I solved my NOVEMBER 9 Mystery - Colleen Hoover's most unhinged book yet?

okay besties I read November 9 by Colleen Hoover and I am conflicted I actually read this like 5 months ago at this point and this recording just kept getting kicked down the line but it's fine we're here now and now I'm editing this 3 months after I recorded it now many months ago at this point I took my first Venture into Colleen Hoover with it ends with us but Colleen is a little bit of a highly contested and slightly controversial author she's been very successful for most of the 2010s but she has absolutely had a massive uptick in her popularity because of book talk or the Tik Tock book community and she's an interesting author because some people absolutely adore her and I totally see why based on the two books I've read and then other people think that she is like the worst things that's happened to the literary genre for women and I personally think the truth is somewhere in between she is very good at writing highly bingeable books that just Jazz up what would otherwise be a fairly basic romance plot but the thing that I've noticed is that she doesn't seem to have a very good grasp on what appropriate male behavior is like a character will just say something that's so horrible and terribly concerning and it's just like presented to us as this completely reasonable thing or perspective that like we just hadn't considered or it'll even be something like the guy doing something completely unhinged and then a girl has to come in and be like sweetie did you like not consider his perspective in the matter and that's at least my takeaway after reading two of her books I realize that is not a big enough sample size uh but that is my working hypothesis and the general consensus I see of the critiques of all of her books is that her portrayal of relationships tend to be really toxic at times without it ever being properly acknowledged so there's a lot of situations that it is like okay this isn't a healthy way to conduct a relationship but like the counters that were offered are no more healthy now originally I was just going to jump into the prequel sequel for it ends with us like it it starts with us or whatever that was then I decided it might be good to hold that one off until closer to the it ends with us movie comes out uh let me know what your thoughts are there if you do want me to covered earlier I will I'm just you know thinking uh entrepreneurially but on that it ends with us video I saw a bunch of people telling me to read November 9 so when I was deciding between the two it came down to this onear Goodreads review that just started with Hoover responded via Facebook video so that had me interested what did Colleen Hoover have to respond to well we'll get to that because I did have to go on a little inventure because that Facebook video seems to be deleted basically something happens between characters that's is like romantic and it is not but we'll get to that when we get to that either way I decided that because some people adore this book and other people think it's absolutely horrific I decided that I will be the tiebreaker and my qualifications are nothing but speaking of missing internet data but in a more positive way let me tell you about today's sponsoring cogy every day your personal data is being sold to data Brokers without you even realizing it that means that your email phone number family member names and more more just bouncing around out there for anyone to purchase maybe you signed up for a newsletter and immediately started getting some spam emails or gave a store some personal information for a membership and suddenly you got an influx of spam calls leaving you feeling annoyed or at times even violated if anyone decides they want to use that information for more than spam scams like personal harassment or taking out bank loans in your name because they found your social security number all that sounds like a nightmare but the good news is you can ask to have your personal information deleted 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of this romantic BS and I say that all while acknowledging the many issues this has a lot of the stuff that's presented as good and romantic is just it's not great some of it's actually pretty terrible and then the longer it goes on it seems to hard flip into horror like this guy could be best friends with Evan Hansen I get why the book felt like it needed a thing outside its quirky premise to just drive home the story but it's like not really handled the best but first off what is November 9 about it tells the story of Fallon and Ben on the very day that Fallon's about to move across the country and the unconventional relationship they develop all tying back into that specific date and the things they might be hiding tantalizing right well what if I told you the shtick was that they were going to meet up on that day every year and have no outside contact of other than those days blog social medias never shared phone numbers no emails it's the most teen premise for adult novel but I'll be damned if it didn't get me which isn't surprising I absolutely adore link lers before Trilogy which is obviously vastly Superior like watch those movies please they're so much better than this but it's you can see why there's like a you can see why and we'll talk about the Nuance of that scenario as we go but you know at the very shallow levels it got me okay guys I'm secret romantic if one of these people was a vampire I would have eaten that [ __ ] up so fast as a teenager it just has all the markings of that unique once in a-lifetime love we all flock to like a right of passage in novels as teenagers