#REVIEW: SLAMMED by @ColleenHoover

I got slammed by Slammed (Slammed #1) by Colleen Hoover. There's just no other way to put it. It gutted me and made me laugh and gave me hope, all at the same time.

Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she's losing hope.

Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.

Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.

These characters, every single one of them and not just the two "primary" characters, were complex and real. There was so much about each of them that enhanced the full effect of this story, each played an integral role. The story of Lake and Will simply blew me away. For such young adults, they had already lived through the unthinkable and were now being slammed again. Their strength was amazing but it was seeing them work through their predicament and rely on the strength of others when their personal weaknesses broke through that made it an incredibly special story of survival.

The actual slamming - for those of you who don't know - is a competition where poets read or recite their original work. It was started back in the mid-1980s in Chicago and became popular, especially among young artists, as a way to express themselves.

When Will slams for Lake, he won my heart. It was no wonder that it worked so well on her too! 

“And life definitely doesn't want me 
To just let it tell me 
that the girl I met,
The beautiful, amazing, strong, resilient girl 
That I fell so hard for
Should only come in third 
Life knows. 
Life is trying to tell me
That the girl I love 
The girl I fell
So hard for?
There's room for her in first. 
I'm putting her first.” 

But when Lake slammed for Will, I held my breath... it was like a releasing of her soul, of everything she'd held inside her. It was beautiful. Here's a snippet I found on goodreads...

“I got schooled this year
by
a
boy.
A boy that I'm seriously, deeply, madly, incredibly, and undeniably in love with.
And he taught me the most important thing of all...
To put the emphasis
On life .” 

RATING: 5 Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries.

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