Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover – 320 pages 

Book Blurb:

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover: After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself. The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them.
The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing.

My Review: 4.5 stars – Guest Review

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Reminders of Him, Colleen Hoover’s latest novel exceeded all of my expectations and is one of my favorite reads of 2022. This novel is a beautiful and realistic story of love and the power of forgiveness. It is best for the reader to go in without any additional information other than what is given in the “book blurb”. I was in love with this story, all of the characters and was engrossed from the very first page.

The story is told with alternating narrators, from both Kenna’s and Ledger’s points of view. Like most of Colleen Hoover’s novels, this is an emotionally complex story, grounded in real life. Everything that happened rang true. I felt connected to both Kenna and Ledger, and felt every emotion they were experiencing. Even though Kenna was a flawed character, she was relatable and I found myself rooting for her even though I initially didn’t think that I would. Ledger was one of the strongest male characters that I’ve read. The secondary characters were also well developed and strong. The story was raw with emotion and makes the reader feel deeply for every character.

This emotionally complex story presented ethical dilemmas that impacted every character. The author presented many sides of the issues, which were never just black or white. My connections and allegiance to the characters frequently shifted, although each character elicited empathy from me, and I could understand the different points of view and the reasons for their behavior.

The love story was beautiful, however, it was secondary, and I wouldn’t characterize the book primarily as a romance novel. Some of the themes were: family relationships, grief, betrayal, loss, regaining trust, personal growth, redemption, and forgiveness for self and others. The ending of the book wrapped up quickly and neatly, but this didn’t interfere with how powerful it was.

This heartbreaking but heartwarming book was impossible to put down. This is one of Colleen Hoover’s best. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Review courtesy of Guest Fairy Ronna.   

Quotes I liked:

People say you fall in love, but fall is such a sad word when you think about it. Falls are never good. You fall on the ground, you fall behind, you fall to your death.”  

“Grudges are heavy, but for the people hurting the most, I suppose
forgiveness is even heavier.” 

“A good person who had one bad night. It happens to the best of us. The worst of us. All of us. Some of us are just luckier than others, and our bad moments have fewer casualties.” 

“Maybe it doesn’t matter whether something is a coincidence or a sign. Maybe the best way to cope with the loss of the people we love is to find them in as many places and things as we possibly can. And in the off chance that the people we lose are still somehow able to hear us, maybe we should never stop talking to them.”

“…moments like these remind me that happiness isn’t some permanent thing we’re all try to achieve in life, it’s merely a thing that shows up every now and then, sometimes in tiny doses that are just substantial enough to keep us going.”