All Your Perfects: A Novel (Hopeless)

All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover 5 stars!!! “…it’s hard to admit that a marriage might be over when the love is still there.” This is a review that I needed to write as soon as I finished the book. Normally I like to sleep on it, let my thoughts and opinions roll around my head to come up with something interesting and relevant to say. However, no matter how much thinking I do, nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever come close to representing what I just read. Nothing I could say could do this book justice, it was just one of those books that touched me on such a deep, emotional level, that I cried and I mean I CRIED. I have not cried this much over a book EVER and that is saying something. But this book, THIS BOOK, just drained me of EVERY. SINGLE. EMOTION. The message was something I could relate to, but my ending was magical, and while this couple had their own different magical ending, the road to get there just grabbed at my heart and soul and never let go, it still hasn’t. “When you meet someone who is good for you, they won’t fill you with insecurities by focusing on your flaws. They’ll fill you with inspiration, because they’ll focus on all the best parts of you.” Colleen hoover delivers an unforgettable read and I mean UNFORGETTABLE. This will be one of those rare books that I put on my ALL-TIME list, a book that I will re-read time and time again. From the minute I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down, captivating, hypnotic, poignant, intense, brutally honest, raw, emotional, heart wrenching and yet one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. Beautiful, how so? Because this book is about true love. A love so intense, so finite and that soul mate connection we all want to find. A love that can stand the test of a category 6 and while their belief may get muddied, may be stretched to breaking point, maybe to the point of no return, that intrinsic love for one and other is what ultimately reigns supreme. A love so deeply embedded for one and other that no matter the crisis, no matter the crappy hand that you’ve been dealt, that LOVE is a permanent foundation, no wrecking ball has the power to destroy it and while it gives a good attempt at it, it doesn’t succeed. “Our marriage hasn’t been perfect. No marriage is perfect. There were times when she gave up on us. There were even more times when I gave up on us. The secret to our longevity is that we never gave up at the same time.” Graham and Quinn’s beginning is unconventional and yet while when they first meet may not have been their day, when their paths do cross again fate has definitely worked its magic. I adored Graham in this book, his personality shone through the pages, like this bright beacon of happy, hope and everything good in the world. His love for Quinn was ever present, he loves fiercely, he wore his heart on his sleeve and it just radiated off every single page, and yet the more the story progressed the more that light dimmed, but most importantly, it never went out. Graham wasn’t perfect, maybe for ninety-nine percent of the time he was, but when you are losing the one thing you love the most, desperate times call for desperate measures. He got a ten for the thought behind it, but a zero in execution. “I love you more in this moment than any moment that has come before it.” Quinn was in self-destruct mode in this book and it is one place that I could totally relate to. But this is where Colleen Hoover excelled, her portrayal of a woman in this position was honest, it was gritty, it was raw, it was warts and all. The gradual breakdown of Quinn and Graham’s marriage was a reaction to circumstance. A couple whose relationship was built on honesty and talking to one and other to one where they never talked at all. Those bottling up of emotions, thoughts and feelings that just multiply and multiply in your mind, until something relatively little, becomes a huge, huge problem. Where a couple that know what the other is thinking on a normal day, lose that ability and jump to all the wrong conclusions, they read the signs all wrong and the more they think, the more the problems manifest, the more they grow until the love is slowly pushed to the bottom and the problems just cascade over the top. “Who are you right now? What did you do with my husband?” “He’s probably somewhere with my wife. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her.” Colleen Hoover is one master story-teller, the myriad of emotions she effortlessly puts you through while capturing a test in life that many couples face was nothing short of amazing. A test that many couples battle and one you will never truly understand until you find yourself in the same situation. But Colleen Hoover goes out of her way to make you live it and she certainly succeeds. For a marriage to survive it is true what this author says, “if you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim,” and it is those perfects that you need to concentrate on. Remember the best times, the hard times are there to test us, speed bumps on the road trip of your life, but where you end up is the most important, don’t let those speed bumps derail you. Be happy, everyone deserves to be happy, and while sometimes you have to change your perception of happy, make a new one. Life is what you make it. Focus on all your perfects. What an unforgettable book!

