November 9 - Colleen Hoover

“Whether or not the couple ends up together at the end of a book doesn’t determine whether that book has a happy ending or not. As long as the two people end up happy, it doesn’t really matter if they end up happy together.” – November 9

First, let me start off by saying that my adoration for Colleen Hoover knows no end. I “discovered” her this past summer when I read Maybe, Someday, and I have been devouring her books ever since. In my opinion, she is absolutely fantastic, and November 9 did not disappoint.

The Actual Book. The book starts out with the one of the main characters, Fallon, sitting in a diner having lunch with her “famous” father. During their conversation, you soon realize that Fallon was caught in a fire years earlier and has burns that cover 30% of her body. Because of that, she had to put her own acting career on hold and has really lived the life of a recluse who hates being in the spotlight.

During their breakfast, Fallon is in the process of telling her dad that she plans on moving from LA to New York to pursue a career in Broadway and is actually leaving that night. Her douchebag of a dad responds by telling her, not so subtly, that because of her physical features she doesn’t have a future in acting and should try something else. Halfway through this berating, Ben arrives and pretends to be Fallon’s boyfriend. After introducing himself to her dad and joining in on the conversation, he effectively tells Fallon’s father what a jerk he is and how he should be more supportive of his beautiful daughter. As you can imagine, that shut the breakfast down relatively quickly.

As a reader, you’re immediately in love with both of these characters. Instead of going their separate ways after breakfast, they decide to spend the rest of the day together. You really get to see a connection develop. Unfortunately, Fallon only has hours left to spend with Ben because her flight to New York leaves that night and, being only 18, she refuses to put her life on hold for a boy. The two decide that they will meet on the same day, November 9^th, every year for the next five years. Outside of that, they won’t call, text, email, Facebook, etc. each other – they will live completely separate lives except for that one day a year. This is how the book takes places.

In the same way the characters only see each other once a year, we only get to see Fallon and Ben on the subsequent November 9ths, hearing about all of the changes, tragedies and successes that have taken place as they are described and recall past events. The viewpoint switches back and forth between the characters, which I loved, so you really get to understand both sides of every situation. 

What I liked:

Ben – I LOVED Ben

He was just great. Aside from one situation, you really can’t stop yourself from falling in love with Ben. It isn’t about his physical hotness, unlike Miles in Ugly Love (because, who doesn’t pine for Miles), but you want him solely for the reason that he truly wants to be with Fallon. He is completely sincere when he calls her beautiful and when he lists all the ways that she is perfect, not just ignoring her scars but also including them in during the reasoning.

It is apparent from the beginning that Ben has some sort of secret, but it’s really not a huge part of the story until it is – if that makes sense. Since you only get to see the characters once a year for six years, it is basically assumed that there are things going on that we won’t know about so it’s not weird to think that there is a secret out there that isn’t discussed. You really don’t feel like you’re “missing” anything.

Fallon

I really loved Fallon, as well. From the very beginning, you can’t help but feel sincerely sorry for what has happened to her and the relationship that she has subsequently had with her father. Usually when female leads complain in books, I get annoyed pretty quickly. I want them to just get over it and move on. But not with her. You understand why she is so self-deprecating, and I personally would have acted the same way. I think most young girls would. That being said, I really loved the growth that she went through throughout the entire novel, and I really loved the way Ben helped her with that.

What I “didn’t” like:

The HEARTBREAKING fourth November 9. Holy hell there was so many emotions when reading this chapter – from both perspectives. You want to cry because of how the previous year ended, be excited about the meeting, vomit when you realize what is happening, and then cry because it’s worse than the worse possible situation. You can’t help but understand the reasoning behind the choices the characters have made, but it. just. hurt.

Lack of epilogue

I unfortunately realize that all books come to end, but it still sucks every time it happens. I always feel like a good epilogue really puts the final bow on a good story, though. On the other hand, I understand why Colleen Hoover didn’t have one – from the very beginning, we were promised visits on November 9 until the characters were 23. And that’s what we got. Although, it would have nice to have at least made it to November 10 on that last year…

Overall, I truly adored this story. Like many of her books, I would give it 5/5 and can’t wait to read it again.