite frankly I, deserved better.
December 21, 2022
Colleen Hoover ruining good makeup days since 2012.
No one can deny this women knows how to write.
I’m not a super affectionate or emotional person. I’m not a lovey dovey kissy huggy person but for some reason those are the kind of books I want to read.
Colleen Hoover dips into some hard to talk about topics but does it so perfectly.
No one can deny this women knows how to write.
I’m not a super affectionate or emotional person. I’m not a lovey dovey kissy huggy person but for some reason those are the kind of books I want to read.
Colleen Hoover dips into some hard to talk about topics but does it so perfectly.
August 28, 2018
well, you think i would have learned my lesson by now and decided to take better care of myself mentally and emotionally. but here i am, reading another CoHo book that has, yet again, broken me. immediately after finishing this, i ate half my weight in mint chocolate ice cream and cried through one and a half boxes of tissues. this is the inevitable result of a CoHo book, ladies and gentlemen.
the book blurb is a bit ambiguous, so i will keep my review vague as well. i will say, though, that the struggles this couple went through were not something that i have ever read about before, nor was it something that i have experienced personally. regardless, i found it so easy to empathise with these characters and have my heart hurt for them. it took me awhile to warm up to them, quinn in particular, but goodness, how my heart ached for them throughout this.
in true colleen hoover form, this story perfectly explores the emotions that draw two people to each other and the emotions that, even during the most horrible of circumstances, keep them together. i love how she describes the real and heavy side of love, but always shows how hopeful that love can be, as well. she makes me love love, the good and the bad of it. this just came out and im already dying for her next book!
↠ 5 stars
the book blurb is a bit ambiguous, so i will keep my review vague as well. i will say, though, that the struggles this couple went through were not something that i have ever read about before, nor was it something that i have experienced personally. regardless, i found it so easy to empathise with these characters and have my heart hurt for them. it took me awhile to warm up to them, quinn in particular, but goodness, how my heart ached for them throughout this.
in true colleen hoover form, this story perfectly explores the emotions that draw two people to each other and the emotions that, even during the most horrible of circumstances, keep them together. i love how she describes the real and heavy side of love, but always shows how hopeful that love can be, as well. she makes me love love, the good and the bad of it. this just came out and im already dying for her next book!
↠ 5 stars
January 1, 2024
"Sadness is like a spiderweb. You don't see it until you're caught up in it, and then you have to claw at yourself to try to break free."
Colleen has written about a lot of heavy things, but I think this one may have hit the hardest for me. I'm not really sure why, because I've never felt the way Quinn does, nor do I think it would be crippling for me to not have a family of my own one day, but I felt every second of her pain. So deeply. I had to put this book down several times simply because I didn't know if it was the right kind of sad.
There's always been a difference between crying over a book and a book making me cry. And this one really toed the line. But isn't that a sign of a good artist? I've always found crying to be a release of feelings I didn't need to hold onto anymore, and I got a whole lot of feelings out with this read. I think Quinn and Graham reminded me of my parents, in the way they acted around each other, and I needed to get pent up feelings about that out.
Graham, I couldn't even be mad at him. I'm hurting so much, simultaneously, for both of them and the situation they've found themselves in that I just couldn't find it in me. There's something Quinn thinks, "A person can understand a behavior without excusing it" and I think that's the best way to put it.
It was truly so hard to get past chapter 22. But this is such a reality for so many women that I felt as though I needed to see how this continued. How anyone continues after the hardest day of their life. How anyone can even manage it.
As Graham points out, in every piece of devastation, there's so much happy we don't remember. This book isn't excluded from that. We jump between the past and present to show that. My favorite thing about C. Hoover books is that they all involve some kind of writing. A letter, a book, a journal (it just further proves how much writing for us means to her). The letters in this one remind me a lot of Reminders of Him. I know this was written first, but I read Reminders of Him first, and they both carry the same message. That when you can't talk about things with the person you love, you should write them down. It might just save something. A marriage. A life. A relationship you never thought you could have.
The most important thing that I took from this book was the line, "I'm learning how to wear my struggle as a badge and not be ashamed of it." I've struggled a lot with my mental health over the last four years, and the thing I've found helps the most is this. Recognizing my feelings, experiencing them, crying them out if I need to, and never being ashamed of them.
There is so much in life that we can't control that sometimes I think we forget there is a lot that we Can. Quinn and Graham are a reminder that we Can make anything out of our circumstances, that some dreams don't come true... but we Can always make new ones.
Colleen has written about a lot of heavy things, but I think this one may have hit the hardest for me. I'm not really sure why, because I've never felt the way Quinn does, nor do I think it would be crippling for me to not have a family of my own one day, but I felt every second of her pain. So deeply. I had to put this book down several times simply because I didn't know if it was the right kind of sad.
There's always been a difference between crying over a book and a book making me cry. And this one really toed the line. But isn't that a sign of a good artist? I've always found crying to be a release of feelings I didn't need to hold onto anymore, and I got a whole lot of feelings out with this read. I think Quinn and Graham reminded me of my parents, in the way they acted around each other, and I needed to get pent up feelings about that out.
Graham, I couldn't even be mad at him. I'm hurting so much, simultaneously, for both of them and the situation they've found themselves in that I just couldn't find it in me. There's something Quinn thinks, "A person can understand a behavior without excusing it" and I think that's the best way to put it.
It was truly so hard to get past chapter 22. But this is such a reality for so many women that I felt as though I needed to see how this continued. How anyone continues after the hardest day of their life. How anyone can even manage it.
As Graham points out, in every piece of devastation, there's so much happy we don't remember. This book isn't excluded from that. We jump between the past and present to show that. My favorite thing about C. Hoover books is that they all involve some kind of writing. A letter, a book, a journal (it just further proves how much writing for us means to her). The letters in this one remind me a lot of Reminders of Him. I know this was written first, but I read Reminders of Him first, and they both carry the same message. That when you can't talk about things with the person you love, you should write them down. It might just save something. A marriage. A life. A relationship you never thought you could have.
The most important thing that I took from this book was the line, "I'm learning how to wear my struggle as a badge and not be ashamed of it." I've struggled a lot with my mental health over the last four years, and the thing I've found helps the most is this. Recognizing my feelings, experiencing them, crying them out if I need to, and never being ashamed of them.
There is so much in life that we can't control that sometimes I think we forget there is a lot that we Can. Quinn and Graham are a reminder that we Can make anything out of our circumstances, that some dreams don't come true... but we Can always make new ones.
August 13, 2018
All Your Perfects is about a troubled marriage, the impact of infertility, and acceptance of what one cannot control.
I feel like so many reviewers have already written wonderful reviews about why this is such a compelling read, so I am going to keep this short and sweet!
I was completely riveted while reading this--strong characterization fuels the narrative. I loved the characters, even though there were times when I was screaming at them! Quinn's psyche was a bit much to handle at times; I wanted to both shake and hug her at the same time! It took some time but she eventually won me over!
I read this over the course of one day and I had to force myself to put it down. When I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about these characters and how their marriage was going to play out.
All Your Perfects takes a realistic look at infertility and how it can tear a marriage apart, which might be hard for some to read. However, the dark parts are nicely wrapped inside the shiny romance of when the characters first meet, which helped to harshen the blow when it came to reading the most painfully awful moments of Quinn and Graham’s deteriorating marriage. Overall, I found this to be heartbreaking, endearing, and full of sappy goodness!
I feel like so many reviewers have already written wonderful reviews about why this is such a compelling read, so I am going to keep this short and sweet!
I was completely riveted while reading this--strong characterization fuels the narrative. I loved the characters, even though there were times when I was screaming at them! Quinn's psyche was a bit much to handle at times; I wanted to both shake and hug her at the same time! It took some time but she eventually won me over!
I read this over the course of one day and I had to force myself to put it down. When I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about these characters and how their marriage was going to play out.
All Your Perfects takes a realistic look at infertility and how it can tear a marriage apart, which might be hard for some to read. However, the dark parts are nicely wrapped inside the shiny romance of when the characters first meet, which helped to harshen the blow when it came to reading the most painfully awful moments of Quinn and Graham’s deteriorating marriage. Overall, I found this to be heartbreaking, endearing, and full of sappy goodness!
March 31, 2022
3.5 estrellas :).
June 25, 2022
***2 Stars***
It's official: I don't think I'll pick up another Colleen Hoover book ever again. At least no romance.
I read for the enjoyment of it, i. e. to escape the real world. Because the real world sucks and is already full of crap, of sickness, sadness, tragedies. I don't need that in books too, especially not in love stories. So as much as I love Hoover's writing style, I just can't deal with all the sad/tragic plots that seem to be present in every damn book of hers.
Besides this one, so far I've read Ugly love, It ends with us and Maybe someday. Each and every one of these is centered around a love story, but a really sad one. Whether it's about someone dying, infertility, a disability or domestic abuse, Colleen's books are just too "heavy" for my liking.
Call me naive, narrow-minded or whatever - idk, but I love reading romance novels and I don't need those terrible, heart-wrenching subplots every time. Maybe I was unlucky and only read her best tearjerkers - but hey! that's another thing I will probably never find out, because as of now I'm sworn off of her books for good! 😂 I know for a fact that there are thousands of readers out there who just can't get enough of this type of stories, and if that's what you like - good for you! But I won't stand it anymore.
Yet I am giving this 2 stars because of how easy to read it was and because it wasn't completely terrible after all. Just beware if you plan on picking it up: it's got an annoying female lead and it deals with the struggle of not being able to conceive (in agonizing detail). Also, there's the trouble with said female lead who can't properly handle this issue and who chooses to live in anguish for about 7 years because she's not capable of communicating with her husband. This annoyed the hell out of me. I've been in a relationship with my husband for well over 10 years now and had there been no communication between us... we wouldn't have stood a chance. Communication is key in EVERY. DAMN. RELATIONSHIP. !!!!
It's official: I don't think I'll pick up another Colleen Hoover book ever again. At least no romance.
I read for the enjoyment of it, i. e. to escape the real world. Because the real world sucks and is already full of crap, of sickness, sadness, tragedies. I don't need that in books too, especially not in love stories. So as much as I love Hoover's writing style, I just can't deal with all the sad/tragic plots that seem to be present in every damn book of hers.
Besides this one, so far I've read Ugly love, It ends with us and Maybe someday. Each and every one of these is centered around a love story, but a really sad one. Whether it's about someone dying, infertility, a disability or domestic abuse, Colleen's books are just too "heavy" for my liking.
Call me naive, narrow-minded or whatever - idk, but I love reading romance novels and I don't need those terrible, heart-wrenching subplots every time. Maybe I was unlucky and only read her best tearjerkers - but hey! that's another thing I will probably never find out, because as of now I'm sworn off of her books for good! 😂 I know for a fact that there are thousands of readers out there who just can't get enough of this type of stories, and if that's what you like - good for you! But I won't stand it anymore.
Yet I am giving this 2 stars because of how easy to read it was and because it wasn't completely terrible after all. Just beware if you plan on picking it up: it's got an annoying female lead and it deals with the struggle of not being able to conceive (in agonizing detail). Also, there's the trouble with said female lead who can't properly handle this issue and who chooses to live in anguish for about 7 years because she's not capable of communicating with her husband. This annoyed the hell out of me. I've been in a relationship with my husband for well over 10 years now and had there been no communication between us... we wouldn't have stood a chance. Communication is key in EVERY. DAMN. RELATIONSHIP. !!!!
December 21, 2018
😭⭐️😭⭐️😭⭐️😭⭐️ 4 it left me sobbing like a baby with a heart full of hope stars for Colleen Hoover's All Your Perfects!