4 stars — This was a rollercoaster ride of a book, mostly with my emotions. There were parts that I absolutely ADORED beyond measure. And there were parts that strained my sense of empathy. I was happy in the end, but definitely emotionally exhausted. Quinn and Graham were an exercise in patience in the Now chapters. While I’m not the best communicator in the world, my god! They were AWFUL at it! We mostly saw Quinn’s side because we’re in her POV, but Graham was pretty awful at communication too. I’m surprised they lasted 7 years. And therapy is boring? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I shy away from therapy too. But I don’t think I’ve ever read 2 people who needed counselling more. The Then chapters were an absolute delight. I was drawn in from the very first chapter. What a strange way to meet, a strange way to open a story. But you could already feel their connection. I kind of loved how the story was balanced between the Then and Now chapters. We got to watch them fall in love while simultaneously falling apart. I think it made it that much more heartbreaking, because you were seeing how solid they were initially, and how great a toll infertility was playing in their marriage. I will admit that I don’t want children…and never have. I was actually initially really offended with Quinn’s thought processes of how we’re only here for reproduction, so if she can’t do that she’s no use in the world. But I had to remind myself that she was only focusing on herself, and not necessarily on others (especially given her sister). So I definitely had a hard time connecting with Quinn’s all encompassing need to have children, and how it took over her life. I felt bits of it, just through Ms. Hoover’s brilliant writing, but I still couldn’t completely understand it. But I did get the resulting depression. I think that made it harder for me to *get* the degree of the struggles this couple was going through. Quinn strained my ability to empathize on so many levels. Maybe, it’s because I recognize glimmers of what she’s going through from a depression perspective, and some of her thoughts and feelings remind me of my own thoughts and feelings, and I HATE those parts of myself, so it was hard to not transfer that on to her. But Quinn took it to a whole new level, and I just had a really hard time with how things played out on her side of the marriage. I actually *felt* for Graham. It doesn’t excuse what he did by any means, but even *he* didn’t excuse what he did. He tried to explain, but not excuse. The Then chapters were honestly 5+ stars. I absolutely loved them as a couple, even if they were a bit over the top perfect in some ways. They made me laugh and grin. The Now chapters were more 3.5 stars. I appreciated the rollercoaster journey, but I’m kind of exhausted now. I wanted a bit more from Quinn at the end, but c’est la vie. I will also say that I LOVED the ending. In so many other stories it would have ended one way, and I would have been disappointed. But Ms. Hoover took the road less travelled, and I *really* appreciated that. The writing was lovely. I highlighted so many bits. The story may have been tough to digest, but the writing was beautiful. And it flowed so smoothly, the story was easy to devour (by my brain, if not my heart).

I always struggle with writing reviews for Colleen Hoover's novels, I don't feel that I have the ability to explain with words how her novels make me feel. Every book of hers makes me think, leaving a lasting impression with a story I can recall years after reading. All Your Perfects was such a heavy read for me, one that, despite the tears, I loved so much and I think it might leave the most lasting impression out of all of them. It's an adult romance, featuring characters who are married that have weathered many storms together. Quinn and Graham have the kind of love you read about in fairytales, it's beautiful and lasting, but their marriage is real and marred by imperfections. Those imperfections eat at them and in time the strength of their love is not enough to carry them, in All Your Perfects Quinn and Graham reflect on the love they once had and the love they share today. “You say that like marriage is a Category 5 hurricane.” “Not all the time. But I definitely think there are Category 5 moments in every marriage.” Quinn and Graham have an unconventional meet-cute story, but it's the first drop of water on their blossoming romance. They've been together seven years, they know each other better than they know themselves, and yet they're still struggling to keep their marriage afloat. Told in alternating timelines, Then and Now, All Your Perfects follows along with the two as they fall in love and fight for that love. The Then chapters give us so much background into who the two are as individuals, who they were in those first blissful days of dating and falling in love, but mixed in with those sweet chapters are difficult ones. We also see them as secrets pile, as regret and sorrow and hopelessness take over their home. Colleen Hoover tells a story about love, about marriage, about the strenuous times that we