but I did not read this book to be put through the emotional ringer and that's exactly what it did like yes I'm susceptible to emotional manipulation I'm sorry but then it's just kind of like the more you're reading the more it goes and the more you're processing you're like oh my God this is horrific well let's kind of dive in a little bit and the book starts a little bit intense uh outside this little poem by Benton James Kesler AK the male protagonist the first line of the book is I wonder what kind of sound it would make if I were to smash this glass against the side of his head and that's that Snappy dialogue we need to really pull us into a situation so apparently Fallon here is out to lunch with her dad who seems to be a bit of an [ __ ] currently telling her that he's knocked off a 24-year-old and seeing as she's 18 it's not exactly the thing you want to hear and hits him with the releasing sperm into the vagina of a 24-year-old does not a Father Make Damn true though so the setup Fallon's dad used to be the star of a very popular TV show but switched his Focus to Fallon's career where she landed the lead on a teen show but then one night his house catches fire and he forgot that she was inside so she almost dies but thankfully doesn't but then 30% of her body has suffered fourth degree burns so she has visible scars up the left side of her body and face so she loses her role in the show it completely cuts off the legs of her career and now her dad mostly avoids her while also dissuading her from ever pursuing acting as a career again and this lunch is apparently on the anniversary of the fire which he doesn't seem to remember and keeps making little Jabs at her where she is in life her lack of boyfriend criticizing her plans to move to New York to try Broadway and while all this is going on she notices this like scruffy dude at the table behind them and he's the only person who's ever maintained eye contact with her since she's been scarred that scruffy [ __ ] then slides his ass into the booth to pretend to be her boyfriend when her dad continued to be a massive wean like we're talking to Dad making comments about not ever seeing her go on a date in the last 2 years not realizing it is quite literally because of the fire he didn't save her from and even that's kind of weird they Tred to explain it like he just forgot she was spending the night and had no idea she was in the house but like still seems like a thing a parent would at least consider in that scenario but besties we've got ourselves a meat cute with this overly pushy antagonistic guy who's just really lucky that she's actually enjoying the fact that he is going at her dad so hard because it really does push the dad to be way way more rude about the entire situation for the sake of being honest about the realities of her life trajectory all ending off with him saying that she could have been a great actress but they'll never accept her now that she's scarred and storms out just Dad of the year right here just a real winner like I'm sure it was really nice to have someone go to task with her dad but [ __ ] that escalated like this is why I avoid escalating anything it's icky but at this point I mostly felt that Ben was a decent guy with good intentions then it switched to his perspective and one of the first things that crosses his mind after the dad storms out I seem to have a one trck mind and that track leads straight to the two things I shouldn't even be thinking about right now her boobs both of them and then he just keeps going I know I'm pathetic but if we're just going to sit here and stare at each other it'd be nice if she were showing a little cleavage Ben why you were undermining all the sweet things you're saying out loud and now I can't think of you as sweet because that's what you're actually thinking and that's kind of a huge thing with him the disconnect between his brain and what he actually says which we will get to cuz there is still some sweetness there she assumes that he must be like pretending to flirt with her to make her feel better but then his way of trying to make her see it as like sincere and believe that he actually finds her beautiful is just so interesting first he just talks about how much he stared at her ass when she was walking to the bathroom and imagining what her panties looked like then getting panicked that she might actually be ugly because who wants to read an amazing book that has to sit on the Shelf with an ugly cover but don't worry that didn't apply to her because she's so beautiful and he's also super relieved that she's insecure because it means he'd have a chance with her and if he plays his cards right he just might get to see those panties it's just so wild I feel like this is one of the first books I've read That's supposed to be for women to find something like romantic and it to me it actually just feels like weird nice guy fanfiction because it works she invites him back to her place to help her pack so they can keep hanging out and the man's audacity will just continue to grow he points out that it's not specifically the scars that make people uncomfortable it's it's the way she acts that makes other people feel wrong for looking at her so to prove that she doesn't have anything to hide he starts to take off her shirt then goes for her pants look I know hookups are a thing they're both 18 but that is not the scenario that we're in he's undressing her to prove a point without even asking her and she's too shocked to even try saying something but hey good for him guess you got to see your panties now I know exactly what Ben meant when he said he finds it difficult to control his indignation in the presence of