Without Merit: A Novel

This is unlike anything I have ever read from Colleen Hoover. In fact, I think that she can write anything regardless of genre and still have a major hit on her hands. She proves this in Without Merit- a quirky, somewhat dry and emotional read that dives deep into mental illness. When I first began reading this I remember thinking to myself, this is not Colleen Hoover! There is no romance or plight! But there is. It's just underneath all the important stuff that many authors fear to touch upon. And then, I continued reading the poetic words and brilliancy behind character motives and I thought, yup! It actually is work by Colleen Hoover. For some reason, her words and the way she puts stories together really set her apart from others. Readers feel like they are a part of the story in some shape or form and become emotionally involved and invested in what happens to the characters. At first, it is a bit tough to become emotionally invested in Merit because she is very DRY. She is also one dimensional, see's everything as if it were only one sided, and literally only knows how to judge based on her own perspective. Some readers may not like her character and I can understand why. But when the emotional journey hits it peak and things begin to slowly change within her eyes then YOUR perspective of her character is bound to change. For me, this is one of the most impactful books I have read by Colleen and I think she does a wonderful job at bringing dysfunctional and somewhat unlikable characters into human beings right before our eyes. I commend her for this, and I commend her bravery at bringing mental illness into a book because it's something we as readers seek more of (it makes them more realistic, right?). With that, readers are going to experience something very different with this book. I myself absolutely LOVED it for reasons that I mentioned above PLUS the fact that we got to get a good look at how depression can affect a person- especially someone who is YOUNGER and more prone to act rashly. I won't dive into the plot because there is no way that I can do it justice, it just needs to be read and felt by readers. But I will say that it is different than Colleen's other books as this is more of a young adult drama novel than a romance. There is also a ton of dysfunctional things going on within the Voss house that is all sorts of messed up as well, but that's for you to find out on your own. If you’re a fan of Colleen Hoover- grab this one! I know you probably will anyway because she is a #1click author for many. If you like young adult, domestic dramas that discuss mental illness then this would also be a great book for you. I assure you, it will open your eyes to a totally different world.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a CoHo book, but I’m glad I decided to read this one. She knows how to write an addictive read that really tugs at your emotions. None of her books are safe and she always tackles tough topics and Without Merit was no exception. Without Merit is very different from a lot of her other reads. For one, the romance is not the central aspect here. It’s a very small part of the story and is very much secondary to the overall plot. This is Merit’s story and is focused on her and her family life. There is a lot going on in Merit’s house and nobody deals with their problems. My heart broke for Merit because she just wanted to be heard. I wanted to reach into the book and help her so badly. There were so many secrets in this family and when it all comes out things come crashing down. What’s so interesting about this book though is that while I was fully invested and felt so much for Merit, I’m not sure I actually liked any of these characters. Like Sagan, he had some valid points but I didn’t always like his delivery. I also didn’t like how he pushed people to talk but didn’t really talk himself. I also had some serious issues with Honor. She has her own issues, but she treats Merit horribly and there is a thing I’m not cool with. I won’t even touch her Dad or Utah because ill rant for days. Even Merit, who I truly sympathized with, I don’t know if I liked her. The only ones I liked were Moby (who is four) and Victoria, which is weird because she is the one most of the characters hated. I just think she got a lot taken out on her. But I don’t think the point of the book is for me to like these characters. They all have their flaws and that makes them real and kind of what makes the story so captivating. People in real life aren’t always likable but it doesn’t make them any less valid and that is the point here and that is what resonated with me and what I liked so much about this book. So yes it’s weird that I didn’t like the characters but I still really liked the book and I’d recommend it. All in all, Without Merit is one of those books you really need to digest and process and the kind that stays with you. This book isn’t safe, but it makes you feel and realize that everyone is going through something and that it’s worth it to take time to notices those around you.