oftentimes cover up with shiny paper and a bright bow. What Quinn and Graham have is beautiful and strong, but we all know that love can't carry a relationship alone. "I promise to love you more when you hate me than when you love me." The difficulties Quinn and Graham face as a couple, as individuals, are real and painful. The chapters where they struggled, where the truth and the hurt bubbled out of them, were so challenging to read that I needed the Then chapters to break up the heavy. For me, it just might be the most relatable book I've ever read. I could put myself in their shoes and many times I connected parts of the story to my own. I also found it to be uplifting, though I admit I cried roughly the last 20% of the novel. There's wisdom in the pages, the secret to their love is inspiring, the way they work so hard to overcome the hard is a testament to their faith in one another, and there's a lot of power in the words that Colleen Hoover so carefully crafted. "People can’t always control who their circumstances turn them into." All Your Perfects is an emotional tale about love, the kind of love you promise to another forever despite the Category 5s you may have to through. I loved the impassioned fight the two gave to save their love and I was so moved by the way they shared. Quinn and Graham are like real people for me now and as I read All Your Perfects my heart ached for them and hoped for them and wanted perfect for them. Of course, like all of Colleen Hoover's book titles, this one has a background and the message about perfect was such a good one. I can't make anyone read this book, but I recommend it one hundred percent. There's magic in these pages, life changing, beautiful magic.

❝If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim.❞ All Your Perfects is a beautiful, tragic and passionate love story about two flawed people who fate brought together at the perfect time. Tho they may not be perfect individually, together they learn to accept each other's imperfections and start appreciating all the perfect things within their marriage, thereby, arming themselves with the tools necessary to weather category 5 storms! Upon finishing All Your Perfects I immediately wanted to read it again. I don't remember a time when I've ever had that feeling. The story is beautiful in its devastation and truth. What I love so much about this story was its honest view of marriage. It is about a married couple who face tough times and how they come out in the end. Starting from first sight, Hoover takes us on the journey of a couple as they meet, date and marry. But unlike most books I've read, this book is about the marriage. It's about the struggles married couples go through and the real way in which they deal with them. Marriage is hard work, and sometimes it doesn't work and that's okay. But when it does, it isn't by chance. It doesn't work by love alone, although that is the foundation, it is with grit and faith and perseverance. I loved this quote from an interview Quinn did for a school article of a couple who'd been married for sixty years, "What's the secret to such a perfect marriage?" ❝No marriage is perfect. There were times when she gave up on us. There were even more times when I gave up on us. The secret to our longevity is that we never gave up at the same time.❞ Graham was like David, his love was like the rock and their marriage problems were like Goliath. His love was unshakable. Graham lived for loving Quinn. He lived for making her happy. He loved her dreams, both awake and asleep. His love for her made her miss him when he was gone. Quinn's self-doubt and devastation broke my heart. Her pain was honest and transparent and I love that Hoover didn't hold back on her inner dialogue. Her thoughts and feelings were brilliantly laid out on each page. ❝I'm sick of being looked at this way, of not knowing how to answer his questions. I'm no longer on the same wavelength as my husband. I don't know how to communicate with him anymore. Sometimes when I open my mouth, it feels like the wind blows all my words straight back down my throat.❞ ❝I miss the days when I needed to tell him everything or I would burst. And I miss the days when he would feel like time cheated us during the hours we had to sleep.❞ The past and present telling built the intensity of the story and the relationship of Quinn and Graham. It lent to the passion and emotionality of this devastating and painful story! My heart ached and I sobbed! The wisdom within its pages was astounding. These were things you hear from a counselor or life coach! And the BOX, omg! Where did she come up with that? It is truly brilliant! Once the full meaning was revealed, I bawled! Quinn and Graham's love was raw, emotional, brutal, and at times devastating. With All Your Perfects we are reminded that it's easy to point out and focus on flaws in ourselves and others. But it's much more difficult to be present in and appreciate the times when things are good and shine brilliantly. This is my favorite read of the year so far and my top favorite from Mrs. Hoover! (It's going to be hard to beat this one!)