absurdity he thinks my insecurity are absurd and he took it upon himself to prove that to me that just doesn't really feel great though like it really just feels like he wanted to get his way like this all started because there's a dress he wanted her to wear to dinner that she didn't want to so he just strips her to get it on but whatever it's cute they're having fun and it is like right around here that it's hinted at that Ben also has a personal connection to the November 9th date but it's always Sid steeped even when we're in his POV he never actively thinks about what the thing is it's just other people around him alluding to the things that have apparently happened and it just ramps up throughout the book which is just not a logical thing like that's not the way people think so very interesting choice to conceal things from the reader when we're in that character's head all right we're back I realized I was kind of getting loud and it was like almost midnight so um but that brings us back to this tragic couple on their only night together where they come up with the terms for the arrangements felon doesn't want to date until she's 23 because her mom always said that you can't find yourself if you're caught up in someone else which like kind of some Fair points but 23 that is going to bring up so many other issues like exactly the thing that happens when she kisses Ben for the first time you end up having thoughts like these why would a girl care to find herself when she'll never be able to make herself feel as good as a guy can okay now I'm just being stupid with kisses like these I could see myself easily falling into Ben's life and forgetting how to live my own which is exactly why I need to follow through with this goodbye So He suggests that they meet up every day for the next 5 years which would bring them to 23 convenience but it's not for romance it's just to keep each other accountable on their goals he'll write about the days they have and the relationship they couldn't and he can keep her accountable to actually do auditions and what is the day they will meet November 9th obviously and they just really ham up the cheese romance too he promised her a movie worthy kiss so he pretends to drop her off at the airport then runs through to pull the classic pre-security kiss God damn this horny son of a [ __ ] is starting to win me over oh how that mood will shift though now for some reason I really thought that this book would run us through their time away from each other but no we just instantly cut to a year later again starting with a poem by Ben himself and I bet that's going to be a theme so he's been patiently waiting for the restaurant but she doesn't show up so I bet that like every year is going to have some kind of drama but she does end up showing up it just turned out that her flight was delayed and all cute and stuff but on top of writing she had then read a bunch of romance novels because she figured he'd need inspiration if he was actually going to be writing a novel about this setup they've arranged but because of these books he feels like he needs to be a jackass when he sees her because that's how the guys in the books get the girls no not the nice guy Fox alpha male [ __ ] no hey man I wouldn't worry about it you said so many jackass things the first time you met so if it's true you'll be fine thankfully he drops that plan when he actually CES her his unintentional jackass re will have to do and it's nice cuz he immediately notices how much more confident she seems and he loves that but he also hates it because it definitely means that he's going to have to suffer another year of not talking to her when she leaves man Colleen you're really making me feel this [ __ ] and while his homework was reading romance novels hers was to go on at least five dates both to increase her confidence and because he doesn't feel like she's had enough experience sure but she only manages to go on one and it was horrible because she couldn't stop trying to compare the guy to Ben cuz he's the only one who doesn't make her feel flawed for her scars which is when Ben starts getting overly aggressive about her needing to appreciate her scars because they mean she's alive literally tells her she doesn't have the right to hate what she sees in the mirror and he's just going on this rant while he has his hand clamped to her mouth yes he's telling someone how to engage with their trauma while physically restraining them from speaking it just feels so weird like they definitely want to sell it as this sweet thing or intensely romantic cuz he ends it off with like any guy should feel lucky to touch your scars but it feels really dismissive of her feelings in an unnecessary way it's one thing to encourage someone to love themselves and stress that you find them beautiful but a totally different thing to tell someone how they should feel about a tragedy that completely changed the trajectory of their life the takeaway thankfully is positive for her she realizes that there's so many things the fire couldn't take from her so she has to stop treating it like it did but then they take it one step further with her being like you know I can't be so self-centered the fire happened and I need to get over it just such unusual choices even if the takeaway is positive it just feels like a a genuine misunderstanding of how humans work and then things keep getting weirder they're hanging out at Ben's place but when his brother Kyle comes home he seems super pissed that Fallon there Call's been an idiot while choking him out against the wall before punching him in the face so something's going on here and it definitely seems to be surrounding Fallon so I started to wonder if maybe Ben's been a little bit of a stalker he said he had no idea who she was had no idea that her dad was famous but maybe he actually knew exactly who they were but while I was reading I was like okay well if this guy was a stalker there's no way that this would be so so many people's favorite romance novel and he'd be so many people's like favorite romance companion but the twist might actually be worse but we'll get there adding the fact that Ben won't tell her a damn thing about why his brother is pissed and I simply would not have let that stand you're making plans to meet up with somebody every single year for 5 years with no talking for in between you will scrub for that information when you have the chance like she has to realize it has something to do with her but no they just head off to get tattoos which they obviously make super emotionally resonant and important by the end of the book but I simply cannot care to break it down and all too soon she's headed back to the airport and what I kind of hate is that they've made her equally as unhappy in New York as she was in LA I really hate when things just turned into the all I can do is long for the love that I did not get to experience from the distant land of Los Angeles though I say that when new Moon's my second favorite Twilight book and that's specifically for the melodrama but which she and Edward had was real but it's these goodbyes man they just got me and I fully see how this would suck people in even if this was semi happening to you in real life you would have no choice but to build it way up even though you barely know the other person and then this son of a [ __ ] just keeps out doing himself he buys a ticket to New York just so he can hop on and give her a letter with her homework which is actually just asking her to talk to her dad again I guess they haven't spoken since that day in the restaurant but don't worry guys the girl he was seeing that said she was pregnant guess she was lying about that so at least that's like one level of drama she wouldn't have to engage with and I'm sure it's largely because she doesn't want to talk to him but he said something some very genuinely cruel things to her and because of that I think it's 100% on him to work on rebuilding the relationship but again it works she calls her dad Ben tells her to do things and she just does them and it really does just feel like a guilt request on his behalf because he's the one who escalated that fight but at least he takes some ownership for it happening bringing us to the 3rd November 9th and I was correct they do all start with a nice little poem from Benton James Kesler but this one is a real gem she loved me in quotations she kissed me in bold I tried to keep her in all caps she left with an ellipses man there really is just something I love so much about a self-focused romance it's why people read this kind of stuff like no one wants to read the Casual stable love story but this year Fallon is better prepared he's coming to visit her so she's kept a notebook to help with his writing all of her auditions the four dates she went on she's talking to her dad again and all the small Off Broadway rules she's managed to NAB but then they make sure to let us know she's not actually that that happy and that Broadway is kind of stressful because people are so competitive I just hate it why can't she just be having a good time in New York and she has their whole day planned apparently Dylan Thomas a writer that Ben mentioned loving has a dedicated event to his work that very day because fun fact Dylan Thomas died on November 9th Dylan Thomas will be mentioned a bunch of times in this book A lot of it will have to do like with his mom's death or just like like it was like a writer that his mom loved but not super like it's just like a little little add-on bonus there but yeah it's all connected Ed maybe a little too much but he never makes it to New York because things just can't be easy and it's worse than a delay his brother Kyle got into a car accident and died and we get all the conflicting emotions here Ben wishing that she had moved on so we didn't have to disappoint her wishing that he begged her to come to him and she feels selfish for being upset but it's not over yet Fallon has his home address so she hops on a plane to LA and even though it's exceedingly tragic times I guess Kyle's super kind wife Jordan who we had already met and we do like is pregnant so she's now facing that reality without the love of her life Jesus Colleen do you have a tragedy boner or something anyway it's time for bed and through all the tragedy Fallon's hoping for her first time oh my god did Colleen actually just make it their third date nothing like intense grief and emotional trauma to get the mood going and if that didn't do it the Dylan Thomas poetry he recites definitely did the only C I saw was the Seesaw SE with you riding on it lie down lie easy let me shipwreck in your thighs so he just Yanks her shirt off without asking like they haven't officially discussed sex yet I feel like maybe he should have asked and she's just completely naked underneath like yeah she's down it makes her feel beautiful he makes her feel beautiful but it's still good to ask he's literally finding out in this moment that she's a virgin you're a virgin he says it as more of a realization than a question yeah but only for a few more minutes okay she's clearly down we won't be concerned but he has to just put some added weight on the moment I don't want to be your first Valen I want to be your last oh my God it's so dramatic but again she matches it by saying she wants him to be her first and last oh my