A review by colourbandit
November 9 by Colleen Hoover

emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I had a lot of thoughts at the start of the book where I really didn’t like it, but by the end I’d completely changed my mind. At first, I thought that the meeting of Ben and Fallon was so unnatural and didn’t think it would ever actually happen, but it made so much more sense by the end. I thought that Ben was hugely over-dramatic and overly attached way too soon. I felt that he was so pushy and a textbook love bomber, but I feel this a lot less now having finished the book, understanding his rationale. 

I still don’t feel the most comfortable with the way Ben treats Fallon initially. It was phrased as though he was really trying to help and genuinely thought he was doing the right thing, with her feeling like it does do the right thing, but insecurities don’t just disappear like that when someone questions them. It isn’t anyone’s fault that they feel uncomfortable because of their insecurities, it isn’t their fault that other people feel uncomfortable because of that and you shouldn’t force people to change just like that. 

It felt to me like things happened way too fast at first and it felt as though Fallon felt forced when Ben undressed her. She is clearly uncomfortable and she had known him for all of 1 or 2 hours at that point. Even if there wasn’t any hint of things being sexual then, it still felt wrong to me.

There were also misogynistic themes throughout, with him demanding what she wears and how she looks from the second he meets her, only focusing on being able to see her body and cleavage. 

However, despite all that, I really did enjoy the premise of them meeting every day on the same day and seeing how each character had changed within that time. The plot twist with Ben starting the fire was so unexpected and really shocked me! I was with Fallon initially, not knowing whether or not it was real from Ben’s manuscript, but wow, being able to connect the whole story afterwards through the final few pages was some really, really great writing.

The ending was very sweet and I really was left guessing what was going to happen until the very end. There were so many twists and turns. I’ve never read a Colleen Hoover book before so didn’t know if they’re all happy endings or not, which really added to the experience for me.


So a pretty mixed bag, but I stopped hating it about 1/4 of the way through so it’s a mostly 4 star read for me with some 3 star elements. I’d have loved at a 5 star level had it had it not been for how Ben came across at the start.