Review: Confess by Colleen Hoover (=MUST READ)

My rating: ★★★★★

Genre: NA, romance, art, contemporay
Series: stand-alone

Blurb from Goodreads:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a new novel about risking everything for love—and finding your heart somewhere between the truth and lies. 

Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…

My review:

Whenever I start reading a new release from an author I love, I just can’t dislike the book. It’s never automatically a favorite but … oh hell, what am I even trying to deny? With a CoHo book I’m always hooked after the first chapter (if not even the first paragraph!). I could even read her grocery list and still be fascinated. Seriously, I mean it. I don’t know how she does it. Colleen always writes books that read very easy and quick. But the thing is, she always manages to combine this ‘easiness’ with a shitload of emotions. After reading almost all her books, it still blows my mind. Saying I’m a wreck every single time I finish a book of her, is an understatement.

“Tonight, everyone's focus is on my art, but my focus is on her. She's the most interesting piece in this entire room.”

Now, let’s talk about another amazing talent of Colleen. To me, she is the Queen of originality! If you read other books by her, you probably already know this, but Colleen always adds something creative and interacting in her books. For example: the soundtrack to Maybe Someday and the poetry in Slammed.

In this book we have the original art from Danny O’Connor. And let me tell you, it is freaking beautiful. I never wanted to buy art so much in my life. I might even do if for real (go check out his site here)!! Oh, did I mention there are colored pictures of the artwork in the book? That’s right, you read it correct: there is FREAKING COLORED ART in the book.

“I’ll love you forever. Even when I can’t.”

The concept of this book is brilliant. Including confessions to the plot and combining these with art is just… brilliant. Some confessions made me smile, some broke my heart. And knowing these were real confessions submitted by readers made them even more sincere and beautiful.

“I'm scared I'll never feel this again with anyone else," I whisper.

He squeezes my hands. "I'm scared you will.”

In case I still haven’t convinced you to buy this book, let me tell you something about the characters. Auburn Reed is one of the realest characters ever. She’s is so strong, flawed and perfect at the same time. She’s a real fighter. I immediately felt a connection to her and if one day I have 10% of her strength, I would be more than happy.

Same thing for Owen Gentry. Owen’s handsome, caring, funny and selfless. I instantly fell in love with him. Oh god, I’m seriously developing a thing for painters!! I absolutely loved reading in his point of view. He’s a little mysterious and the more we find out about him, the more I was amazed by him. Can I please have him in real life??

Now, put these two beautiful people together and I’m in heaven. Their attraction to each other is sensible through the pages. I totally ship them and to me they are so meant to be. Ugh, I just love them.

“Sometimes I miss them so much, it hurts me right here. It feels like someone is squeezing my heart with the strength of the entire goddamn world.”

Ooooooh man, I don’t even know how to describe how I felt when I read the last chapter. My heart broke and built itself up again, piece by piece. I cried, I laughed and cried some more.

The moral of this book is truly beautiful. Of course, part of the story is not something you haven’t read before. But it still touched me deeply. There are some very unique elements in this book that you just can’t not love. I devoured this book in a day and a half and I wish there was more. I NEED more.

“He cradles my head between both of his hands and he kisses me slowly. Soft and deep and full of highs and lows and depth. He kisses me like I’m his canvas.”