God so he wants the arrangement off the table he makes her promise to leave her phone number you know he was doing so well with her being a virgin but then he just has to ruin it Fallon thank you for this beautiful gift ew come on a woman wrote this oh it's so gross I also extra hate when it's dudes who've been with a lot of people which he has like that they're the ones who say this kind of [ __ ] like yeah treat the situation with care and respect but every sexual interaction should be treated that way like but don't put that particular thing on a pedestal cuz it's totally not for her benefit it's because you're revering it in some weird way then he goes on about how he never liked when guys talked about owning girls but now that he's been inside her it's all he wants to say oh god oh man he's getting that post nut committ he wants to move to New York once they sell the house to be with her which I'm sure won't happen because we have a premise to work with and it ends up being Fallon who tries to silently leave in the middle of the night without leaving her number Ben got an agent for the book specifically based around the premise so if they break it they're kind of goes his dream career like he could fake it but it takes away the pizzazz and once Fallon realizes that Jordan doesn't want to move to Nevada to be with her parents like they all assumed that kind of shuts down the plans to sell the house and she'll need all the help she can with the baby so Fallon leaves is promising to come back next year that this is the best for everyone but he is broken she agreed to love him which is such a weird way to word that no ma'am you can't turn back on this you agreed to love me but I get it she was a glimmer of hope in one of the worst days of his life he felt like they were establishing something solid just for her to back out without even leaving her number so he assumes that he doesn't mean as much to her but she's only doing this because he means so much to her obviously he's not going to take it that way he even starts mentally thinking that she's his real passion and the book was just an excuse to be near her they've hung out three times by the way three times I've never wanted to use physical force on a girl before but I want to push her to the ground and hold her there until the cab drives away Benjamin I mean Benton no what is wrong with you but there's an interesting little conclusion nugget in his thoughts I curse at the empty street because for once I get exactly what I deserve why don't you deserve to have fell in love you Ben what did you do Ben because it's time for another November nine and man she's moved back to LA I guess she just like prefers teaching people to act I have expected The Twist here to be that she did move to LA but then he ends up moving to New York and they don't realize it but oh God it's so much worse my heart was breaking with bance in real time because he's seeing someone and it's not just anyone he ended up with Jordan you know the wife of his deceased brother CU helping out with the kid went real well now when she's just moved back and they could actually be together see this is what I mean the [ __ ] pulled me in [ __ ] you Colleen but what pisses me off even more is that this dumbass genuinely thought she left the year before because she didn't want to be with him and not because she was trying to look out for what was best for him in that moment this is [ __ ] why don't have a physical version of this book to throw just one second yeah like yeah she left it led to some resentment but she's not the one who's trying to deal an absolutes last year and only a Sith deals in absolutes obviously he's having second thoughts he and Jordan only got together through a chair tragedy and basically formed a misery codependency so having the person you think is your the one in front of you definitely causes some conflict and then he has the audacity to ask her to go through the next two years of their Arrangement so it's really quite shitty to be in this position professing your love to another woman when you have a girlfriend but don't worry he explains it as Jordan also being unfair because she'll never love him the way she loved Kyle oh Jesus Christ but it's too late now doesn't matter that Fallon basically move back for him she's not going to going to be the one to take him away from a single mother you showed up in love with someone else you share another woman's bed your hands touch someone who isn't me your lips make promises against skin that isn't mine and no matter whose at fault for that whether it's mine for walking away last year or yours for knowing I did it for your own good none of it changes things so dramatic but she's not wrong and that's how they leave it for a whole year and she's doing like all right I guess like other than separating her life in before and after Ben but she stands by what she says and doesn't go to the restaurant I guess she's kind of been seeing someone named Theodore they're on their fifth date but no sex yet Ben still has time to be her only but no one seems to like Theodore including her it seems like Colleen intentionally made him this huge douche so readers wouldn't be like damn Fallon had Teddy right there but still chose Ben because of course Ben's at the club but he plays this nice little game of pretending to not know who she is that he's just asking questions for a paper he's working on and we just get some excellent mental word play from Fallon here I'm Theodore this is Fallon he says introducing me to the only man who has ever been inside me really is that really what you'd think in that moment really feeling the romance but this whole Arrangement is just