Author Colleen Hoover touches on a very important topic in her new novel titled Without Merit. Her distinctive wit and humor dance around the subject of mental health. Readers will find comfort in her familiar writing voice but will also notice Without Merit is a bit different from anything she has ever written. Packed with unconventional characters and intense family drama, this book was nearly impossible for me to put down! Our primary character, Merit Voss, lives in a re-purposed church building located in a small Texas town. Dubbed Dollar Voss, the church building is now the home to seven Voss family members. Merit is the self-proclaimed keeper of Voss family secrets. From her point of view, her family is embarrassing and completely dysfunctional. She harbors pent up anger towards family members, resents her eccentric living circumstances, and blames both of these reasons for her lack of a social life. We’ve all heard some of these questions asked – how do you know if your family is normal? Which human behaviors are considered dysfunctional? Is there even such thing as a normal family? While I was reading this novel, I found myself focusing on questions such as these. Without Merit forced me to consider my own family dynamics and other important themes such as perspective, judgement, and resentment. From the viewpoint of a teenage girl, the behaviors or makeup of a family unit can be traumatic, even embarrassing and frustrating. Colleen Hoover was very clever as she penned Merit’s passive-aggressive point-of-view. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but throughout this story I had this sense that we were building towards something important. It was subtle at first, barely there, and then it became more gradual. But it was there – I felt this impending sense that something climactic was coming. Without Merit has solid character development, creativity, romantic tension, and eccentric secondary characters – all the characteristics we love to see in a top Colleen Hoover novel. Hoover took a step away from the new adult genre with this novel – something that I was delighted to see! This fiction novel falls soundly into the young adult age group, with a lean toward the coming of age genre. Without Merit is a fantastic read, but the truth is, this story has the potential to touch people’s lives. At the very minimum, it will open the eyes of readers to the importance of mental health. I am sure of this. I highly recommend Without Merit. I’m giving this book a 5-star rating and will be adding it to my list of 2017 favorites!

I'm not really sure where I heard this, but I could have sworn that Colleen Hoover said Without Merit would be a lighter and younger novel than she's published in her last couple of books. But that was really not the case. Younger...yes. Lighter...not really. Only shortly before this book published did I even see an official description for it. And while the description does mention family secrets, there's no hint as to what those secrets may be. But boy are there many. I don't know that Colleen Hoover can write a book that's simply a love story without having a good bit of drama and darker subjects woven into the story. Without Merit has all of the following: atheism, mental illness, depression, extra marital affairs, gay/bisexual characters, inappropriate sexual situations, suicide, and various other issues. Yet the biggest theme I'd say throughout the entire book is perspective. How we only see a version of the events that happen in someone else's life and we certainly don't know what others are thinking or feeling unless they share those things with us. And how we often assume things about how others think and feel based upon their actions and our own biases. While I was a little overwhelmed with the amount of dysfunction within Merit's family, I did enjoy the message about perspective. Even though I can't say that I hated Merit as a character, I can't say that I loved her either. She's flawed for sure, regularly making assumptions about her family members based on partial information. She's definitely not my favorite of Colleen Hoover's leading females. But at the same time, she truly was one of the more likeable characters within this family for me. Sagan was a saint. It was hard to see why he liked Merit, and actually at some point he actually doesn't like Merit that much. But he was involved in Merit's life and family in a way that goes beyond what the average person would do. Yet I liked him most because he inspired Merit to grow and become a better person. A small annoyance for me was the character names. I felt like they were all a bit too unique to be believable. There's Barnaby, two Victorias, Merit, Honor, Utah, Sage, and Luck. I mean Victoria isn't too odd, but having two of them in addition to the other cast was slightly too much for me. Because of my background, there were a few things that felt borderline for me. While I was annoyed at Merit's father for being an atheist, I appreciated this being a characteristic that didn't feel pushed upon the reader as he didn't even try to push the same on his children as well. I could easily feel like the characters were a little sacrilegious but Colleen Hoover actually kind of combats that in her writing preemptively. And then of course the gay and bisexual characters were slightly annoying because I'm beginning to feel like she includes this in every single book. Also, I really hate the "just get your virginity over with because there's too much hype" that seems to becoming more and more rampant among the younger generations. Favorite quotes: -But that was several years ago and my siblings and I have long since moved past the wrongs our father committed against our mother. Actually, we haven't. Not even slightly. -I once read a quote that said, "Don't make your presence known. Make your absence felt." -I also don't trust people who claim for a classic to be their favorite novel. I think they're lying just to sound educated, or they simply haven't read another book beyond high school English requirements. -If he doesn't like the thought of getting caught, why does he do things he doesn't want people to find out? -"Sometimes you get stuck with family members that do nothing but make mistakes they never have to apologize or pay for." AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!! -Maybe that's the root of a lot of family issues. It isn't actually the issues people are hung up about for so long. It's that no one has the courage to take the first step in talking about the issues. -"It annoys me when people try to convince other people that their anger or stress isn't warranted if someone else in the world is worse off than them." I believe I might have connected to Without Merit while reading it in large part due to the family conflict. Even though my extended family wasn't going through quite the same things as Merit's family (at the time I read this book), everyone can relate to family conflict and we were certainly going through it at the time I read this. While I read this book within 24 hours and felt hooked and invested into the storyline and Merit and Sagan, looking back on the story, Without Merit might now take the place as my least favorite Colleen Hoover story. It wasn't bad, at all. It's just that the content and characters weren't my preference at all. Even though I connected to the characters having conflict within their family, most of the time I prefer to read as a form of escape and this almost added more stress to my life than help me to escape the stresses I was feeling in my own personal life. Without Merit gets 3.5 Stars. Have you read Without Merit? What did you think? Let me know!

