Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Atria Books, 2013. ISBN 9781476743554.
(Age: 17+) Highly recommended. I'm sold. I haven't ventured yet into the New Adult genre but it's one I've been meaning to try out, especially due to its recent popularity. Featuring more serious issues and romances that young adult novels rarely venture into, it's an interesting change.
Hopeless is an endearing, shocking, and strangely heart-warming novel. It slowly envelops us into the story of a girl named Sky who feels nothing for guys even when she's making out with them. Her mother has shielded her from technology and public schools ever since she was adopted at 6, and it's her first time going into public school with a reputation of sleeping around.
Then she meets Dean Holder, a guy who has a temper and a reputation rivalling her own. He's a high school drop out who was thrown into juvie for a hate crime, after beating a gay guy up at school. Holder envokes strange feelings of lust and passion that she's never felt before, and even though she's confused by his strange, violent outbursts and foreign behaviour, she can't stay away. As it turns out, Holder is the person who will change her life forever and uncover secrets that she has kept hidden away all of her life.
Hopeless slowly draws you in and before you know it, you're heavily invested in Sky and Holder. It's told in a very intimate way which I've never quite encountered with such intensity before, with the chapter's set out like Sky's diary with all of her emotions, thoughts and confusion laid out to bare. Interactions between her and Holder are intense, passionate and powerful. It's clear the two have a connection that many other literary couples cannot rival.
From picking up the book from its humble beginnings, the journey that it takes you on is not one I would have anticipated. But amazing nonetheless, and my heart breaks for the suffering that these two teenagers have gone through. The author handles shocking and disturbing subject matters very elegantly and realistically, and kudos her for being able to do so.
This is not a book you pick up when you're feeling like a light read or a simple romance. It's one that will tear you up, make you smile, break your heart, and realise how lucky you are for what you have. Hopeless is a book that stays on your mind long after you've read it and you'll be hooked.
I can't wait to read Losing Hope, the 2nd in the series which has just been released. Due to heavily mature content, sexual situations and language, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone below 17.
Jeann Wong