for Ben to take Jabs at Fallon for not showing up that he waited for her for 4 hours but hey she said she wasn't coming and the second there away from people he starts making moves on her cuz apparently he's single now but she tells him to stop stop I tell him my voice louder than it's been all night thanks to the distance from the music his hand is right back where it was before grazing the edge of my panties forcing my eyes shut like it would even make a difference in here I'm trying he whispers spreading the hand that isn't up my skirt through the strands of my hair he grips the nape of my neck ask me again no we are not playing that game we're not playing the whole oh she's only saying that because she feels like she has to because she's here with the date because she's trying to process we all know she likes it and wants it you just take the stop and have the conversation you need to have that is certainly more important than sticking your hand up her skirt also when she does go to tell him to stop again he just shoves his tongue down her throat I don't care if this is being presented to us positively if inside she loves him it is not cool Benjamin Benton so this is the scene that had me hunting down different versions and editions of this book cuz I saw a good reads review that mentions it but that Colleen would be changing it in future versions that's apparently what the deleted Facebook video was about but across three different Digital Editions with three different covers this happens exactly how it plays out here so I tried to hunt down a physical copy of the first edition of this book and I just couldn't at all like I couldn't even buy one on eBay but thankfully when I put it out there that I was looking a lovely viewer named gazi got me a picture of that entire chapter from their first edition and it was also the same passage so finally I went to check a physical copy of what's currently in publication and that version is different but not in a way that really makes it better in my opinion he still starts feeling up her skirt when she's telling him that he can't just come back into her life and do this to her that even if this does feel good and she still loves him she knows it isn't a good thing for her all Colleen does is just cut out the paragraph where she tells him to stop and then him saying ask me again she does still have the part where she's about to say stop but then he just jams his tongue in her mouth I'm sorry ma'am her asking him to stop wasn't the problem it was him not stopping so the solution wasn't just to take out the logical part of her asking him to stop it was changing the scene entirely so he explained his stupid ass first so yeah I assume that Facebook video got deleted once this new version entered publication to try to conceal that it was a thing but yeah that was the mystery and I solved it I think mostly which is so relieving because this has been vexing me since April but back to the book he keeps trying to get into her panties which thankfully cuts the moment short when dumb Dum says Jesus Fallon you're so wet come home with me I want to talk to you I don't want to do it here oh so now you want to talk but then Amber comes through with the Judgment so Fallon rushes back back to Teddy who again they've really just made sure to let us know suck so it's totally okay that all that stuff just happened because Ben just comes back and completely takes away any autonomy she has in the situation he points to Glenn this guy told me earlier today where to show up tonight so that I could find the girl I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with and I'm sorry but that girl just happens to be your date and I'm in love with her like really in love with her crippling debilitating paralyzing love so please accept my sincerest apologies because she's coming home with me tonight I hope I pray what in the nice guy fanfiction is this am I supposed to think this is cute this is just such a shitty way to behave and to really drive home that Teddy boy sucks when she says she needs some time to think he basically says freak it you're not that pretty anyway and instantly Ben and Glenn punch him before Amber Chucks her shoe at his Wang but hey at least finally Fallon and Ben can talk so obviously he ended up with Jordan because of grief he genuinely believed that Fallon didn't love him when she was leaving even though it was his stupid ass that push the ultimatum but once he realized how hurt she was he just instantly Cuts things off with Jordan because conveniently they're both just the fillings for the people they actually want to be with lucky him his isn't dead and Fallon does want to be with them even says she's fine being the pseudo stepmommy to Oliver but there are still far too many pages left for this to be happily ever after I do love that they acknowledge that they've potentially only spent 28 total hours together so I just can't ever foresee what might go wrong with this long term and yeah almost exactly like an after ever happy Fallon finds the manuscript for his story in the closet and can't stop herself from reading it wait which one of these came out first oh damn after did but only had a Beat by 10 months and the main reason that she is so tempted to read this manuscript when she comes across it is that she still wants to know why Kyle punched Ben all those years ago and yeah absolutely you should have pushed for those answers back then which is when we get the big reveal what Ben has been hiding that he's felt guilty about but not quite guilty enough to stay away from her it's not specifically stalking but he's the one that started the fire the twist what a [ __ ] sociopath this is a