Very good book. Really enjoyed reading it.

This book was…𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚... 😂 but also proof that “what did I just read” can still be a 3.75⭐️ 😂 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐁𝐲 Colleen Hoover I went into Without Merit expecting one thing and got… well… not what I was expecting 🤣 Let me explain!… It gave 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘌𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘪𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘦 🎥 vibes… minus the young and handsom Johnny Depp chasing Leonardo DiCaprio up the town water tower (seriously though… if you haven’t seen it, go watch it 😂) but it’s that same small town, chaotic family energy where you’re just sitting there wondering, who the hell let all of this happen 🫣 You’ve got this super quirky, dysfunctional family that feels like the town’s inside joke… and everyone is just… off in their own way. Secrets, awkward tension, weird dynamics…. it’s all there. Merit (the main character) is very much in her “I don’t know what I’m doing with my life” era, and the story leans into mental health and her trying to figure herself out… but in a quieter, slightly uncomfortable way rather than super emotional or dramatic. And one thing about Colleen Hoover… she never writes the same book twice. You really don’t know what you’re getting when you pick one up, and I love that because some authors start to feel copy & paste after a while. For me, this one just landed somewhere in the middle. Not my favorite out of hers, but I still enjoyed it and appreciated how different it felt. A solid 3.75⭐️… a little strange, a little messy, but still worth the read. 💕

Each and every book that Colleen writes grabs me from the very beginning with either a quirkiness in her characters or something that just slams into you. Without Merit was quirky, funny, serious but with a light(er) tone. It's a YA book so it's drama and it's Colleen Hoover so there is going to be some pain and hurt, but most of all, it's just a book that is based on a family of characters that are unusual but you can totally and 100% relate to. "I'm attracted to the unconventional and strange." Merit comes from a, shall we say, 'diverse' family. She is a twin, they have an older brother and a way younger (half) brother. They live under one roof (of a former church no less) in a more than odd way. Sagan is someone that captures us in the first 2 chapters and we don't want him to leave. He is not part of the Voss family. He's like a saint or a messenger. He's someone that is deep but still a teenager himself. He's just right where he's needed at all times. He was like the glue that held a broken family together and he wasn't even a part of that family. "Sometimes you get stuck with family members that do nothing but make mistakes they never have to apologize or pay for." Colleen Hoover is witty, original and quirky in her writing and oh so dang creative. Without Merit is original and perfect for any age. It appeals to the younger crowd but is written in a sense that is deeper (ahem, Sagan). It's like seeing life through teenager eyes that have seen too much but have so much yet to see. But what they've already seen is more than the average family. I loved the story. I loved the fact that it was just a snippet in the life. She leaves us with wanting more of the Voss family but also ok with where it ended too. Their lives go on and you can imagine it in your way. We've seen the characters grow and learn from their mistakes and you hope it doesn't happen again. So, what's next??.... "Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness."

