Losing Hope

By: Colleen Hoover

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sometimes in life, in order to move forward you must face the past...

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Colleen Hoover held listeners spellbound with her novel Hopeless, the story of what happened when a troubled girl named Sky encountered a long-lost childhood friend, Dean Holder. With Holder’s help, Sky uncovered shocking family secrets and came to terms with memories and emotions that had left deep scars.

Hopeless was Sky’s story. Now, in Losing Hope, we finally learn the truth about Dean Holder.

Haunted by the little girl he couldn’t save from imminent danger, Holder’s life has been overshadowed by feelings of guilt and remorse. He has never stopped searching for her, believing that finding her would bring him the peace he needs to move on. However, Holder could not have anticipated that he would be faced with even greater pain the moment they reconnect.

In Losing Hope, Holder reveals the way in which the events of Sky’s youth affected him and his family, leading him to seek his own redemption in the act of saving her. But it is only in loving Sky that he can finally begin to heal himself.

©2013 Colleen Hoover (P)2013 Simon and Schuster Audio

This book was an example of pure perfection!

Losing Hope is Dean Holder's POV of the story Hopeless. It was one of the best rewritten books I've ever encountered. Learning about Holder, his family and friends added a wonderful dimension to this story. Losing Hope was utterly heartbreaking, compelling, and beautiful. It makes you fall even harder for Holder! This book helps us to know Holder better. He might have been enigmatic before in the first book Hopeless but here, you can see his heart, his true feelings. He's an amazing person. His life was tragic. It wasn't a normal, happy one. He found a way to deal with all the bad stuff life was offering him. He wrote letters that gave us more insight into the dynamics of their relationship and Sky's relationship with Holder. Hopeless written from Holder's POV was fantastic, and it allowed us a look at this beautiful story from such a different perspective. I highly recommend any books by Colleen Hoover!

26 of 29 people found this review helpful

Great complement to Hopeless, narration less so.

This story, Hopeless from Holder's point of view, was a particularly poignant and satisfying retelling of the original which is rare. I often find that in trying to retell a story an author misses the mark or parodies themselves unintentionally, this doesn't.

The big However here is this:
However, the choice of this particular narrator with this character, a boy who in my mind is more masculine, more settled/brooding, and more pensive than this narrator made him out to be significantly impeded the flow and the enjoyment of the story for me. I found myself trying to think of the narrator as a third person limited omniscient narrator rather than the first person narration intended by the author in order to make up for the mismatch.

In the end, if you loved hopeless, this is worth it, but still, the criticism needs to be said.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Not sure why this book was written

This book and it's predecessor, "Hopeless," are basically the same book. Though there was a bit more insight from the lead male character's perspective, I struggled to understand why this story needed 2 books to explain and relive a tragic story, other than the author cashing in twice? Disappointed.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Not much of a sequel just a different perspective

Not a fan of repeats and holder doesn't bring much insight that we don't already know

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Didn't want it to end!!

Would you listen to Losing Hope again? Why?

Yes! This is a audible that a non reader/listener could get into. I like to listen to books again with friends and family that they wouldn't normally read.

What did you like best about this story?

Even though this was Hopeless from Holder's point of view, I didn't feel like it was redundant story line. I really loved that the story starts a year ahead of Hopeless and I totally enjoyed the short epilogue a year later

What does Kirby Heyborne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I savored the emotional heart tugging of the book by listening to Kirby's easy cadence. I read Hopeless very fast but after listening to Losing Hope I think I will listen to Hopeless. Kirby put a lot of emotions into some parts of the book that I don't think I would have put as much emphasis on.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The whole book/audio moved me but I really felt moved by the pinky finger hold at the end of the book and Holder's definition of the word devastated in the beginning and the end of the book.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Not the Right Voice for Holder

What made the experience of listening to Losing Hope the most enjoyable?

I loved Hopeless and was excited to listen to Holders POV, right off the bat I was disappointed... The narrator is good, but not the right voice for Holder at all... I am always disappointed when narrators are chosen and their voice doesn't match the character they are reading for...

How could the performance have been better?

A narrator that has a more sexy, masculine voice to match the personality given to Holder's character

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Wow, he is a thinker!

The thought process he goes thru is just amazing!! And they said men dont overthink. perfect example that they do. Colleen did a very great job!

Ok

Enjoyed the scenes with Daniel but the rest of the story was too similar to Hopeless. Also it was too angsty.

Too much redundancy after reading Hopeless

Knowing most of the story prior to reading because I read hopeless, I found myself waning to get through so I could read new info. Read one or the other- both not necessary.

Heartbreakingly beautiful

I read hopeless and now listening to the same story from the point of view of Dean, tore my heart out even more than it did from Hope/skye’s perspective. Hoover’s ability to delve into the psyche of the emotionally wounded in unsurpassed. Yet she manages to weave a hopeful and healing love story.

beautiful

loved the book from start to finish. tear-jerking, funny, emotional. another great story. well wrote.