Best friends since they could walk. In love since the age of fourteen. Complete strangers since this morning.

He'll do anything to remember. She'll do anything to forget.




Spoiler-free review



"How odd to be made of flesh, balanced on bone, and filled with a soul you've never met."
If you were beginning to think you had Colleen Hoover and/or Tarryn Fisher's styles all figured out, Never Never presents a perfect opportunity (in a slap-across-your-face sort of way) to think again. And think better.

Prior to the release of this book, my co-blogger and I were fangirling discussing how this Colleen/Tarryn dynamic was likely to turn out. On the one hand, there is a an angel of the morning, a woman made of fairytales where hardships are overcome in happy/bittersweet endings. On the other hand, the angel of the night, the master of the flawed and the twisted, and a bearer of a wicked imagination.

Whatever we thought the final result would be, it wasn't this. And I say this in the best possible way. Forget the tragic, docile heroes of the past. Forget the diabolical masterminds. This is the tale of unreliable narrators trapped in a Christopher Nolan thriller, all the while intent on deciphering love.

Never Never defies classification. Based on what you believe, Never Never also defies logic. But what Never Never defies more than anything is any attempt to be boxed into a category. This book isn't its genre. Nor is this book its synopsis. Any attempt to reduce it to a few words falls short. It is a strange phenomenon that the more a (good) writer writes, the harder their books become to summarize. From the initial one-liner to a brief summary, each new release makes it harder to explain in a handful of words, and even harder to describe without getting strange looks in return from people who are at that point regretting even asking.

Colleen and Tarryn have therefore succeeded as writers. Based on not only mine but a myriad of other reviews, it's safe to say that there is no way to summarize this book, nor is there a chance of not getting weird looks at the attempt.

So here it goes: without revealing or spoiling anything, Never Never is a contemporary tale of two high school students from New Orleans who may or may not have grown up together. They may or may not be in love. They also may or may not be terrible people. There may or may not be paranormal elements. Their lives may or may not be dependent on their ability to remember the only thing they can't remember at all. And they may or may not succeed at it. 

Well done, Corryn. (It should be a thing. Don't judge me.) A slow clap is in order.

The level of suspense this story brings about is phenomenal. There is no one to trust but the protagonists. And the protagonists are not to be trusted. And still more than suspenseful, this story is atmospheric. In the true spirit of New Orleans, suspense, darkness and love criss-cross along its streets and avenues, from mansions to dilapidated neighborhoods, from Bourbon Street to back-alley dance clubs. It has it all, and it has it all in only 140 pages. (The last of which, incidentally, is excruciating. And not in the way you're probably thinking.)

There is only one more point to be made here. And this point is terribly important. It absolutely sells the book, in fact. After I've made this point, you won't be able not to pick up the book and you will read it in a single day. What is this point, you ask?

Coming soon...


(Yeah, I went there.)




We aren't anywhere near done obsessing. Consider this a temporary breather before my co-blogger Natalie reads Never Never. And then we'll just proceed to Tarryn and Colleen's (also Corryn's) next releases. So leave a comment below or find us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and feel free to share your enthusiasm with us. Or tell us to tone down our own. (We don't take requests, but we do take suggestions under advisement.) ;)