“I never realized how powerful desire could be. It consumes every part of you, enhancing your senses by a million. When you’re in the moment… all you can do is focus on the person in front of you.”
Once again, Colleen Hoover has delivered an emotionally charged masterpiece that will capture your heart! Maybe Someday is not your typical romance but I promise you, it is one of the most deeply passionate and uniquely beautiful books I have ever read.
Pure perfection!
5++ stars!!
At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.
Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…
Maybe Someday was utterly unique and refreshingly original. I honestly do not have a single other book to compare it to, nor have I ever read a plot line even similar to this one. Everything from the way the characters met to the twists and reveals all took me by surprise and kept me guessing the whole way through.
Colleen Hoover’s writing has this beautifully gripping, compelling quality to it that draws you right into the lives of her characters. From the first few lines, I was fully immersed in this story and stayed connected until the very last word.
Ridge was the kind of guy who everyone will fall in love with – a gorgeous, sweet, talented musician with a heart of gold and who was also hiding a big secret. Everything about him made me either swoon or melt.
Sydney was one of those heroines who I just immediately liked. She was kind, endearing and earned my respect more than once with the way she handled the situations she was put in.
I truly loved everything about this book and about their romance – the texting, the flirting, the slow but powerful build of their connection… the music, the song writing, the heart ache and also the pranks. The strong emotional undercurrent that ran throughout the entire book was so intense that you could just feel it in every single scene.
There were moments that made my laugh so hard that I had to stop reading until I could recover and moments that broke my heart so completely that I just sat there with tears streaming down my face.
The way Ridge and Sydney connected through their music was hypnotic, beautiful and downright hot. They each had something that the other needed and pretty soon, the lines between making music and falling in love began to blur.
There was also an incredibly awesome feature worked into the book where real, listenable songs that had been written and recorded specifically for this book were integrated throughout the story in such a way where you would be prompted to listen to them at the exact right time. And holy wow were they just out-of-this-world incredible!!! For me, the most special part of all was being able to listen to the song after watching them create it from scratch together. It was truly just a magical experience.
The story is also told in alternating POVs so the reader really gets to see all the different sides of the story and is really able to connect to each character individually.
Now, here’s the thing that you can’t really tell from the blurb of the book: this is actually a forbidden romance but just so not in the typical way.
*** If you want to go into this book entirely blind, then just stop reading here ***
All you need to know is that this book is absolutely incredible, beautiful and unique. It’s truly a must-read and you can buy your copy here and start reading it.
But… if you want a little idea of what to expect from the story, then read on. I don’t reveal any major twists and I don’t tell you how the story ends, but because of the complexity of the situation, I felt the need to talk a little about how it made me feel.
Here goes…
I’m just going to lay it right out: there’s a love triangle. But this is not your average love triangle. Just like the rest of the book, this one is completely different and unique and despite the fact that as a reader I’m not usually fond of triangles, I absolutely adored the way this one was written.
We actually found out very early on in the story that Ridge had a girlfriend, Maggie, and it was abundantly clear that she wasn’t just a random girl he was semi-attached to. No, this was a girl who he was completely and totally, til-the-day-I-die in love with. She was kind, sweet, loving and honestly just a beautiful character both inside and out. But when Ridge and Sydney met, they too had an undeniable, soul-deep connection. Now, before you ask, this is also not a cheating book either. Ridge loved Maggie and would never want to hurt her, and Sydney had just come out of a relationship where she was betrayed by her boyfriend so in no way would she ever want to put another girl in the situation she was in. But, despite their best intentions, that connection between her and Ridge grew stronger and stronger even though they both fought it with everything they had.
“Having her so close feels as though we’ve created our own personal space and nothing from outside our world can make its way in, and nothing from inside our world can make its way out.”
Emotionally, my heart was all over the place. I genuinely did not know what to feel. I was so conflicted because there was no right or wrong here. No good guy or bad guy. I knew that this was Ridge and Sydney’s story so my heart was rooting for them but I couldn’t help but wonder… what if this had been Ridge and Maggie’s story? Because in that case, Sydney would have been the “bad guy” for representing a threat to their relationship. I mean, as much as I hated to admit it, didn’t Maggie deserve to be with Ridge just as much as Sydney? And it didn’t help that both Sydney and Maggie were such wonderfully sweet people and neither of them had any flaws that made it easy to justify disliking them for any reason.
“Hey, Heart. Are you listening? You and I are officially at war.”
This is not a book where you can hate anyone. You can’t be annoyed with anyone, you can’t fault anyone, and there is no one to blame. There’s nothing that makes you feel better about or justifies what you’re feeling. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt and I couldn’t pick a side. It just hurt. But I had no idea who I was hurting for. The best answer would be everyone.
“Nothing in my life has ever felt so good, yet hurt so achingly bad.”
There were no ‘teams’. No black, white, or even grey zones. There were just people. And feelings. Strong, powerful, all-consuming feelings. And choices. Impossibly painful, heart-wrenching choices and still… no. right. answer. But honestly, the fact that this book was able to mess with my emotions so strongly was one of the things I loved most about it.
