Ugly Love
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2019', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-2 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I hated the message that this book sent. It\'s the story of Tate, reasonably intelligent woman in her 20s who agrees to have a sex-only relationship with Miles, a pilot in his 20s. They have sex and he won\'t look at her. After the sex she has to leave his apartment. This happens repeatedly and Tate feels increasingly hurt. She wants love or at least some expression of emotion. She starts to rebel about the relationship until she sees him again. Then she turns "to water." He\'s the ship cutting through the water and she\'s the wake following him. She also experiences self-hate over her weakness. So it\'s the story of a young woman with no self-confidence or self-respect who jumps in bed whenever Miles wants her. We learn why Miles is the way he is. But we\'re supposed to believe he has a sudden epiphany, resolves his teen misery, and suddenly opens up to Tate. And she of course accepts him back. The only positive is that the writing is decent.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'After so many recommendations and reading reviews, I was excited to try this book but within 20 pages I was already rolling my eyes and disappointed. The whole rhetoric of a woman "saving" a broken boy who claims he "can never love again because of his past" is just old and boring. The characters have no depth to them, Tate comes off as boring as Bella Swan and Miles\'s whole persona is just basically being mentally abusive and noncommittal which aren\'t personality traits. Their ages in the book dont seem believable AT ALL either. The book is incredibly predictable and lacks real substance. Basically a soft porno for girls in their early 20s who live out their bad boy fantasies through books.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Very rinse and repeat.... Dude with a tragic past cant let anyone in or love him blah blah blah... Girl who falls in love with blah blah blah... Rolled my eyes 52 times! Tate had a lot going for her but she was too stupid to put an end to her and miles "relationship" because......wait for it.... Big surprise..... She was falling in love with him even tho he made his feelings CLEAR! She would\'ve been better off ditching him cuz she could\'ve done a lot better then some whiny angsty guy but then again as i mentioned before she was just too stupid. I\'m not an author and never will be but this book was just too much. Good day and good night.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I’ve been on a Colleen Hoover kick lately and I’m pretty sure she’s currently my second favorite author now! All the feels that I got from this book were indescribable!\n\nTate Collins decided to temporarily move in with her brother, Corbin, an airline pilot, while she saves for her own place and goes to school for her Masters in Nursing. On her first day at her brothers apartment complex, she finds a drunk man sleeping in front of the door and blocking her entrance to her brothers apartment; as she attempts to go around him to get inside, the man then wakes up and tries to get in too. Tate panics and closes the door on his hand. Well, apparently this man, turns out to be a friend/co-worker of her brother and was locked out of his apartment right across the hall. Airline pilot, Miles Archer – has a past that he can’t get away from and because of it he refuses to ever allow himself to love again. And although Tate almost broke his hand, the attraction between Miles and Tate is undeniable. Since neither of them are interested in a relationship, they both settle on being friends-with-benefits. They both have their own rules to be applied to this agreement, but somewhere along the lines, the rules begin to get muddied and confusing as feelings develop. Will it ever be possible for Miles to deal with his past so that he can finally have a future? Will Tate be able to stick around long enough while Miles deals with his demons?\n\n“Every time I’m with him, he fills my heart up more and more, and the more it’s filled with pieces of him, the more painful it’ll be when he rips it out of my chest as though it never belonged there in the first place.” – Tate. I absolutely loved Tate and her character; as much as she wanted Miles, she was controlled in her actions, she didn’t come off as pathetic and needy. She lived in the reality of things – on one hand, she knows she wants more than what he’s able to give her and on the other hand, she can’t help but stick around for what she can get even though she knows it won’t end the way she hopes.\n\n“I’ve never met anyone who can say so little when they speak. He’s definitely perfected the art of evasiveness.” – Tate. Has anyone ever dealt with a person who answers your questions in such an evasive way but you have no choice but to accept the answers being given, even though you need to hear more?\n\nThe writing in this book is so powerful, Colleen Hoover is an expert at ripping my heart out in a book and then somehow she manages to mend it back together again. She writes the story as a present day view of Tate, viewing the way that their relationship takes off; as well as the past of Miles, so you feel the depths of the pain that Miles experienced, leading him to the hardened, closed off way that he is today.\n\n“It’s the beautiful moments like these that make up for the ugly love.” By the end, you truly understand what “Ugly Love” really means.\n\n*Side note – there was a movie made based on this book, starring the sexy Nick Bateman!! Which is now on my list of “must see” movies (insert fangirl scream here)! 🙂 ❤\ncheck out my review on loveatfirstreadcom.wordpress.com'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'So this book consisted of a young man named Miles saying the name Tate a bazillion times and banging Tate a billion times....final bang scene took place in a cockpit 😂😂😂 it was soooooobad'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2017', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I am late to the Ugly Love party, but I am SO GLAD that I got on this train! I never thought I'd spend $8 on a book, but I decided to give it a chance after reading some other reviews and I am so glad that I did! This book was absolutely amazing, and I could not put it down. I read it in a single day, in between parenting. I would have otherwise read it in a single sitting!