Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover: I Should’ve Known This One Wasn’t For Me

Published: August 5th 2014

Publisher: Atria Books

Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Drama

Format: Kindle Source: Purchased

My Rating: 

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When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated.
Promises get broken.
Rules get shattered.
Love gets ugly.

 

~Review~

I should’ve known this one wasn’t for me. I didn’t think too hard about the title, so I ignored the description. I’ve had this, and two other CoHo novels, on my ereader for a while. After all of the great reviews for this and her other books, I decided to go ahead and jump on the train to Hooverland. Admittedly, this is a bad start, but I’m willing to keep on this journey. 

Reasons this book didn’t work for me…

Unlikable main characters: Tate and Miles are a pair. They truly belong together. I hate it when a woman lets a man walk all over her. At the start, Tate seemed like my kind of girl. Hard worker, ambitious, and the way that she came off on that elevator scene made me think that she plays no games when it comes to the opposite sex. Well, I was wrong. She may can spot a married dog on the prowl, but she sure lacks the confidence to walk away from a guy who, obviously, is an emotional wreck. Why do these women insist on saving these broody men? Miles is a jerk 90% of the time. Even in the end, his difficulty didn’t leave me feeling like everything was okay. 

Hotness doesn’t mean you need to act like a weakling: Tate turned to goo around Miles. What was supposed to be a friends-with-benefits type of deal, turns into a big drama fest. Miles sending mixed signals all over the place. Tate giving in and letting him just turn her into his play thing. But….Tate knows in her heart that he loves her but something is holding him back. Which brings me to my next point.

Did Miles’ POV have to be written poetically? I think that is what really added to my ire. By this point, we as readers know that he has had something tragic happen in his past. Rachel, Rachel, Rachel.  That doesn’t make his behavior okay. I’m sorry, but this setup didn’t work for me.

Colleen has a way with words. I was way passed liking Miles by the time it all spilled out. But…she almost convinced me to love this story. That and the need to see how it would end, made me keep reading. There are plenty of men walking around with broken hearts. What makes Miles special? I can see if he started out rude, and changed his tune. He was too controlling but not really talking about why he can’t be in a relationship. I guess he just needed someone like Tate to come along and put up with his crap until she made him spill the beans. I feel for him, but not enough to like him as a character.

This really isn’t a badly written book, it just has two characters that I don’t like. The title is true to the plot: Ugly Love. I wanted to love this so hard, and I almost did at the end, but I just don’t like the two main characters. I say read this for yourself to decide. A lot of readers love this book, so please don’t take my word for it.