“God, I hate feelings. Or I hate my conscience. The two are constantly at war and I’m not sure which one I’d rather turn off.”
The thing is, you can’t help who you fall in love with. No matter what the brain insists on, at the end of the day, the heart calls the shots and no matter how much we try and fight it, or deny it, it’s the one thing that can’t be covered up.
I loved that the author had the guts to write a story where there was no “bad guy” because it meant that there was no easy way to justify your feeling and with the way it was written, I truly felt each character’s conflict as though it were my own. Especially Ridge. I swear I spent half the book just wishing I could hug him.
This was one of those rare books where I never once, not even for a single moment, was angry or annoyed with anyone. Not to say that I wasn’t conflicted about their actions because holy hell was I ever torn and utterly unsure of everything I was feeling but at the same time, every single thing that happened was understandable. I was rooting for everyone’s happiness and I loved that I was never (not even in the end) made to hate anyone.
The ending was really just brilliantly laid out and incredibly well paced leaving me with the most wonderful feeling knowing that every single part of the story had been wrapped up.
This book kept me up reading til 4:30AM. I couldn’t put it down, couldn’t glance away from the page, and as desperate as I was to find out what was going to happen, I just didn’t want it to end.
It was fresh, unique, and unpredictable. I felt fully connected to each of the characters and I honestly don’t have a single complaint to make. This book is perfect. Truly perfect.
I can’t recommend it highly enough. Read this book. Live it. Love it. Allow it to take over your heart. It’s an unforgettable journey that every reader should take.
Rating: 5++ stars! Standalone romance.
Also, on a side note, I really strongly visualized every single thing in my head as I was reading. Every scene, every character, every location is crystal clear in my mind so I’m going to pray to the movie gods that this story ends up on the big screen because it would make one helluva movie! 😀
Maree says
PERFECT x
Aestas says
♥♥
Amanda Rounsaville says
can’t wait 🙂 March cannot come soon enough!
Aestas says
I can’t wait to hold the paperback in my hands 😀
Jess z says
Can’t wait. Thanks for the teaser.
Aestas says
You’re welcome! 😀
Jo Fergus says
Wowza, what a great review, can’t wait to read it!
Aestas says
Thank you so much!!
Jenn R says
Geez Aestas! Your review alone made me want to cry and was already almost breaking my heart! MUST. HAVE. THIS. BOOK. NOW!!!!! I LOVE Colleen. I will buy every single book she writes. She’s just amazing.
Aestas says
Ahhh thank you so much!!!! I feel the same way about Colleen’s books – I’ve love everything that she’s written 🙂
Jenn R says
I’ve been listening a lot to Maybe Someday and now it’s starting to make sense combined with your review. Gosh!!! I hope this book doesn’t break my heart too much.
Aestas says
I really think everyone’s going to love it. There are heart breaking moments for sure – but… they’re the kind I love!
Marian Virtudazo says
That was an amazing review. So lucky of you guys to have an ARC. <3
Aestas says
Thank you 🙂
Abdul Mahmood says
Just curious, how does this book is a forbidden romance? I am always confuse with what does it mean by forbidden romance?
Damn Aestas!! I loved this review. God!! Just reading by your review I am conflicted about my feelings that I will get when I read this book.
A request: Make Me. Aestas read it too. I want to know what he thinks too.
Aestas says
Forbidden romance here means that technically at the time that they start to fall in love they almost ‘shouldn’t be’ so to speak because of the things I mentioned in the second half of my review.
Thanks about the review!! This book made me feel so many different things and it did so in an incredible way!
And – I have Colleen’s books on Mr. Aestas’ reading list. He and I were just chatting about it the other day ‘cuz he’s hasn’t yet read any of her books so.. hopefully soon 🙂
Abdul Mahmood says
That makes sense. Thank you for clarifying it.
I can’t wait for Mr. Aestas review too now. Excited!!
Edz James says
Sounds really promising although I really hate love triangle specially when there is no bad guy and as you have said no right and wrong just a crazy mess up heart. i hope I find the courage to read it because I really want to but I dont like feeling hurting for someone who didnt do anything wrong but will get hurt 🙁
Aestas says
I really dislike love triangles as a general rule but I LOVED this book — the author did an amazing job with the way she portrayed it. I’ve never seen one written this way and even though I don’t like triangles, I was 110% happy with the way this was done. 🙂
Karina A. says
Oh my! I can’t wait to read this! Thanks for that wonderful review. I’m so jealous you already read it!
Aestas says
🙂
Amber S. says
Wow. I knew I was excited for this book and music before, but now I just can’t wait!!
Aestas says
Woohoo!! And yeah, the music is a really cool part of it all 😀
Pamela Reveal says
I can’t wait to read Thanks for sharing
Jenn R says
I can’t wait to read it, but I’m feeling a little anxious now that you mention something about a love triangle. I’m not a fan of them and there are a lot of popular books that I haven’t read because of that. But it’s Colleen-butterflying-Hoover! I’m scared lol.
