Losing Hope

A Novel

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

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

First one was good, second not so much

I loved hopeless and I’ve read almost all Colleen Hoover’s books I love her writing. However I was disappointed with losing hope because there was literally nothing different about the book I was just listening to the same thing again from holders perspective. This one wasn’t it but definitely go try another Colleen Hoover book she is amazing.

Don’t waste your time

The first and last couple of chapters were different from hopeless, but the rest is the same exact book. The narrator made it almost unbearable. I would recommend just skipping this one all together.

You can skip this book

First of all, I really hate the narrator. I hate him in everything I hear by him because he has such a whiny voice and he's always reading as this "strong masculine" type character. Romance fiction is just not his genre.

Second, while this book is okay, it really didn't add anything to the storyline. You can skip it in my opinion. The only thing it brought to the table was introducing Daniel as a character and a hint at the plot for Finding Cinderella.

Narrator was not the right fit

I love Colleen Hoover and everything she writes. I however, was distracted by the narrator. His voice may be great for many books but it this book. The character of Dean is young and risky but the narrator voice was formal and too stuffy. It did not work at all for me but still really enjoyed the story.

do not recommend

If you have listened to Hopeless I don't think you should listen to this...basically says the same thing as the other book

beautiful

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