“The problem is, love and happiness are not concordant. One can exist without the other.”
Oh, the emotions this book made me feel! I laughed, I cried, I wanted to hug it and I wanted to fling it across the room. Hoover certainly knows how to elicit feeling from her readers. It's because her characters are so real, raw and flawed. The characters and the situations they face resonate deeply with you.
In All Your Perfects Hoover tackles infertility and it's effects on life, love and marriage. It's a heavy topic and the book was without doubt an emotional and difficult read at times but it was also so much more. It was the kind of book that made me stop and think. It made me think about all those women who are faced with infertility. It made me think about the highs and lows of marriage. It made me think of all those moments where we have so much to say and choose to say nothing at all.
“Avoidance sounds like such a harmless word, but that one word can cause some sever damage to a relationship.”
Told in alternating timelines, we see how Quinn and Graham meet, fall in love and ultimately find their marriage falling apart. What happens when love is no longer enough? I love how Hoover took us past the "happily ever after" here. We are in a category 5 storm and things get messy. Things are not perfect, there is real turmoil here.
“No matter how much you love someone - the capacity of that love is meaningless if it outweighs your capacity to forgive.”
I loved Quinn and Graham's story. It was far from perfect. It was about making mistakes and losing your way but it was also about commitment and choosing to fight for love. I'm grateful I took the time to read this one. Sometimes it's important to have a reminder to focus on the positive, instead of shining a light on the negative.
“If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim.”
“The problem is, love and happiness are not concordant. One can exist without the other.”
Oh, the emotions this book made me feel! I laughed, I cried, I wanted to hug it and I wanted to fling it across the room. Hoover certainly knows how to elicit feeling from her readers. It's because her characters are so real, raw and flawed. The characters and the situations they face resonate deeply with you.
In All Your Perfects Hoover tackles infertility and it's effects on life, love and marriage. It's a heavy topic and the book was without doubt an emotional and difficult read at times but it was also so much more. It was the kind of book that made me stop and think. It made me think about all those women who are faced with infertility. It made me think about the highs and lows of marriage. It made me think of all those moments where we have so much to say and choose to say nothing at all.
“Avoidance sounds like such a harmless word, but that one word can cause some sever damage to a relationship.”
Told in alternating timelines, we see how Quinn and Graham meet, fall in love and ultimately find their marriage falling apart. What happens when love is no longer enough? I love how Hoover took us past the "happily ever after" here. We are in a category 5 storm and things get messy. Things are not perfect, there is real turmoil here.
“No matter how much you love someone - the capacity of that love is meaningless if it outweighs your capacity to forgive.”
I loved Quinn and Graham's story. It was far from perfect. It was about making mistakes and losing your way but it was also about commitment and choosing to fight for love. I'm grateful I took the time to read this one. Sometimes it's important to have a reminder to focus on the positive, instead of shining a light on the negative.
“If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim.”
July 8, 2018
4.5 stars
“We’re getting really good at playing our parts.”
^^^Me during this entire reading experience. Actually, this is me whenever I read a Coho book.
It took me a long time to open this book after receiving it because I know one thing to be true: with every book I read by Colleen Hoover, she breaks me like a fucking wrecking ball.
And guess what? THE BITCH DID IT AGAIN. Almost every time this woman releases a damn book, I end up a crying, sobbing mess well past the time I was supposed to go to bed like a responsible adult, and I lay there with my tears wishing I never had feelings!
And you know what? It. Was. Worth. It.
All Your Perfects is about a couple who lost their way. Loss of love isn’t the problem, but other issues make their marriage begin to crack.
“Sadness is like a spiderweb. You don’t see it until you’re caught up in it.”
Annnnnddddd that’s all I’m going to say plot wise, no spoilers. As per usual with a Coho book I think it’s best to go in blind (like I did) and see what unfolds. I do think this subject matter will be VERY difficult for some readers. But I think Hoover handled it all brilliantly.
