Review: Point of Retreat

Layken and Will have managed to overcome the obstacles that threatened to destroy their love, proving that they are destined for one another.

What they are about to learn, however, is that the things that have brought them together may be the very things that ruin their connection forever…

Layken is left second-guessing the relationship whilst Will is jumping over hurdles to prove his love for her.

What the young lovers discover about themselves along this journey may change their entire world and the lives of those who depend upon them the most...

Title: Point of Retreat (Slammed ~ Book 2)
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publication Date: August 10 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1471125564
Length: 320 Pages
Add it to your TBR Pile: Goodreads
Buy It: Amazon US / Amazon UK

Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: I really want to love these covers and I think they are pretty but I just don't see the connection between them and the book.  I don't remember a locket in the story.  A butterfly or a folded paper star would have been so fitting and would have connected perfectly to the story.
Point of View: 1st person, following Will

My Rating: 5 Butterflying Brilliant Stars

There was a moment in Slammed where Lake asked if it were possible for a person to cry too much, as in is possible to die from crying.  She even looked it up to find that your body would eventually fall asleep giving you the chance to recuperate.  Will actually asks this same question to himself in Point of Retreat.  If it were possible for a person to cry too much, to actually die of crying... then I would have been a victim of this fate.

I cried happy tears, I cried sad tears.  I had moments where  my eyes only watered, I had little tears and I have big fat messy tears.  I laughed and smiled through the good times and I sobbed wholeheartedly through the bad times.  At one point I even sent a text to two of my friends asking them why we put ourselves through this torture?  Why do we actually do this to ourselves for pleasure?

Because being able to be moved to this type of emotion with mere words that are printed on a page.  It is a very special thing indeed and I wouldn't change a moment that I spent with this book.

I was overjoyed when I found out that this book was told from Will's perspective.  I really wish more authors would take on the challenge of getting into the heads of their male characters.  I love being able to see how they think and to feel the emotions they are feeling.  It is so different from being told from from within the girl's head and it makes for a lovely change of pace.

“Sometimes two people have to fall apart, to realize how much they need to fall back together.”

So now that Will and Lake have made their way through the obstacles that were keeping them apart in Slammed we find them very happy and content.  They are moving on with their lives... together.  Then everything comes crashing down around them when a part of Will's past comes back into the picture.  When this happens Lake finds herself wondering if the very things that have brought her and Will closer together are the only things that they have to build their relationship on.  She is worried that when their brothers are older and it is just the two of them... Will they still have the same feelings for each other?  Or will they end up resenting each other.

“A guy can tell a girl he's in love with her until he's blue in the face. Words don't mean anything to a woman when her head’s full of doubt. You have to show her.”

Will is now doing everything in his power to prove to Lake that the love he has for her is not just the circumstances that pulled them closer to begin with.  Again, it was so nice to be in his head for this story.  There was never once that he did anything inappropriate and you knew all along his true feelings and felt the love he has for her.  Normally in this situation we would be in Lake's head with her doubts and fears but to know everything that Will was feeling and planning... it was nice.

So I'm not about to apologize for loving all these things about you, no matter the reasons or the circumstances behind them.

And no, I don't need days, or weeks, or months to think about why I love you.

It's an easy answer for me.

I love you because of you.

Because of

every

single

thing

about you.

The same cast of characters are back but we also have a new family that has moved into the neighborhood (diagonal from Will and parallel to Lake).  They are Sherry and her daughter Keirsten, there is a father also but he is hardly there as he works away a lot.  Just when you didn't think you could have room in your heart for any more beautifully written characters... in walk these two.  They are both amazing.  Keirsten made me laugh like never before.  She is so mature for her young age (she is in school with Kel and Caulder), smart and so very snarky.  Loved her to bits.  And her Mom Sherry becomes a sort of surrogate mother to Will and Lake.  She watches over them and helps them with times get tough.

I came to the conclusion early on with Colleen Hoover novels that you never want to give too much away as it will spoil the experience for those who will be reading it after you.  So I will be leaving you with my very strong recommendation that you read this series... as soon as possible!

There is a third book that is due out in 2013.  At the time of this review it does not yet have a tittle or exact release date.  From what I have read on the author's website it appears that the book will take place after Point of Retreat but it is going to be a lot of Slammed but from Will's perspective but also some new stuff from Lake's.  So it sounds to me like it may be a dual POV book.  Whatever it turns out to be I will be over the moon when it is released.  Retelling, new stuff, old stuff... I don't mind. I need more.

“My heart pounds against my chest. Not because I'm nervous. Not even because I want her worse that I've ever wanted her before. It's pounding against my chest because I realize I've never been so sure about the rest of my life than I am in this moment. This girl is the rest of my life.”

MORE QUOTES FROM POINT OF RETREAT