This book took me on such an emotional rollercoaster that I don’t even know where to begin on trying to explain the complexity of it all. Colleen takes us readers inside a broken marriage of two imperfect people trying to hold on to their happily-ever-after in the midst of devastating circumstances. I was astounded at how relatable both of these characters are. I honestly believe everyone who is married or has ever been married can relate to this on so many levels. Marriage is hard and Colleen portrays this in a hauntingly beautiful and real way. She focuses on an issue that is all too real for many women and marriages throughout the world, myself included and All Your Perfects will leave you raw in ways that you cannot imagine. This novel will consume your soul and squeeze your heart. Colleen…if you ever read this, please know that my world has been made brighter because of your words. Told in alternating past and present Colleen lets us see how Graham and Quinn meet while also giving us the sad situation that is their present. I’m grateful that she chose to write the story this way because with the present being so emotionally draining and raw, the past was a breath of fresh air, but in a way it made the present even more sad to us as readers because we see their relationship as a whole and just how much they love each other. Overall, the layout and pace was uniquely Colleen; she grabbed my attention from the start all the while enrapturing my heart as only she can. The characters themselves were perfectly written and portrayed. I felt everything…from their happiness to their devastation. Quinn’s inner monologue gutted me because it so closely resembles my own at times and just for that reason alone it was heartbreaking to see those thoughts on paper. All bases of the particular issue at hand were discussed and touched on and I felt as if Colleen gave validation and recognition to everything people with this issue go through. I loved it because I felt that, for the moment at least, my pain and sadness and worry were understood. Even for people who have never dealt with this topic will be touched by it and the way it shapes Quinn and Graham’s marriage. Graham is a total godsend and will forever hold a soft spot in my heart. I loved how Colleen gave us his inner monologue eventually and it made this experience even more devastatingly beautiful. I’m not going to give away too much on the plot because I went into this story completely blind. I had no idea what it was about except for what the synopsis gave, and I believe that is the way you should go into this story as well. Just know that in true Colleen Hoover fashion it was perfectly crafted, unique but relatable on such an intimate level, and deeply moving. It is definitely a page turner that you won’t want to put down until the end. It left me breathless, vulnerable in a way that I haven’t been with a book since Hopeless, and forever grateful that her brilliant mind gave us this. Just know that even though this novel will break you, it will also heal you in ways that you cannot even imagine. All Your Perfects is the ultimate story of love, loss, and unimaginable strength in times of chaos. You have to read this book. You will be forever changed by it.

You know how sometimes you bump into someone you haven’t seen for a while and find out that they have recently separated or divorced their partner? The first thing I feel is sadness and then afterwards I wonder what went wrong to bring them to to this decision to end things. When a tough decision like this is made, do they think back to the moments and reasons why they fell in love in first place and can they truly validate why those feelings are no longer there? Quinn and Graham have been married for seven years. They met under quite unusual circumstances but you can read about that yourself. Graham is one of those guys who is a deep thinker and all of his emotions show on his face, especially in his eyes. He loves to have deep conversations with Quinn, from the moment they met actually and my favourite ones are when she wakes up each morning and he says… ‘What did I miss while you were asleep? Did you dream?’ When they are faced with a struggle that they just can’t seem to overcome I was surprised at how this couple who seemed so open with their communication just shut down. They became completely different people. The love was still there but there was also resentment and sorrow. The term ‘walking around on eggshells’ was how Graham navigated his way round Quinn’s moods. ‘He fills the room with his presence. I only fill it with my absence.’ This story alternates from Then and Now so we get a sense of how their relationship began, how the foundation was established and how quickly it began to crumble around them. This may be a fictional story but it truly was a reflection of a lot of real relationships. This happens to couples all the time, all over the world – for many different reasons too, including the one that affected Quinn & Graham. I felt so bad for each of them. Graham was trying to support Quinn and give her what she needed while he got nothing back from her. He was dealing with his own grief, not always in the best ways but over arching all of that was his love for her. Quinn was feeling guilty and angry about the hand she was dealt. She still desired and loved her husband but it just wasn’t enough to take away the pain. ‘I want so much to enjoy my husband without the one thing I know he needs the most and the one thing I want the least.’ However, this couple planned for a moment like this, a contingency plan if you like. They believed in the weight of their love and the strength of their relationship right from the beginning so they put something in place, like breaking the glass on a fire alarm. A relationship lifeline to help them through dark times. I think this was favourite part of this story, no I know it was! I loved this book so much, I love how ‘real’ this felt. I felt everything. The lust, the love, the happy, the frustration, the sorrow, the resentment and the resolve. This story highlights how important it is to always be open in honest in your communication with your partner and trust in the love/foundation that it was buitl on. ‘Some people think the focus in a marriage should be put on the perfect days. They love as much and as hard as they can when everything is going right. But if a person gives all of themselves in the good times, hoping the bad times never come, there may not be enough resources or energy left to withstand those category 5 moments.’

