Review: Without Merit by Colleen Hoover

Oct 04, 2017 by Samantha Andrews in Reviews

Synopsis for Without Merit

The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.

Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.

Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.

What can I even say when it comes to Colleen Hoover? The moment it’s announced that she has a book coming out, I know I have to read it as soon as possible. I drop everything I am doing and reading just to start her books – and I am never disappointed. Without Merit was no different.

Without Merit felt personal for me. I related far too closely to Merit and her dysfunctional family. The issues she faces, the loneliness, feeling unloved, unwanted, and eventually realizing the depression she has made me feel so sad and it felt real. I am all too familiar with all those feelings so reading about it made me very emotional.

I always stay away from spoilers, but I think it’s important for those with triggers to know that Without Merit has them (attempted suicide). So, no, I would not recommend this one to everyone. It’s also a story that talks about mental health and depression, which I think is so important – having severe anxiety and major depression myself, I am always interested in books that deal with these topics.

I don’t want to say much more about Without Merit because this one is best going in without knowing much. There’s many layers to this story and it piles on and on before it explodes which made for some intense moments.

Once again Colleen Hoover wrote an amazing and heart rending story. I will forever be a fan of hers.

I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review.