All the reading and book sites on my Facebook feed lately have shown something about the author Colleen Hoover. Mostly they are taking about her latest Verity. Since I am 254 on the library waiting list, I thought I give a different title a try. I could get Reminders of Him immediately so that’s where I started.

This story is told in the voices of Kenna and Ledger. Kenna has been released from prison for her involvement in an accident that caused the death of her boyfriend, Scotty. She comes back to the town where his family lives to see her daughter, who she gave birth to in prison. The conflict begins when her eyes meet Ledger and sparks fly. Ledger turns out to be Scotty’s best friend.

The story started out fine but after awhile the back and forth between the voices of the two main characters became kind of boring. Their conversations seemed very much the same chapter to chapter. I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish or even find out what happened.

By the time I got to the end of the book however, I was bawling my eyes out. What I realized about the writing style is that as a reader, those two people who couldn’t keep their clothes on anytime they were together, had become fully formed and I knew them well. What I initially thought was repetitive, served to ingrain these people as living breathing human beings in my mind. I felt their struggle, their pain, their conflict. When they worked that all out, I was happy for them, really happy.

A story that can make me cry stays with me for a long time. I’ll have to hold onto the memory of Reminders of Him as I crawl my way up the waiting list for Ms. Hoover’s more recent release. No wonder she’s all social media is talking about.