\n\nMiles is so unbelievably broken and hardened. He doesn't think that he deserves to be happy or have joy in his life. But when he meets his friend's little sister, Tate, for the first time in six years, Miles feels something again. But all he can offer Tate is a physical relationship. At first, that's enough for the nursing student, but it's not long before Tate wants his emotions and heart as well. But since Miles told her that the two rules to their friends-with-benefits agreement was to not ask about his past and to not expect a future, things get complicated and messy!\n\nI loved everything about this story. The characters were rich, the friendships were solid, the hints into Miles' past and why he became the man he is now were amazing. I laughed and I cried. And I went back to re-read sections again. Absolutely amazing."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Damn this story was so emotional. I felt SO many things while reading this. There were things I loved but also things I didn’t like about this book. One thing for certain was that I couldn’t put it down and now that I’ve finished this, I’m really attached to this couple lol. I feel like I’ve been through the wringer with them.\n\nI loved Tate so much, but for so much of this book I wanted her to find someone who would love and cherish her the way she deserved. The chemistry between her and Miles and the intensity of their relationship was brilliantly written. But the way he kept breaking her heart made me want her to find someone else so badly. But I was riveted by the dynamic between these two-so much that I could not stop reading.\n\nThe thing I did not like so much about this book was the amount of time dedicated to Mile’s backstory and describing his love and infatuation for his “first love” Rachel. I know this part of his history is important to the story, but I felt it was just too much. Every other chapter (although these chapters were brief) was about how deeply he was in love with Rachel -almost to the point of obsession. This all leads to a horrific tragedy which tears him and Rachel apart. This is what brings him to his present situation of not being able to love again. And poor Tate bears the brunt of this.\n\nThe way it all plays out was gut wrenching and heartbreaking. The ending and conclusion was fantastically done. I don’t think I could have asked for a better ending.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2018', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "Every once in a while, I get so engrossed in a story that I binge-read until the end, and this was one of those stories for me! It's a simple story about two people connecting that have plenty of reasons to avoid the attraction. The underlying premise is a question we've all contemplated: can there ever really be a friends-with-benefits scenario where feelings don't get involved? I read some of the negative reviews, and people didn't find the female character very realistic, or the story very relatable, but I disagree. I liked the fact that the strong, independent, intelligent female shows vulnerability in making choices based on emotion rather than intellect. It's what makes life frustratingly interesting. What fun is a story where the strong characters always make the right choices? My criticisms are that I would have liked for the setting of this story to have been more involved, and I would have liked for a few other characters to have been developed more fully. I loved the ending, but thought the epilogue was a little overkill. This would be a great beach read--fun enough to get your romance fix without being overly mired in drama!"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "I finished this one last night, and promptly ate cake and drank soda. It's the only coping tactic I could come up with at the time.\n\nI absolutely devoured this story. I could have in one sitting. However, I took a few beats in between. Did it stop me from finishing it in one day? Absolutely not. I finished it in under twenty-four hours and I wont apologize for it.\n\nTate is a strong character, despite letting herself be fooled by her naiveté. There was so much she went through that I honestly don't think I would have been able to handle.\nMiles is broken, but little moments would break through and he seemed happy. But then something would pull it back and he would shut down.\n\nIf you can handle a rollercoaster of emotions in 322 pages, go ahead and strap in. Because if you pick this one up, it's exactly what will happen. The highs and lows are worth it in the end though. So, so worth it."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2022', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I read many of the reviews before I read this book. Only a few were negative, one citing that Tate was somehow insecure and pathetic. She wasn’t. She was in love. For the first time in her life. She was confident enough in herself to let herself love someone who she knew was flawed and hurt beyond what she could understand.\n\nThis was an amazing read. I would even call it perfect.\n\nI started with two paper backs written by Colleen Hoover that my adult daughter brought home for me to read. She is a corporate flight attendant and reads a lot when she is in hotels so I have been reaping the rewards of her growing collection.\n\nI started with Verity and then read November 9. Obviously I was blown away by the author’s versatility.\nSo I bought this one for my kindle reader. I read it in a day. A day that I worked 9 hours. This may be the best book I will ever read.\n\nI don’t like to leave info about the book in a review because…you have probably read the author’s synopsis. Also, I think that when a book is written this well, each person’s take away is probably somewhat based on where they are “at” as much as it is about what they read.\n\nIf you are in a book slump as I was, this is the book to read.\n\nNow I need to go because I have another 22 books to read by Colleen Hoover. ❤️ Happy reading!'}]