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

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 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.

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.

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

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

A little disappointing

Colleen Is one of My favorite authors and I absolutely love her work. The first book in this series was a definite five star. The only reason I rated this book a three star was because except for the last chapter of this book was pretty much the same as the first book. Of course it was Dean’s thoughts but there just wasn’t much information in this book that was different. But I love the characters in the story and the happily ever after. I’m looking forward to reading finding Cinderella because I think this book will be hilarious because of the leading man in the book!

A must get

I cried but definitely worth it. Colleen can really play with your emotions. The storyline is wow. It’s a must get with the series. Narrator really keeps you entranced and the pace is perfect.

Stunning!

So, I didn’t expect it to be POV of Dean Holder. I figured even if it’s same story of 1st book, I’ll give it a shot. I didn’t think I would have tears again...about Les & how it is a big factor of them all...Oh, man, the water works on Dean Holder. I don’t regret buying this in Kindle Format & listening to the audiobook! I love knowing what Dean went through with her. Just beautiful to know how he handle things and do his best to keep the love going...Damn, I didn’t believe I would love his character even more but man, cheese & rice, it’s possible. STUNNINGLY AMAZING BOOK EVER. Kirby Heyborne is pretty awesome!

beautiful

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