Without Merit: A Novel

Author Colleen Hoover touches on a very important topic in her new novel titled Without Merit. Her distinctive wit and humor dance around the subject of mental health. Readers will find comfort in her familiar writing voice but will also notice Without Merit is a bit different from anything she has ever written. Packed with unconventional characters and intense family drama, this book was nearly impossible for me to put down! Our primary character, Merit Voss, lives in a re-purposed church building located in a small Texas town. Dubbed Dollar Voss, the church building is now the home to seven Voss family members. Merit is the self-proclaimed keeper of Voss family secrets. From her point of view, her family is embarrassing and completely dysfunctional. She harbors pent up anger towards family members, resents her eccentric living circumstances, and blames both of these reasons for her lack of a social life. We’ve all heard some of these questions asked – how do you know if your family is normal? Which human behaviors are considered dysfunctional? Is there even such thing as a normal family? While I was reading this novel, I found myself focusing on questions such as these. Without Merit forced me to consider my own family dynamics and other important themes such as perspective, judgement, and resentment. From the viewpoint of a teenage girl, the behaviors or makeup of a family unit can be traumatic, even embarrassing and frustrating. Colleen Hoover was very clever as she penned Merit’s passive-aggressive point-of-view. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but throughout this story I had this sense that we were building towards something important. It was subtle at first, barely there, and then it became more gradual. But it was there – I felt this impending sense that something climactic was coming. Without Merit has solid character development, creativity, romantic tension, and eccentric secondary characters – all the characteristics we love to see in a top Colleen Hoover novel. Hoover took a step away from the new adult genre with this novel – something that I was delighted to see! This fiction novel falls soundly into the young adult age group, with a lean toward the coming of age genre. Without Merit is a fantastic read, but the truth is, this story has the potential to touch people’s lives. At the very minimum, it will open the eyes of readers to the importance of mental health. I am sure of this. I highly recommend Without Merit. I’m giving this book a 5-star rating and will be adding it to my list of 2017 favorites!

It’s been a while since I’ve read a CoHo book, but I’m glad I decided to read this one. She knows how to write an addictive read that really tugs at your emotions. None of her books are safe and she always tackles tough topics and Without Merit was no exception. Without Merit is very different from a lot of her other reads. For one, the romance is not the central aspect here. It’s a very small part of the story and is very much secondary to the overall plot. This is Merit’s story and is focused on her and her family life. There is a lot going on in Merit’s house and nobody deals with their problems. My heart broke for Merit because she just wanted to be heard. I wanted to reach into the book and help her so badly. There were so many secrets in this family and when it all comes out things come crashing down. What’s so interesting about this book though is that while I was fully invested and felt so much for Merit, I’m not sure I actually liked any of these characters. Like Sagan, he had some valid points but I didn’t always like his delivery. I also didn’t like how he pushed people to talk but didn’t really talk himself. I also had some serious issues with Honor. She has her own issues, but she treats Merit horribly and there is a thing I’m not cool with. I won’t even touch her Dad or Utah because ill rant for days. Even Merit, who I truly sympathized with, I don’t know if I liked her. The only ones I liked were Moby (who is four) and Victoria, which is weird because she is the one most of the characters hated. I just think she got a lot taken out on her. But I don’t think the point of the book is for me to like these characters. They all have their flaws and that makes them real and kind of what makes the story so captivating. People in real life aren’t always likable but it doesn’t make them any less valid and that is the point here and that is what resonated with me and what I liked so much about this book. So yes it’s weird that I didn’t like the characters but I still really liked the book and I’d recommend it. All in all, Without Merit is one of those books you really need to digest and process and the kind that stays with you. This book isn’t safe, but it makes you feel and realize that everyone is going through something and that it’s worth it to take time to notices those around you.

This novel is just addicting, The story plot, the characters and everything. It was just so amazing. I am absolutely in love with this novel. Must buy!

è decisamente uno dei migliori libri della Hoover, e anche il più originale, sia per quanto riguarda la storia che i personaggi. La protagonista è una ragazza in cui molti ci si possono rivedere. La famiglia è di certo una delle più strane e particolari mai lette, e mi piace come la Hoover riesca sempre trattare tematiche molto forti e serie in modo molto leggero e coinvolgente. L'ho letto tutto d'un fiato!

I am a massive Colleen Hoover fan but for some reason waited a while to read this book. M”now I am annoyed I did because it was amazing. Loved the story. Merit is such a unique character. There isn’t another book out there like this. Colleen did it again as usual. Hurry up with your next book.

It’s good to read to pass time

✨ Book Review ✨ Without Merit by Colleen Hoover 🐕 🫶 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Merit lives in a very chaotic family- the Voss family. She has a twin sister that looks exactly like her. They share their looks but have two very different personalities. One is popular and intelligent, the other is the shy poor thing. Merit holes her family's deepest secrets. She accumulated these secrets over the years until one day she explodes (with a letter). 😧 I love everything about this book for sure. From the characters to the strange setting and to the conversations that have a deeper meaning. In the book you see the characters building up and how they come to realisation and acceptance. You see the importance of taking care of friendships and relationships in general. And you come to a conclusion to look at things from a different perspective and point of view (the ones who read it will understand this clearly😉). The book has a deeper message that every reader should know about and extract the message by themselves. 🫶 Beautiful quotes💖🥹 -“Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.” -“If silence were a river, your tongue would be the boat.” -“So many people dream of living in a house with a white picket fence. Little do they know, there's no such thing as a perfect family, no matter how white the picket fence is.” I’d recommend this book to anyone who never read anything written by Colleen Hoover, because this was my first time reading a book by COHO and I genuinely enjoyed it. 🥰