This Girl by Colleen Hoover

Two thumbs up. Five Stars. Yada, Yada, Yada, Blah, Blah, Blah! It's Colleen Hoover - you know it was great!

The thing that has me the most excited about this book is this: it was to-a-T-if-I-had-written-it-myself-it-couldn't-have-been-more-perfectly-exactly-what-I-wanted. There was another author who recently released their male protagonist POV book & I was super excited to get it. Like, SUPER excited. Her main book is one of my absolute faves & I've probably read it 10x. Unfortunately the long anticipated book was a HUGE let down to me. It seemed to gloss over the main story when I wanted to relive it. Thankfully, Colleen lets us relive the love story of Will & Lake in a new way while maintaining all the parts we fell in love with in Slammed & Point of Retreat.

It was a pleasant surprise to find almost all of the characters from the prior books playing a role in this one. Kiersten is back & as inappropriate as ever. "What's a honeymoon? What do people do when they go on one?" Hilarious! Just saying :) Julia plays a large role in This Girl which allows us to gain even deeper insight as to the role she played in the prior books. I love Julia! Probably even more so in this book. The name Julia hold a special place in my heart as it was the name of my maternal grandmother who passed away when I was 11. Glad to see that it continues to be passed along to great characters. (hint, hint - sort of )

I was a bit leary at the flashback/present day format, but quickly got into it. I loved reading Lake's thoughts as Will shared his memories. Who doesn't want to relive their love story & remember what you both were thinking as it progressed? (I'd love to remember as it was 22 years ago :) )  Being a girl reading about a girl I found it funny when Lake's emotions would take over as if the events had just happened. Whether it was anger, jealousy, or tenderness I can relate. I think that's just part of being a girl. Will asks, "Who cares what happened on one silly date more than two years ago?" Um.....we do! Sorry that's just how we are wired.

You must read Slammed & Point of Retreat to fully appreciate the awesomeness of this book. That is kind of a bonus because if you haven't read them - I just gave you 3 great books to add to you TBR. You're welcome!

Colleen did not disappoint and she can be put on the list, all of us voracious readers have, of books to add based on author alone. Bravo Colleen!!!!!