Release Date: March 18th 2014
Published By: Atria Books
Pages: 367
Goodreads: Add it to your reading list
Purchase: Click here to purchase

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Synopsis: At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a passionate tale of friendship, betrayal, and romance—and the enchanting music that inspires one young woman to put her life back together.

Includes a free original soundtrack by musician Griffin Peterson.

Review: Once again, Colleen Hoover has delivered an amazing contemporary story with a unique and amazing storyline. And although I generally don’t think you can get much better than a Colleen Hoover book, this one is! This one has the additional element of an original soundtrack!!! An amazing book with fantastic music - how can it get any better than that?

On Sydney’s 22^nd birthday, she finds out that her boyfriend and best-friend (and roommate) are having an affair. Betrayed, angry and upset, Sydney leaves - only to find that she has nowhere to go. Sydney finds herself at the mercy of her musician neighbour, Ridge, who has kindly given her somewhere to stay.

Soon Ridge and Sydney start writing music together, however their connection grows beyond that of a musical collaborators. They are clearly attracted to each other, but quickly things become complicated as Sydney finds that her crush on Ridge is more than due to his musical ability, and Ridge finds Sydney impossible to keep away from. As their feelings for each other escalate, they start to walk on dangerous ground - as Ridge already as a girlfriend.

However, this is not your standard love triangle. There is no “right” or “wrong” person here. Ridge’s girlfriend, Maggie, is actually a great character. She is not made out to be the “wrong” person for Ridge, and in fact even though she is the reason that Ridge and Sydney cannot be together, you cannot dislike her for it. She is a real character with depth, loads of personality, and even starts to become a friend to Sydney. And Ridge isn’t just stringing along two girls - he is honestly in love with Maggie, and he is clearly also falling for Sydney. There is no right or wrong doing on Ridge’s behalf, he just finds himself in the situation where he honestly has feelings for two different people - and you can see that as he struggles with himself as tries to not hurt either one of the girls that he cares so deeply about.

And Sydney does not want to break up a relationship either - she just happens to be falling for the perfect guy who has the perfect girlfriend. She is respectful of their relationship and tries to work past the fact that she is developing strong feelings. She is fully aware of the situation, and tries to respect that at all times.

Ridges and Sydney’s relationship is intense, mature, honest and lovely - even during those times they are both riddled with guilt over their escalating feelings.

People who have read Colleen Hoover’s books know that there is generally a twist that knocks your socks off - and Maybe Someday certainly has this trade-mark signature. I will honestly say that I did not expect this unique twist at all - I did not even entertain the idea that this could be a possibility, and I have to give Colleen credit for such a unique concept.

The characters are completely relatable in Maybe Someday. Sydney is honest, confused, tortured and she does not hide her feelings from herself. Even when she finds herself in an impossible situation she is thoughtful of others and tries her best to be a good person. Ridge is complex, sweet, loyal, caring, funny and a totally unique character. His ability with music is astounding, and the passion that he feels for it translates from the page.

A shoutout also has to go out for Warren as well - Colleen certainly knows how to write amazing secondary best friend characters (especially male characters). I loved Warren… he is honest, funny and definitely a true friend.

One of the things that loved about Maybe Someday is that Colleen took a storyline of a relationship that is viewed as “wrong” and showed that there are so many different layers to a situation like this. It shows that even though something may be wrong, it can feel totally right. Maybe Someday shows that feelings can develop no matter how hard you fight them, and the struggles that come along with a situation like this.

I loved the dual narrative from both Sydney and Ridge. I loved the fact that this book is about two people who are clearly so right for each other, besides the fact that one of them is also in love with the person he is already in a relationship with. I loved the fact that there were so many levels and complexities to this book that it showed that a love triangle storyline can be unique and brilliant!

Maybe Someday is an emotionally charged book that revolves around the realism, depth and complexities of emotions. And the soundtrack by Griffin Peterson reflects all of these emotions flawlessly!!! Griffin perfectly took the emotion of the situation and put music and lyrics to it - and created music to deepen your connection to the characters and their situation. Colleen Hoover has an amazing ability to pull on your heartstrings, and I felt that the soundtrack enabled you to immerse yourself further into the feelings that this book provokes.

 

Quotes:

“Sometimes in life, we need a few bad days in order to keep the good ones in perspective.”

“We try so hard to hide everything we’re really feeling from those who probably need to know our true feelings the most.”

“Hey, heart. Are you listening? You and I are officially at war.”

“I failed miserably at trying not to fall in love with you.”

“A life of mediocrity is a waste of a life.”

“I don’t want to be someone’s second choice.”

“For her I bend, for you I break.”

“There will never be a maybe someday.”

 

More:

To find out more about Maybe Someday, visit our Interview with Colleen Hoover & Griffin Peterson.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia, we will be holding an Australian giveaway for a copy of Maybe Someday. The giveaway will be posted tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that! (sorry to all our international friends that this giveaway is Australia only - but you can still enter our April International Giveaway).