Without Merit by Colleen Hoover

I was so excited to receive a copy of Without Merit in my mailbox, I put my other books aside so I could jump right in. Colleen Hoover is my favorite romance author and I would read anything she writes. She said Without Merit would be different from her other books. And there was very little book description so I went in not knowing what this would be about. 

After reading It Ends With Us last year I was prepared to have Colleen rip my heart out once again. While Without Merit wasn’t as heartbreaking as It Ends With Us, it is a story about another serious topic. It’s not a romance, although we get a bit. It’s a YA story that focuses on Merit and her family and each one of their struggles and secrets.

Merit is a teenager who’s family lives in a converted church. Yep, there’s still a statue of Jesus hanging on the wall. Her living situation is unusual to say the least. She lives with her brother and sister, their father and her step-mother and step-brother. Her step-uncle is living there and an employee of her fathers but the kicker is Merit’s mother (wife #1) is also living there. And did I mention that wife #1 and wife #2 are both named Victoria. This is a big family with a lot of secrets, and Merit is trying to keep all these secrets while struggling with her own issues. It’s not going so well for her. 

Merit’s character is negative and impulsive and she can’t take it anymore.  Finally the secrets come out and it’s not until she’s at the lowest of lows till she realizes the issues are with her. All these secrets were of Merits perspective and things aren’t always as they seem.

I know readers will fall in love with Sagen. The three words he said to Merit the first day they met gave me goosebumps. I loved that he is artistic and his sketches are throughout the book. And each sketch has a saying. This book wasn’t focused on their romantic relationship.

Without Merit is a story about depression, and mental issues. While this was a heavy topic, Colleen still added her usual humor and I really enjoyed this book. I loved how the story took place in a little town in Texas and it even had a bookstore very similar to the Bookworm Box. As in all Colleen books, I love the name choices she picks for her characters. They are very unique. I hope she never stops writing books because I will never stop buying them! Although this is not my favorite of Colleen’s books it is still a 5 star must read. Cohorts will love it!

Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!