November 9Written by Colleen Hoover
Originally published 2015
About 307 pages
Rate 9/10
My summary of November 9
Fallon used to be an amazing child actor until the day her father's house caught on fire and he forgot she was inside. Hollywood is so focused on looks that he burns were no match for Hollywood's already unrealistic beauty standards. Now she's 18 and having lunch with her father who she rarely talks to, he constantly reminds her of what he life could have been. Ben overhears and decides to stick up for her by pretending to be her boyfriend.
Ben and Fallon really hit it off, but Fallon promised her mother that she would focus on herself until she's 23 years old, then she will start to date more seriously. Today she moves to New York City to pursue acting again, but the instant connection she has with Ben is hard to pass up. They decide that they will block each other on social media and meet up every November 9th until they are 23, then they will decide what to do from there.
In the mean time, Ben is a writer and Fallon tells him to write a romance novel based on their relationship. Ben tells Fallon she has to audition once a week and kiss at least two boys. With each year passing by, things get more complicated.
My opinion on November 9
Here's the thing, would I have liked the advances that Ben made on Fallon in real life, no, not at all, but was it interesting to read about and pretend, yes! For example, I would be terrified if some random man sat next to me and pretended to be my boyfriend next to my father. I would not think it was cute at all, but it was fun to read because of how unreal and innocent it was.
This doesn't really have to with whether the book was good or not, but personally I had an odd connection to this book. One of the main characters almost had the same full name as one of my exes and because of that, it was a little bit weird for me to read his almost name and try not to think about him. I also have similar features as Fallon so that was kind of an odd coincidence as well as the fact that I have the same life goals as Ben.
I liked how back and forth the story line was and how there really wasn't all that much fluff. I liked how her spicy scenes aren't too extra, it's not too detailed and most of the time it's in good timing. Sometimes I do feel like her books are written for the male audience though, and I suppose you could say that a male did write this because it's kind of Ben writing it? I get that some people might think it's irrational to not be with someone once you know you want to be with them, but it's such an interesting concept to me because of the fact that it's so far fetched!
Quotes
"You'll never be able to find yourself if you are lost in someone else."
"As long as the two people end up happy, it doesn't really matter if they end up happy together."
"Where do you want to go?" "Wherever you are."