Jasmine's Reviews > Hate: A Love Story

2 TRIGGER STARS ★★



"To be in love...It's powerful and completely debilitating all at the same time. It's ecstasy and agony, and it's one of the single most terrifying feelings in the world."

I swear that these days all the books are on a mission to deceive me with their pretty covers, eye-catching titles (look at how interestingly ironic this one was!) and promising blurbs. Why why why?!



Honestly I'm so wiped out after a day's work to be even writing a review but then I look at this book and remind myself the amount of effort I had to put in to pull myself through this read. So here's my $3.99 two cents of worth.

*******

First, let's talk about that blurb. I know, it pretty much offered nothing about this book or what it's about except it's a love story filled with...hate? Damn that irony totally pulled me into this one.



Warning: This standalone novel contains explicit language, sexual content, and potential triggers

So I do enjoy going into a book blind once in a while but sometimes, we all just want a hint of what we might actually get into. There are some triggers that people may get uncomfortable with, so it's better to be forewarned. To be fair enough, let me just list those triggers into a spoiler tag. But please only open it if you're an eager beaver and have a certain definite set of triggers that will sure to put you off. If not, move along and who knows, you may enjoy this book without knowing what triggers are ahead.

(view spoiler)[ (view spoiler)[ (view spoiler)[Love triangle (sorta), abortion, depression, 9/11 incident, suicide, terrorism, death (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

The thing is, I'm okay with triggers. I love 'em in fact. I love them like having chocolate sprinkles and nuts on top of my sundae icecream. But if it ain't done right?



I felt that a big portion of the triggers were crammed in the first half of the book and they came in continuous waves crashing upon me before I even have the time to soak in the moments. I haven't got the time to let my feels flow! It felt like I was in one of those moments where I go shopping with my mum and she kept rushing me in and out of each store before I have a proper look at everything.

Sorry mum, I hope you don't ever stumble across my review. I still love you.

And then let's talk about those excessive time gaps. For those who want to know, this book spans from (view spoiler)[7th grade till age 30. The largest time jump being 10, I repeat, TEN years (hide spoiler)]. And I'm not a huge fan of them, so *shakes head*. There's just too much time gone and without proper filling in these gaps, it just couldn't work for me, I'm sorry.



Here comes the real kicker for me which then told me I should have DNF-ed this but my non-quitter self told me to suck it up. Again, this goes in a spoiler tag because it's a whole lot of triggers and MEGA SPOILERS.

MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD

(view spoiler)[Okay summary: The girl MC, Whitney met the guy MC, Blane when young; they became BFFs. Later they both met another girl, Franny who then become both their BFFs. Blane ended up with Franny, knocks her up, she got an abortion, then depressed and later suicide. Whitney also then realised she loved Blane all the while. But Blaine couldn't, so he left and cue in 10-year time gap.

The whole gist of it is that Blane came back and he realised he loves her too. He was in love with two women, HUZZAH! Let me just quote him:

"Even when I was in love with her, I was in love with you!"



If the love of my life ever told me that, I'd tell him to pack his damn ass off.
(hide spoiler)]

********

The only reason I didn't DNF this was because of one person in this book and that would be Whitney's grandma. Who is probably the coolest grandma EVER. She is literally the saving grace of this book otherwise I would have given up. Love her knack of humorous advices and just being plain crude.

"Two things I'm serious about are abortion and penises."

Would I recommend this read? It could go both ways and I'd say it depends on your reading preferences (and triggers). There are some glowing reviews for this one, so it could just be me being picky. I won't deny that there are some actual great emotional scenes that brought out some major feels in me. But sadly, it just wasn't enough to redeem the entire read.