Reminders of Him by. Colleen Hoover | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Reminders of Him

Author: Colleen Hoover

Format: eBook (kindle unlimited)

Pages: 335

Publication Date: 1/18/22

Categories: Women’s Fiction, Adult Fiction, Romance, Family, Contemporary, Grief, Drunk Driving

A troubled young mother yearns for a shot at redemption in this heartbreaking yet hopeful story from #1 New York Timesbestselling author Colleen Hoover.

After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself.

The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them.

The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing.

Content Warning: Suicide Ideation, Death, Grief, Drunk Driving

I don’t read a lot of Colleen Hoover books, only because I have read enough that I know I have to be in the right headspace for her stories…it’s usually heavy reading and I need a tissue box near me. Reminders of Him brought out the tears for sure – it gutted me.

Kenna was in an accident with her boyfriend Scotty. Thing is, she was driving the car under the influence of alcohol and edibles. They both were under the influence. They get into an accident, he dies, she doesn’t and gets jail time for involuntary manslaughter. To top it all off, she is pregnant in prison, gives birth and never gets to hold her daughter. Her daughter Diem is being raised by Scotty’s parents, as she should be. Now Kenna is out of prison and she wants to see her daughter.

Kenna is a broken young woman. She made a mistake and served her time. She was so in love with Scotty and it really was an accident, but she made a poor choice, and was punished for it. But now what? Does she have a right to see her daughter? Does she have a right to be forgiven? I empathized with her because I’m a mom. I want her to have a chance to see Diem. Add Kenna’s backstory and honestly I was just heartbroken for her as a person. She’s been alone for so long, until Scotty had come along. But I empathized with the other mom in this story, Scotty’s mom, Grace. I could so understand their anger and fears about Kenna being out of prison.

Ledger is Scotty’s best friend and when he meets this female stranger in his bar, he is instantly attracted. Of course when he finds out who she is, it gets so damn complicated. Ledger is a good guy, he’s had a good life, like Scotty did, they are well-adjusted guys who come from loving homes. He is solid and he has loved Diem as if she was his own. I can see why Kenna falls for him. Ledger has to figure out if he hates Kenna still or is he ready to forgive her. He knows that Scotty was absolutely in love with her and in the end Ledger himself falls for her too.

It’s messy isn’t it? If I was Kenna, I would have put Ledger in the friend zone after finding out who he is…but that’s just me. So I can’t say this was only a romance story about Kenna and Ledger. I could feel the love Kenna has for Diem, that made me cry my eyes out. I could even feel Kenna’s love for Scotty in her letters to him and her memories about him, heartbreaking. I also could see how Kenna and Ledger’s love for Scotty and Diem brought them close together, a common ground. So this was a complex story about love but mostly about forgiveness.

I was kind of waiting for some crazy plot twist that the author usually has at the end of her books, but this one didn’t have that. There was just this feeling of impending doom as you read Kenna’s story play out. I think I related a lot to Ledger…because he knew shit was about to hit the fan and I, like Ledger wanted to stop it for Kenna, Scotty’s parents and everyone else’s sake!

Why you should read it:

• a story about forgiveness
• emotionally gripping
• it’s more than a romance

Why you might not want to read it:

• it may make you cry
• this is not a rom-com

My Thoughts:

Somedays I just crave a good, complex story that has a little romance in it and punches you in the gut. This is not a romance book that makes you feel light and fluffy in the end, it’s a CoHo book! 😅 Go into it knowing it will carve you up you emotionally and that you may need a tissue box nearby. I don’t read many of her books for this reason, but once in awhile I need a good cry.

📚 ~ Yolanda

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Quotes from the Book:

“I want to be good at life. I want to make it look effortless, but up until this point, I’ve made every aspect of life appear entirely too difficult to navigate.”

reminders of Him by. Colleen Hoover

“…happiness isn’t some permanent thing we’re all trying to achieve in life, it’s merely a thing that shows up every now and then, sometimes in tiny doses that are just substantial enough to keep us going.”

Reminders of Him By. Colleen Hoover

“Maybe it doesn’t matter whether something is a coincidence or a sign. Maybe the best way to cope with the loss of the people we love is to find them in as many places and things as we possibly can. And in the off chance that the people we lose are still somehow able to hear us, maybe we should never stop talking to them.”

Reminders of Him by. Colleen Hoover