By Ana Oglivie

Colleen Hoover has become a renowned author for this generation of young adults. Her growing collection of romance novels has turned heads and I have come to enjoy her appealing book covers. Her books always tend to make me think and she always does a great job of luring readers in to walk a mile in her character’s shoes. However, Never Never was a little difficult for me to relate to and it turned me off for months because I could not wrap my head around this mysterious plot. It wasn’t until months later, after returning to reflect on the ending, could I truly appreciate what Hoover and Fisher put me through. If you consider yourself a book detective or you’re up for some four-dimensional characters, this book is your next challenge.

One quote that stuck with me was: “Trust your gut. Not your heart, because it’s a people pleaser, and not your brain, because it relies too heavily on logic.” My question is, what’s your gut made of? Intuition? My best friend said, “Your gut is when your heart and your mind sync,” and this only prompted me to wonder a little more. I would love to know your thoughts on this quote.

At first I thought Hoover and Fisher were emphasizing the power of memory, but after I read this quote, I realized how little memory has to do with my biggest takeaway. When Hoover and Fisher write, “I think we’re a product of our environment. Inherently, we’re good people. We might lose our memories again, but we’re still the same on the inside,” I began to think about how memories will fade or change or shape who we think we are. But, we are so much more than our memories. The reality is, we get to decide who we are in every breath that we take. In the beginning, Charlie and Silas’ perpetual memory loss was terrifying for me, but towards the end, I wondered how liberating a fresh start could be.

This book was an experience that reminded me why I prefer books to movies. My imagination is self-proclaimed to be a vivid one and this adventure came roaring to life with excellent character development.

What I would ask the authors: Was there a special phenomenon that caused Charlie and Silas’ memory loss?

Take a trip to the matrix and check out Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher!