Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

Publication Date: 18 March 2014

Publisher: Atria Books

Genres: Romance, New Adult

Pages: 385

Rating:

Maybe Someday is a cute, touching read that succeeds at creating a wishful, highly romantic atmosphere between the main characters.

When Sydney is cheated on by her boyfriend of 2 years, she must find a way to fix her broken life. She moves out of her apartment and into Ridge’s, who is an attractive musician, and starts making music with him. There are forces that keep them from expressing their feelings for each other, and they must determine whether the forces should be stopped.

The way that Sydney and Ridge meet is very cool and creative. Ridge plays the guitar from his balcony, which entices Sydney into listening to him play every night from her own balcony.

‘I slide open my balcony door and step outside, thankful that the sun has already dipped behind the building next door, cooling the air to what could pass as a perfect fall temperature. Almost on cue, the sound of his guitar floats across the courtyard as I take a seat and lean back into the patio longer.’

All of the characters felt real and came to life easily in my mind. There is a secret about Ridge that I’m probably not allowed to share (because it’s a spoiler), but that part about him made the novel much more different and unique compared to other books I have read. As the chapters were in alternating perspectives, the voices of Ridge and Sydney could be identified quickly because of their strengths as characters.

While it is a cute romance, not much happens in the plot. Unlike Hoover’s other novels, there is not really a big twist that keeps you invested. It mainly focuses on the romance. Many may like this about it, but to me it felt boring at times. It was still very enjoyable to read, as I worked through the book without wanting to put it back in my bookshelf.

Another negative I had whilst reading was the lengthy paragraphs written about Ridge’s and Sydney’s feelings. This could have been cut down slightly because I started to not care about how they felt for each other. I also noticed that the reasons that they were not together was somewhat silly as they easily could have gotten together more quickly. The romance was drawn out for an unnecessarily long time. The amount of times Sydney cried was a lot, and I don’t know if her crying was really justified or if it needed to be included so often.

The way that everything comes together in the end is thought-out well and I could tell that Hoover paid close attention to the plot. It read like a captivating romance novel, with humour and a somewhat interesting plot.

Another perk that the book has is an accompanying soundtrack that you can listen to. This is a really cool feature that I actually did not take advantage of, but could be of use to others. You can also read a short story about Maggie online.

I would recommend this novel to those who really like romance and new adult novels. It is not a sad read.