Too Late By Colleen Hoover

This was one of Colleen’s first Thrillers that I read and I couldn’t put it down. Assistant soon as I read the message at the beginning of the book, which ended with a handful of content/trigger warnings, I knew that this would be completely different reading experience. This story bounces between 3 people’s POV. First we have our FMC Sloan, who has had a lot of hardships in her. She was forced to grow up much too quickly when she was tasked with the responsibility of watching, raising, and protecting her younger siblings. Her mother was barely around and if she was around she was never truly sober, so when Sloan finally escaped her mother she thought all the drugs and neglect were in her past. Which then brings us to Asa, Sloans boyfriend of now 2 years. When she first met Asa I’m sure she thought that he would be different from everything in her past, that she could finally get away from it all. However, what she really did was jump from the frying pan straight into the fire. Sloan just happened to start dating the man responsible for the biggest drug ring on campus. Upon discovering this she tried to leave but  when she realized she had no other options she had to come back to Asa. She then spent 2 years tiptoeing around him, trying her best to avoid angering him, because when he got angry he was unpredictable and terrifying. Sloan didn’t want to be with him, didn’t want to kiss him, didn’t want to sleep with him. However, she felt like she had no other choice. Then in walks Carter… or should I say Luke. He is one of the undercover detectives tasked with investigating and taking down Asa’s drug empire. Although, when Luke meets the girlfriend of his subject he can’t help but find her captivatingly gorgeous. Upon getting to know her and seeing how Asa treats her, he quickly realizes that she is in danger and needs to get away from Asa. However, Luke now has to watch his steps carefully because if he rescues Sloan his cover and the investigation would be blown, not to mention Asa would probably kill both him and Sloan… but if he doesn’t, with how unpredictable Asa is, then Sloan could wind up dead. 

This story is definitely not for the younger audience. Those trigger warnings I mentioned are as follows: foul language, graphic sexual scenes, murder, sexual assault, and drug use. I can’t stress enough that this is not one of Colleen’s romance stories. While there is some romance in this book, it is a Thriller first and foremost! 

This book truly kept me in suspense from the first page! When you are in the POV of Sloan you truly feel her fear and anxiety that Asa could be around any corner. My heart just utterly broke for her as seemingly everything that could go wrong for her does. Anytime I thought she was in the clear and that nothing else or at least nothing worse could happen, I would turn the page and stand corrected. Sloan might just be one of the strongest FMC’s I’ve read. She might not be able to fight, but she has fortified the walls of her mind. She is always trying to think two steps ahead of Asa, who is seemingly always 3 steps ahead. Sloan has had to deal with years of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse; however, thanks to Luke, she still finds reasons to smile and trust. In a world that has surrounded her in so much darkness, she continues to hold on and fight until she can find the light. 

When we are in the POV of Carter/Luke we get to see his internal struggle with his head and his heart. His head constantly reminds him that he is doing a job, he can’t blow his cover, he needs to gain the trust of Asa and bring his drug ring down. Although, his heart can’t help but grow attached to Sloan and wish for a way to help her escape the situation she found herself in. His boss thinks she is either a part of it or at the least aware of Asa’s business; however, Luke doesn’t want to use her to gain information because that puts her in deeper and runs the risk of Asa finding out. Luke has to figure out what to do and quickly, because if Asa finds out about his and Sloan connection then they all could be dead. 

The final POV we get is none other than Asa. His POV was always an interesting one to be in and I am very glad Colleen provided it as it brought new light and a new level of suspense to the rest of the book. While in Asa’s POV we truly see his obsession with Sloan on a whole new level. The things he thinks and says about her makes you worry for her safety and those around her. You’ll hear him think or say things a handful of times that seem weird and confusing, but you might play that off as the drugs he is consistently taking. Although, the more we are in his POV the more we discover there might be more to him that meets the eye. You see flashbacks and memories of his childhood and you can’t help but feel bad and sympathize with him. While his childhood doesn’t excuse any of his current actions, it at least brings more insight into why he is doing these horrific things. As previously mentioned, it seems Asa is always thinking 2 steps ahead, and while it might not seem like that all the time, there are moments where after reading a chapter in his POV I had to set my book down and just think to myself… ‘he is an evil genius psychopath’. 

Overall, this was a great story! My takeaway from this book is that we can’t help the hands we are dealt in life, but what we can do is change how we react and view it. There were a few things I might have tweaked, mainly there were just a few moments in the book that I felt like the story jumped around too quickly. That being said, it also makes sense why she did that with how fast paced this book is constantly going. I truly wasn’t expecting to like this story as much as I did. I was in the mindset that Colleen wouldn’t be able to write a thriller as well as her romance books but I stand corrected! All of her other books have a major twist; however, this book was nothing but twists and turns! Highly recommend reading this story, and I can’t thank my friend enough for recommending this to me to read!

QUOTES THAT MADE ME FEEL THINGS

“This house is a prison with its own set of rules.”

“I don’t convince her with more words. I don’t feed her apologies that are way too late. I just hug her, because I can’t stand to know she’s feeling what she’s feeling.”

“He makes promises almost daily and never keeps them. The one time I want him to forget is the one time he actually remembers.”

“I cried because I realized that no matter who he’s become, a part of me is still in love with him… because I don’t know how not to be.”

“You don’t love him. You’re still here — not because you’re too weak to leave, but because you’re too strong to leave.”

“You can sympathize with someone and still wish them dead.”

“You had a lot of potential. But you spent every day of your life expecting the world to repay you for a few really shitty years you were dealt as a child. That’s where you went wrong. The world doesn’t owe us a thing. We take what we’re given and we make the most of it. But you took what you were given and you shit on it and then expect more.”

“I don’t even have enough energy left to tell her it’s too late. I close my eyes for the last time. But it’s okay, because she’s all I see. She’s the last thing I’ll ever see.”

“Love shouldn’t feel like added weight. It should make you feel as light as air.”