Colleen Hoover is a must-read for me. She has such great stories to tell. I was going to try to write my review without spoilers but it's really hard to keep them all to myself. So if you think this is a problem for you, please stop reading now. In All Your Perfects, Colleen Hoover deals with the topic of infertility, a medical problem rarely touched in romance novels. Our couple has been trying to get pregnant just short of a year after they get married. Their story is told in past and present scenes. Beginning with the way they meet, the story captures the audience and it doesn't let you go until the last page is done. Most of us (romance readers) love the idea of an HEA. We love the idea that true love can conquer all. In All Your Perfects, we learned that love alone sometimes is not enough. Quinn and Graham deal with a problem that neither can fix. After meeting on the worst day of their lives, a few months later they meet again under different circumstances. This time, they won't let the other one go without a fight. Fast and furious, their love for each commences. During their courtship and their first year of marriage, everything is perfect. It's when they try for a pregnancy that their perfect life starts falling apart. After Graham is tested and told that his sperm is perfect, the pressure falls on Quinn's shoulders. As a couple, they try numerous ways for a baby. Every single one fails, leaving their bank account completely drained. It also takes Quinn on a road to depression without a way back. She's unable to express her feelings of devastation and loneliness. They stopped communicating and you start wishing for a miracle to save their marriage. But maybe love is not enough. No matter how much you love someone-the capacity of that love is meaningless if it outweighs your capacity to forgive. All Your Perfects is an emotional rollercoaster with plenty of guilt, depression, loneliness, love and hope to go around. With CoHo's writing, I was able to feel what Quinn was experiencing. Her marriage and love for her husband and for herself had changed over the years. She felt she was not enough because she couldn't procreate. Unfortunately, we live in a society where procreation is a must. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been asked how many kids I have and how come I don't have any. Not only do I think the question is rude when you don't know someone well but I think that we shouldn't see women as a uterus alone. We're more than that. We are professionals. We can choose not to have kids. We can choose to have ten. We can choose to marry or stay single. We can choose to love our jobs or travel instead. It's up to us. It is time we tell society to mind their own business. Now, why didn't I give it five stars? Well, I had problems with two scenes were Graham came out as a douche. It was hard for me to forgive and forget. Cliffhanger: No 4/5 Fangs

I’m not going to even fabricate it, the beginning of this book started slow for me and I had my doubts about it. It was taking me a long time to get in to it. I stuck with it and , wow, am I glad I did because then I couldn’t put it down. This was the first time I actually took parts of this book and sent it to my husband to read because it was so incredibly written that it touched my heart. Without giving too much away, every woman happily married or even going through a rough patch, or looking for their soulmate still needs to read this book bc it is so wonderfully written and descriptive of what we should pray for in our marriages. This is by far my favorite by Colleen Hoover yet and I only say yet because I’ve read most of hers and each time I finish one I think this !