Marcela Pereira says
Oh god. I was already excited to come and read you review which left me in NEED of this book!!! I just can’t wait 🙂
Rebeca says
Wow! just, wow! Now I’m more in love with this book and I haven’t even read it. What I just read makes me want to be March 18 already more than before. Just wow! I don’t know what to say about this.
Micole says
I agree. It was in fact Perfection. When you start to read the words, you just can’t put it down. It is a love triangle but the originality of the story will blow you away. Like you I laughed so hard, I cried and felt as if the heartbreak, joys and sorrows were mine. I just can’t explain it really. Totally 5 starts plus 1 ! =)
A.T. Douglas says
Amazing review. Pretty sure I was holding my breath the entire time I read it. Can’t wait to experience this book! =)
maya savitri says
Your review makes me want to read this book so bad! I can’t wait until March! great review.
Jill says
Wow! There are no words to express my love of this book! I was intrigued by your review but nothing could prepare for this. I whole heartedly agree with your review and wish everyone would read it! READ IT!!!
Cezanne says
Beautiful review!
Cristiana Campos says
Nice 🙂
Jamie Brown says
This book was absolutely amazing! One I’ll never forget. It’s very unique and so passionate. It does a number on your heartstrings. The characters are amazingly funny and they have you laughing out loud. The chemistry between Sydney and Ridge was gutwrenchingly beautiful in every way. The way they communicated, and the way they made music together was… ha, I can’t even think of a more fitting word for it. That’s how beautiful this book was. It gave me chills. This story will always have a place in my heart. You will absolutely fall in love.
Tracie Short says
I just really need the book. I have to have it. L.B. tell me, you will pick me. You know it needs on my shelf with your others 🙂
Kathy says
Just finished this last night–absolutely amazing. Colleen Hoover is a genus in pulling emotions out of you. Fantastic book!
Crisly Dc says
Just felt in love with Ridge SO bad
Janne says
This is my favorite CH book and I agree with everything Aestas says. It is also an AMAZING AUDIO book!! Read it then listen to it. You will be rocked!
Gina H says
This was the first CH book I read and I don’t know if I can read any more of her books, because if they all tear me up like Maybe Someday did, I won’t survive!
The love triangle killed me because I could not decided how I wanted it to go because they were all such great people, I was heart broken at every turn. Such a great read, easily one of my all time favorite books!
Stephanie Stevenson says
I love this book! Different than what I was expecting but I do love it so much! OOOO and Griffin Peterson! ummmhh is all I have to say!
KATHLEEN DAVIS-MUYNILA says
ON MY TOP FAVE LIST!! BUT I effing love ALL Colleen Hoover books. AND I want to lick Griffin’s cute face, so bad!
Amanda Adkins says
Love this review. This is so far my favorite Colleen Hoover book!!
Diana Gutierrez says
This book!!! OMG!!! I loved it so much, one of my favourites of last year and one of my favourites ever. My fav character is Warren I love his personality. He is so funny and also I read Maybe Not I love that one as well.
I read this book in a moment of my life where I need it I was in a similar situation.
Agus Z says
Oh the feelings! I’m crying again reading your review. This book! I love Colleen’s books, but this one is my favorite. Such a beautiful story! The characters are so amazing, especially Ridge, I love him so much! And the songs! Oh I need to re-read and listen to the songs. I never though about doing that. Why I didn’t though about doing that!? LOL I love Griffin’s songs!
And yes, we need a movie. Soon.
Great review!
Suzanne says
I have loved every Colleen Hoover book I’ve read of hers, but this one is my favorite. The characters were so alive to me.
Anubha says
Your review exactly states how I felt after reading this one by Ms. Hoover. Maybe Someday is my favorite and I really want everyone to read this book.
Anks says
Hi i loved this book too much. I couldn’t get Ridge & Syd out of my mind for days. Ridge was such an original hero. I have never read anything like it. …..
The bond they shared, their undeniable chemistry, and the way they were trying to handle the situation was what really got to me. Additionally, this books has some really tocuhing quotes.
I would really like if you could recommend some books which are so heartachingly beautiful and warm.
Erin says
Same is true for me. It is one of those you don’t want to end!
Erin says
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now but never commented. I found you when I discovered Kristen Ashley (so unbelievably happy I did too). Because of this review I gave this author and book a try too. I have to say that this is probably the best romance. Novel I have ever read. Considering I’m 52 and have been an avid reader since I was 14, that is saying a LOT! Thank you so much for helping me find this book!
I also loved the music that accompanied the story. It really drew you into the story! I actually added Hold On To You to my Favorites playlist, I loved it so much!
Aestas says
I’m so glad that you decided to comment and that you’ve also fallen in love with this book. I agree that it is one of the best romance I’ve read and the music is beautiful too. If you’re new Colleen Hoover’s books, definitely check out her other works. I have reviews of all of them. She’s one of the best authors I’ve read 🙂
Jyoti says
Hey!
Loved your review. I felt exactly the same way about this book.😊
I have a habit of checking reviews of the book I end reading to know how other people’s views.
I loved this one, really❤❤