Layla

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Yes, the story turned into Paranormal Activity and Flatliners meet Ghost and worst season of American Horror Story! During the day when I’m chatting with Willow on the computer, I spend that time wishing she could take over Layla and I could talk to her face to face.

She’s the victim now, even though she’s unaware of it. The only thing Layla did wrong is fall in love with me. Není to kniha, u které by ze mě autorka vyždímala emoce do poslední slzy, vlastně jsem se skoro po celou dobu čtení nemohla rozhodnout, jak se vůči hlavním postavám cítím a jestli s jejich počínáním souhlasím nebo ne. Příběh u mě dokázal navodit jakousi záhadnou tajemnou atmosféru, a když jsem si už myslela, že vím, kam to celé směřuje, tak jsem zjistila, že mě autorka zase převezla . But the crux of the issue is that Leeds isn't written as a villain. He's the main character of the love story, and we are supposed to sympathize with him and cheer him on. And when we get to the resolution, it obviously tries to justify what Leeds did. But that's problematic too because he did not actually know of these justifications when he committed his horrible acts. other than guy gaslights girl. (Oh and insta-love, but that’s kind of a given in a CoHo book.) That gaslighting though? Oof! I’m all for characters that break bad, but the author has to convey some level of awareness that it’s happening. Here we’re just supposed to keep rooting for him and a happy ending. Which I did, until I realized the gaslighting had happened to me too.

I wanted Leeds to do some “behind the scenes” digging into Willow, as that would have added some substance to this intriguing tale. I’m supposed to crave her, to want her tongue in my mouth, my hands on her body, to push myself inside her. But it’s not what I want right now. All I feel right now is overwhelming impatience. The end did have a clever twist though, which had me guessing about which woman would come out Victorious... Fui do desespero, ao medo, a incredulidade, a raiva, ao asco, a mais raiva ainda, e no final eu entendi, mas ainda assim julguei muito as atitudes dos personagens. Everything about this moment is wrong. Layla thinks she’s pleasuring her soon-to-be fiancé while I’m pretending she’s the ghost I’ve been slowly falling for.

Mňa táto knižka dostala. Nečakala som nič extra, lebo recenzie boli dosť rozpačité. Možno je fajn, že od Colleen Hoover som ešte nič nečítala, takže som nemala možnosť túto knihu porovnávať s jej inými. A som rada, že som začala práve touto. Asi by som dala 4.5 hviezdičky, ak by sa dalo :) Bolo to super, ale dosť ma štval hlavný hrdina. Primárne to bolo tým, že to bolo písané z jeho pohľadu a tak som mala možnosť čítať všetky jeho myšlienky a pocity, ktoré mi vadili... Zato však je kniha plná pekných a/alebo zaujímavých citátov, ktoré som si musela povyznačovať. Am I the only person who lives for finding out the dedication in each Colleen Hoover book? No? Just me? Ok, let me start again.I love that Hoover blends genres and I appreciate the uniqueness of this book. I'm sure I've never read anything like it and the way she thinks outside the box is awesome. Now all I feel is remorse, because it wasn’t until ten seconds ago that I realized I’ve already moved on to another cycle.

Colleen Hoover é uma das autoras que eu mais gosto de ler, apesar de estar mais acostumada com os livros de romance que ela normalmente escreve. Hmmm… now that I've finished, I'm not even sure what genre to categorise Layla as? I would've said psychological thriller until the last 20%. And, Leeds made me too uncomfortable to view him as any type of romantic leading man, so not a romance either? And saying he made me uncomfortable isn’t a spoiler as the first sentence will likely make you feel the same way. And if that's not enough to convince you that Leeds is a creep and a weirdo then the fact that he was utterly consumed with Layla from the moment he laid eyes on her in chapter one, and that he freely admitted he had nothing in his life pre-Layla should’ve sent Layla running for the hills.While it was one of my first times reading a romance novel with the pov of a male character (which I didn’t mind, to be honest. I like the change), Leeds has got to be one of the most pathetic characters I’ve come across reading. This man is an example of why I question love and loyalty. Emotional cheating is defined as "a particular type of secretive, sustained closeness with someone who isn't your primary partner. It's one person making a unilateral decision to cultivate nonsexual intimacy with someone other than their primary romantic partner in a way that weakens or undermines the relationship." (Source)

Confesso que algumas coisas eu desconfiava no decorrer da história, mas outras foram totalmente inesperadas. So yeah, Leeds actions didn’t sit well with me for the majority of the book. I was genuinely concerned for Layla. I found Leeds and Willow’s constant togetherness distasteful despite the fact that I also thought they were sweet. At this point, I was questioning why the book was called Layla instead of Willow. LOL, if only I’d paid more attention. I’d make a terrible detective. Leeds. He's the leading man in this 'love story'. He's also manipulative, abusive, selfish, judgemental, unsympathetic, a liar who routinely gaslights his girlfriend yet seems to consider himself a victim in everything. Desde o primeiro momento em que Leeds pousou seus olhos em Layla, ele ficou completamente fascinado por seu jeito de ser.I had an assumption as to what was going on. For a time, I thought I had it right because the characters thought so too. But then the plot twist . . . BAM! And I was . . . relieved. When I thought about it, the twist was pretty self exlpanatory. I couldn’t catch on to it because I was too busy fretting and seething that Leeds was practically cheating on Layla with Willow. I prefer Willow over Layla now, in almost every way, and it’s a heavy, appalling, shameful realization. Querendo que Layla se recupere totalmente e assim quem sabe salvar o relacionamento deles que a cada dia está mais deteriorado, ele tem a ideia de levá-la até a pousada em que se conhecerem. Not only that, but I couldn’t sympathize with any character whatsoever, especially Leeds. As the reader, we’re supposed to feel some positive emotion, yet I only found anger towards him. What started as a solid and mediocre relationship turned into lies, manipulation, and gaslighting. It all became a repetitive cycle of emotional playing. Not only that, but I found the story boring as a whole. Even the plot twists were something I shrugged off and read through as if they didn't mean anything (because, really, they didn't). Typically in a normal romance, it’s the other way around—y’know, when you’d lower the rating because something you didn’t like happen somewhere in the last 1/3 of the book. This is not your avarage romance. It’s . . . peculiar. There are creepy elements, but it’s not scary. It’s compelling and emotional, which basically sums up anything CoHo writes.