Review: This Girl (Slammed #3) by Colleen Hoover

Firstly, thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia for this review copy <3

Date Read: April 30 - May 1 2013
Release Date: August 13th 2013
Publisher: Atria Books (Simon & Schuster Australia)
Source: Review copy via publisher
Genre: Contemporary
My rating: 

Synopsis:

"There are two sides to every love story. Now hear Will’s.

Colleen Hoover’s New York Times bestselling Slammed series has brought countless readers to their knees with a whirlwind of love, passion, and heartache.

Layken and Will’s love has managed to withstand the toughest of circumstances and the young lovers, now married, are beginning to feel safe and secure in their union. As much as Layken relishes their new life together, she finds herself wanting to know everything there is to know about her husband, even though Will makes it clear he prefers to keep the painful memories of the past where they belong. Still, he can’t resist his wife’s pleas and so he begins to untangle his side of the story, revealing for the first time his most intimate feelings and thoughts, retelling both the good and bad moments, and sharing a few shocking confessions of his own from the time when they first met.

In This Girl, Will tells the story of their complicated relationship from hispoint of view. Their future rests on how well they deal with the past in this final installment of the beloved Slammed series."

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“Remember the first time we didn’t call point of retreat?”

The conclusion to the Slammed series is one that may not be necessary, but one that complements and finishes the series wonderfully. Told completely from Will’s perspective whilst on their honeymoon, Will recounts his side of the story from Slammed onwards. If you’re thinking this is going to be boring because it’s just a retelling of Slammed and Point of Retreat, well you’ve got another thing coming for you! And don’t despair, it’s not just a story of the past, there are bits of their honeymoon interspersed throughout.

I’ll be honest I’m a complete sucker for Hoover’s books and I’ve pretty much read all of them but even I had my doubts about how Will’s perspective could take up a whole book and I really only read it for the honeymoon. I’m happy to say I got a lovely surprise reading Will’s story despite half of Point of Retreat being from his POV – This Girl was actually quite different.

“It’s my honeymoon… I should get to watch what I want.”

“Your honeymoon? What am I? An afterthought?”

Firstly, Will’s voice. Fantastic. Hoover has made Will’s voice distinct from Lake’s – as soon as I read the first page I could immediately tell I was reading from his point of view. I think there was something distinctly more mature and sophisticated to his voice compared to Layken’s, which made perfect sense because not only is Will 3 years older than Lake, but he’s also an English teacher who excels at poetry. I could also tell that the voice was male, I’m not sure how – there’s no profanity or swearing (ok there were some “shits” but I swear more than Will) which is great because the amount of new adult books that use vulgar language to differentiate between the male and female voice pisses me off. It’s possibly because Will’s thoughts are more straightforward whilst I remember Lake pondering everything and being almost whiny at times. Either way, his voice remained strong throughout and for the whole book I never faltered in wondering who I was reading.

I loved how Will wasn’t afraid to express his emotions. His inner turmoil was just as painful as Lake’s. The moment when she walks into his classroom for the first time? He is absolutely devastated and so conflicted because he sees her hurt and it causes him pain too – gah the feels! Throughout the book I could clearly see his frustrations, internal battle with himself and undeniable love for Lake. Certain situations I finally got clarity around from Will’s point of view really explained his actions; in Slammed and Point of Retreat (especially Slammed), many of Will’s words and actions were hurtful but I can see why they were necessary.

“I’d almost rather her be pissed right now than feel the way she’s feeling.”

Seeing Lake through Will is a real eye opener. Remember how the beginning of Slammed was a tad on the insta-love side? Well through Will’s eyes I could see how that could have happened. He sees only her, she shines so brightly in his eyes that he can’t help but notice her. He notices the little things about her, her actions and habits that make her Lake. She is so beautiful to him, her seemingly ordinary appearance standing out to him.

“No, I didn’t think you were cute. I thought you were absolutely beautiful.”

Hoover must again be commended on her beautiful writing. She has such a way with words and the way she incorporated poetry into this again was stunning, so many of the character’s deepest feelings were brought to the surface.

Plot-wise, the majority is Slammed and Point of Retreat but with lots of gaps filled in as we finally see what Will got up to during the times he was absent in Lake’s story. As the story progresses though, I could see Will and Lake facing the first hurdle of marriage: trust. For every feeling and secret Will shared, he had to face Layken’s potential hurt and varying emotions/reactions. In those 24 hours or so, the two face many memories – a lot of them being painful and it brought me to tears seeing old wounds ripped open. And that epilogue? Something to look out for. One of the sweetest books I’ve ever read, this is one conclusion I definitely needed.

“It was the best night of my life. I want you to tell me all about it.”