It took me quite some time to digest all of the complex emotions I felt after reading this book. I have two children (teenager and pre-teen), and this book made me think about my own family dynamics. Everyone has felt like Merit at some point in their lives, alone but not lonely. I also believe everyone has some dysfunctional element to their family dynamics. Or maybe it’s just me? Without Merit is unlike anything Colleen Hoover has written. This is not a classic romance novel with your latest and greatest book boyfriend. This is the story of Merit, a seventeen-year-old girl who is battling her own personal demons within the walls of a repurposed church, turned family home. Merit is drowning in her own depression, which stems from issues with her own self-worth and her dysfunctional family relationships. Merit wonders if her family would even notice if she was gone. "I didn’t matter, but I don’t. I hate it here, too. I don’t matter here, either. If I dropped out of life, just like I dropped out of school, everyone’s lives would go on. With or without Merit.” Merit is tired of being the crypt keeper of lies and secrets. Years of compressing and compartmentalizing it all has taken its toll on her emotional well-being. “Maybe if I let all the secrets out, they wouldn’t make me feel like drowning anymore. Yes. Maybe that would help. Maybe getting it all out will help me feel like I’m not about to implode.” Without Merit is infused with Colleen’s signature wit and addictive writing style. She pulled on all of my emotions. This book was heartbreaking, humorous at times, raw and complex. While the topics were serious, as a reader I didn’t find this book either dark or depressing. It made me think and feel along with the narrator. Colleen tackled some complicated topics with grace in this all-consuming, coming of age, soon to be YA/NA classic. She weaved an intricate web of emotions while unmasking the ugly reality of teenage depression. This story is thought-provoking and simply must be read. Not because it's a CoHo book, but because it's important. This book will touch everyone's heart and soul in that special way that Colleen does, time and time again.

This novel is just addicting, The story plot, the characters and everything. It was just so amazing. I am absolutely in love with this novel. Must buy!

è decisamente uno dei migliori libri della Hoover, e anche il più originale, sia per quanto riguarda la storia che i personaggi. La protagonista è una ragazza in cui molti ci si possono rivedere. La famiglia è di certo una delle più strane e particolari mai lette, e mi piace come la Hoover riesca sempre trattare tematiche molto forti e serie in modo molto leggero e coinvolgente. L'ho letto tutto d'un fiato!

I am a massive Colleen Hoover fan but for some reason waited a while to read this book. M”now I am annoyed I did because it was amazing. Loved the story. Merit is such a unique character. There isn’t another book out there like this. Colleen did it again as usual. Hurry up with your next book.

It’s good to read to pass time

✨ Book Review ✨ Without Merit by Colleen Hoover 🐕 🫶 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Merit lives in a very chaotic family- the Voss family. She has a twin sister that looks exactly like her. They share their looks but have two very different personalities. One is popular and intelligent, the other is the shy poor thing. Merit holes her family's deepest secrets. She accumulated these secrets over the years until one day she explodes (with a letter). 😧 I love everything about this book for sure. From the characters to the strange setting and to the conversations that have a deeper meaning. In the book you see the characters building up and how they come to realisation and acceptance. You see the importance of taking care of friendships and relationships in general. And you come to a conclusion to look at things from a different perspective and point of view (the ones who read it will understand this clearly😉). The book has a deeper message that every reader should know about and extract the message by themselves. 🫶 Beautiful quotes💖🥹 -“Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.” -“If silence were a river, your tongue would be the boat.” -“So many people dream of living in a house with a white picket fence. Little do they know, there's no such thing as a perfect family, no matter how white the picket fence is.” I’d recommend this book to anyone who never read anything written by Colleen Hoover, because this was my first time reading a book by COHO and I genuinely enjoyed it. 🥰