I think what I am most in awe by with Hoover and her writing is her ability to pull out emotions I never expect to feel. I don’t always love her books, but I do always have a very emotional response to them whether good or bad, and it shows me what a talented writer she is. That and she never gives us the same story twice, I never know what to expect from her next book. And I hope I have a lifetime of books to read by her.
“If you only shine a light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim.”
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
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“We’re getting really good at playing our parts.”
^^^Me during this entire reading experience. Actually, this is me whenever I read a Coho book.
It took me a long time to open this book after receiving it because I know one thing to be true: with every book I read by Colleen Hoover, she breaks me like a fucking wrecking ball.
And guess what? THE BITCH DID IT AGAIN. Almost every time this woman releases a damn book, I end up a crying, sobbing mess well past the time I was supposed to go to bed like a responsible adult, and I lay there with my tears wishing I never had feelings!
And you know what? It. Was. Worth. It.
All Your Perfects is about a couple who lost their way. Loss of love isn’t the problem, but other issues make their marriage begin to crack.
“Sadness is like a spiderweb. You don’t see it until you’re caught up in it.”
Annnnnddddd that’s all I’m going to say plot wise, no spoilers. As per usual with a Coho book I think it’s best to go in blind (like I did) and see what unfolds. I do think this subject matter will be VERY difficult for some readers. But I think Hoover handled it all brilliantly.
I think what I am most in awe by with Hoover and her writing is her ability to pull out emotions I never expect to feel. I don’t always love her books, but I do always have a very emotional response to them whether good or bad, and it shows me what a talented writer she is. That and she never gives us the same story twice, I never know what to expect from her next book. And I hope I have a lifetime of books to read by her.
“If you only shine a light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim.”
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
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November 14, 2021
My re read <3 This book always make me cry 😭😭 as many times as I read it so many emotions 😭😭 love it with all my heart
TOP RECOMMENDATION
5 EMOTIONAL STARS
Such a beautiful,poignant,intense and emotional story!I devour it, like all Colleen Hoover's books!I was hooked from the first pages and I didn't want to stop reading till the end!
All Your Perfects brings all the feels.I was crying a lot and then I was happy.I was so into the story and the romance.Graham and Quinn has a unique story.Their love is original and even after what they went through you can still feel their connection.Their pain their struggles and agonies felt so real.This book shows that nobody is perfect all the couple has their problems and you need to fight for what you want.I fall in love slowly with Graham and Quinn.
Colleen Hoover takes the reader in an emotional roller coaster with this story.This is my favorite book so far from her, because it touched me in so many ways.
TOP RECOMMENDATION
5 EMOTIONAL STARS
Such a beautiful,poignant,intense and emotional story!I devour it, like all Colleen Hoover's books!I was hooked from the first pages and I didn't want to stop reading till the end!
All Your Perfects brings all the feels.I was crying a lot and then I was happy.I was so into the story and the romance.Graham and Quinn has a unique story.Their love is original and even after what they went through you can still feel their connection.Their pain their struggles and agonies felt so real.This book shows that nobody is perfect all the couple has their problems and you need to fight for what you want.I fall in love slowly with Graham and Quinn.
Colleen Hoover takes the reader in an emotional roller coaster with this story.This is my favorite book so far from her, because it touched me in so many ways.
August 2, 2022
——— ☆ re-read #2 ☆: 4.5 stars ———
02/08/22
And here we are, I'm standing by my first review of this book even more the second time reading it than the first time. P-A-I-N.
——— ☆ read #1 ☆: 4.25 stars ———
26/05/20
I hate this book and I hate Colleen Hoover for doing this to me.
02/08/22
And I promise...I swear...that if you choose to end things between us, I will love you more as you're walking out the door than on the day you walked down the aisle.
I hope you choose the road that will make you the happiest. Even if it's not a choice I'll love, I will still always love you. Whether I'm a part of your life or not. You deserve happiness more than anyone I know.
I love you. Forever.
Graham
And here we are, I'm standing by my first review of this book even more the second time reading it than the first time. P-A-I-N.
