Slammed by Colleen Hoover

This is the first novel in the Slammed series by Colleen Hoover.

The move from Texas to Michigan - Layken can deal. The new school, she can handle, even though it's senior year and she has no friends to speak of. But the fact that the move happened because her father died from a heart attack is not something she ever wanted to happen.

However, everything does happen and now she's in Michigan, where it's suddenly a lot colder than Texas. But the plus side? Her brother's new best friend after knowing one another for 1 minute and who lives right across the street has a very hot older brother. Just a few years older than Lake.

And the chemistry between them is out of this world.

But something horrible happens. It turns out that Will is her poetry teacher at school. So they cannot be together, even though they are insanely attracted to each other.

Now they have to pretend they don't feel anything for each other. And when Lake goes to the slamming nights - where volunteers recite poetry that they feel very emotional about to the point of yelling, screaming, crying, etc. - Lake gets another viewpoint of Will.

Things go from bad to worse, though, when Lake finds out a secret about her mother. A secret that could either destroy her family or bring them closer together.

And Lake wants to go to Will for a shoulder to lean on, but their relationship needs to be non-existent because of the teacher/student thing.

Can Lake make it past this stage in her life and come out in the end a better version, or will everything that happens between her family and her relationship with Will destroy her? Read Slammed by Colleen Hoover to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Also, just a forewarning, this is a NEW ADULT novel, which means that it's a little bit more mature and graphic than a YA novel but not too racy like an adult novel. Mainly, New Age (NA) novels are set in college and are about characters who are starting to grow up, but still do things that are immature.

I've been hearing great things about this novel and found myself with a gift card, so I purchased it having high expectations.

But for some reason I found it a little bit lacking. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the story and was very sympathetic toward both Lake and Will. Their lives and tragic events are what made them who they are and I am very admirable of how they are. So grown up and mature.

I think what might have turned me off from part of this book was the slamming. I'm not a poetry person nor a big public speaker, though I have gotten better at that, so I wasn't able to relate to that aspect of the book. And it's a big part of the book because that's one form of communication to one another.

However, I did enjoy this book. I especially liked the relationship between Lake and her brother Kel, along with the relationship between Will and his younger brother Caulden. If anyone has any siblings, one knows it's hard to get along with them all of the time and both Will and Lake are like another parent to their brothers instead of an older sibling. And both Will and Lake are good at being a parent to their sibling.

This is the first in a series and after reading the synopsis for the second book, I'm not sure if I'm mental prepared to go through the rollercoaster ride of Will and Lake's relationship again just yet. Reading a book with snippets of kissing, only to be let down because of the "grown-up" situation occurring between them was very time and emotion consuming. I may have to wait a little longer before picking up the second one. But I will, eventually!

So while this wasn't my favorite NA novel, I'm glad I read about it after all of the hype I've heard about it. I would recommend this for any female reader since the narration is through Lake.