Alright. I know, I know. Another Colleen Hoover book, but, honestly, who cares? Because she is the best and I’m obsessed with her writing style. For this book, it’s no different. It’s just a little less fantastic than her later novels (which is completely acceptable because I’m pretty sure this was her first one and my goodness has she grown as an author). 

To start, it did feel very tropey (I don’t think it’s a word, but it should be!) throughout the novel. Lake is a typical teenager who resents her mother for the move and is overly sassy at times. It drives me nuts, but I think it was great for her as a character because she was a teenager. It’s not like she was acting like an adult in a YA novel, which would throw me off even more. I want my YA characters to act their age. It’s more realistic.

Now, Will, you say? He’s perfect. A beautiful man with beautiful intentions and a great heart. Sometimes I had to wonder what he saw in Lake, but when you love someone, I guess that’s just how it goes. He was hardworking. Intelligent. Not to mention, so damn adorable with his little brother. He definitely made this book worth reading by himself. The fact that he liked poetry? Wow. That’s a heart stopper right there.

As far as the plot points go, a lot of them felt convenient and obviously thrown in there for tension. I didn’t mind too much, though, because some tropes are tropes for a reason (because they just make a story good). I’ll talk more about the convenient scenes and plot points in the spoilers below. 

Spoilers ahead.

So, the fact that Will was her teacher? I kind of resented that plot point. It felt weird and cringey even though they were only a few years apart. Maybe that’s just because of the ethical implications that my mind keeps going to (we just had ethics training at my work, too, ironically), but I just didn’t like it and tried to ignore that point even though it was the main focal point of the novel. 

I also really hated the scene where Javi forced Layken to kiss him, and then Will punched Javi for doing it even though he didn’t know Lake was being forced. That felt way too convenient. It would’ve been better had she left it at Will knowing that Lake was being forced because him not getting kicked out of his job because he was lucky enough to actually be defending Lake was… yeah. I’m not into convenience in a book to make a character look more appealing and heroic. 

Lastly, Lake’s mom having cancer. Was this just thrown in there to make Lake and Will come closer together? Because both of them have dead parents? I just really didn’t like that and felt that it could’ve been better. 

Overall, 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4 on Goodreads) for Slammed. It was a “tropey” teenage book that was good for my long drives that I have for work. Entertaining but doesn’t take up too much brain power. Not memorable, though, when you compare it to Colleen Hoover’s other books. 

Source: Audiobook from Overdrive Public Library