Review: Too Late by C Hoover (aka Colleen Hoover)

When bestselling American author Colleen Hoover decided to self-publish Too Late online chapter by chapter as a side project, she had no idea just how she would enjoy writing it, or how popular the story would become with fans. Inevitably, the came demand for a paperback version. Lucky for her fans, Colleen Hoover is no stranger (or no snob) to print-on-demand and produced a paperback version, publishing under a slightly different name. Too Late is a little bit darker, and perhaps a bit less polished that some of her other work, but it makes for fast and addictive reading.

Too Late tells the story of Sloan, a young woman caught in an abusive relationship with Asa. At first, one might think that Asa is simply a jerk, then it becomes apparent that Asa is a criminal, then we learn that he is a narcissist and then, finally, Hoover delivers the final shocking revelation--Asa is a paranoid schizophrenic. Sloan, meanwhile, is a young college student who has grown up without a great deal of parental guidance and wants only to have enough money to care for her severely disabled brother--money that Asa can provide. A problem arises however, when Sloan falls in love with undercover cop Carter, untangles a whole web of lies and tries to escape. And Asa will do anything to keep her ...

Too Late is a fast paced melodrama with a bit of gore, plenty of dark themes and some surprising twists. It's not perfect by a long shot--it's pretty unrealistic. There are two epilogues that make up an entire third of the novel and they drag on a bit--I suspect that the author was reluctant to say good-bye to Sloan and Carter/Luke. As pure entertainment, it works well and I found myself greedily snatching a few extra pages whenever I had the opportunity. 

This one is entertaining, though it is probably more for fans of the author than for a wider audience.

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