——— ☆ read #1 ☆: 4.25 stars ———
26/05/20
I hate this book and I hate Colleen Hoover for doing this to me.
July 29, 2018
4 Stars
Quinn and Graham are married for seven years but now they are not as happy s they were, they’re struggling, they don’t feel alive inside and it’s eating their marriage. They live with each other but they miss each other and they feel alone, more than anytime else! Quinn thinks it’s her fault and because of her, Graham can’t have what he wants! But Graham just wants her, he wants both of them to enjoy their life! They still love each other so much but they’re just losing faith, interest, and hope! Graham is trying to save their marriage but how can he, trying alone!?
Enjoyed it so much! Love Ms. Hoover’s writing! The story alternates between Now and Then, chapter to chapter. The Now parts broke my heart, made it bleed! I even shed a few silent tears. I wanted to blame Quinn but how could I!!!! She was hurt, she thought they’re miserable because of her, it’s not an easy subject! I wanted to blame Graham but yet again how could I!!! He didn’t know how to behave, how to fix their marriage! He really tried but doing it alone is the hardest way! Told in Quinn’s POV, 1st person. It’s a standalone novel. It’s well-written, well-paced with a great story-line! Overall, I liked it and hope you enjoy it as well!
Quinn and Graham are married for seven years but now they are not as happy s they were, they’re struggling, they don’t feel alive inside and it’s eating their marriage. They live with each other but they miss each other and they feel alone, more than anytime else! Quinn thinks it’s her fault and because of her, Graham can’t have what he wants! But Graham just wants her, he wants both of them to enjoy their life! They still love each other so much but they’re just losing faith, interest, and hope! Graham is trying to save their marriage but how can he, trying alone!?
Enjoyed it so much! Love Ms. Hoover’s writing! The story alternates between Now and Then, chapter to chapter. The Now parts broke my heart, made it bleed! I even shed a few silent tears. I wanted to blame Quinn but how could I!!!! She was hurt, she thought they’re miserable because of her, it’s not an easy subject! I wanted to blame Graham but yet again how could I!!! He didn’t know how to behave, how to fix their marriage! He really tried but doing it alone is the hardest way! Told in Quinn’s POV, 1st person. It’s a standalone novel. It’s well-written, well-paced with a great story-line! Overall, I liked it and hope you enjoy it as well!
July 19, 2018
The H did not feel NEAR as guilty as he should have and in my opinion his grovel was shit. Since when is feeling lonely an excuse to cheat??? If my husband EVER cheated, number one I would be gone faster than the speed of light, and two if he says he did it because she reminded me of him....HELL. NO. Pathetic excuse for a hero. And I see a lot of people talking about the “beautiful epilogue” but to me that wasn’t great or satisfying either. The heroine asks if he would have stopped if she hadn’t found out and he says he doesn’t know. So even if it was just kissing, which is STILL cheating and just as bad as anything else, he would have probably gone farther if she hadn’t found out.
Also WAAAAAAY over priced. Like I don’t see any reason this book should be $8.99 on kindle, especially considering there are books (like my fave the wall of Winnipeg and me) that have so many more pages for over half the price.
And pps I’m being really nit picky here but in the authors acknowledgements in the end of the book she tells her sons her “life would still be complete even if she never had any of them” thanks to their father. I guess that was supposed to me a sweet little sentiment to her husband, but honestly if my mom wrote a book and put that in the acknowledgements about me, I would be really upset.
Also WAAAAAAY over priced. Like I don’t see any reason this book should be $8.99 on kindle, especially considering there are books (like my fave the wall of Winnipeg and me) that have so many more pages for over half the price.
And pps I’m being really nit picky here but in the authors acknowledgements in the end of the book she tells her sons her “life would still be complete even if she never had any of them” thanks to their father. I guess that was supposed to me a sweet little sentiment to her husband, but honestly if my mom wrote a book and put that in the acknowledgements about me, I would be really upset.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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