nightmare scenario even as an accident what kind of person would be involved in someone's life being irreparably altered off course and then push that person for a relationship holy [ __ ] it's so absurd that even in the confines of the book she assumes it has to be made up something that he just added to the book for Pizzazz she even starts to question whether or not he was stalking her the only other thing she figures out before storming out is that his mother died the same day of the fire but that doesn't matter because she's now seeing him as the expert actor he clearly always was it took 4 years for me to fall in love with him it only took four pages to stop oo the word play fate a word meaning destiny fate a word meaning Doom Benton James Kesler oh you dramatic little [ __ ] but that brings us to the final November yeah and entire years's past I guess she took out a restraining order against him but obviously she's still this shell of a person and then just can't leave her alone on that day he ends up dropping off a manuscript to her front door to try to make her read all of it so she'll understand there is nothing to understand you sicko also respect the restraining order when you left last year you left with my soul in your hands and my heart in your teeth and I knew I would never get either of them back you can keep them I don't really need them anymore oh I hate him so much what a manipulative little prick literally tries to say that reading the manuscript would be for her best interest and yeah while she may not be doing or coping particular well certainly seems like that request is more for him and what happens next might just be my least favorite part of the story her mom comes over and reads the manuscript while Fallon's asleep you know the mom who didn't want her dating or falling in love until she was 23 is now just beside herself over what this manuscript says and implies that Fallon is being too hard on him and that the fire damaged him too just because he chose not to show you his scars doesn't mean they don't exist she picks up the box and sets it on my lap here they are he put his scars on full display for you and you need to show him the respect he showed you by not turning away from them what okay look maybe reading it would be a good idea but let's not pull that [ __ ] she doesn't need to show him any respect right now I hate that Hoover's trying to make this comparison to how Ben's always been around her scars how loving and accepting he's been and now she owes him the time of day for the scars he has you know the ones he mostly caused say what you will about the movie not okay but at least that ended with the realization that sometimes an apology is to make you feel better and not the person you hurt this is on some Evan Hansen levels dear Evan Hansen I'm the one who torched that house okay I filmed this so long ago I didn't realize I was going to end up with two backtack Evan Hansen trash singing bits so apologies I [ __ ] can't why does she always torpedo [ __ ] by having people say the most unhealthy incorrect things either way Fallon decides to read it and yeah Ben's been the victim of a lot of things I guess he woke up one morning to find that his mom had killed herself she found out she was dying and decided it would be easier to take herself out than have her kids deal with her wasting away and I'm never going to fault someone for taking agency in their life in terminal situations like that but I will absolutely fault and judge the [ __ ] out of someone for doing it when she knew that her kid was going to be the one to find her body that's so [ __ ] and because the police had taken the letter she left as evidence which does literally have her acknowledging that Ben's going to be the one finding the body he starts going through all of her phone messages finds the name of someone she'd been seeing and it was Fallon's dad and he assumes they must have broken up and her mom got so sad and ended her life so he goes to scope the dude out and finds that Donovan doesn't seem upset enough about his mom's death he wanted a real genuine Outburst of reaction so because he didn't get it he decides he's going to set fire to Donovan's car with the gas canister which gets out of control and engulfs the house I totally get being upset you just lost your mom you did something completely horrible because of it but you know just leave the girl who was in the house alone forever okay then the book pisses me off even more they turn it into Valen feeling the need to extra forgive her dad for being mentally preoccupied with the death of someone he cared for leading him to not remember she was at home I don't care if there was a good reason for him to be distracted it doesn't change the fact that he's been a total [ __ ] [ __ ] since it happened be just a huge section of devastating hij Jinks that could have been avoided if Ben had read the note his mom left then one day on the anniversary of her death Ben sees Donovan leaving flowers on his mother's grave realizing that he's the one who's been doing it for years so again little baby driver here gets a little curious decides to Super sleuth them around and follows him into the restaurant and it was already weird how focused he was on her underwear and boobs but now that we know what happened the reframing there makes it all the more [ __ ] up like youve apparently felt so guilty for the past 2 years falling into binge drinking for what you did to her but you're locked into thinking about her boobs I hate this man but yeah from there it really is just him explaining that his connection to her turned his life around mainly because he was able to trick his brain into thinking he'd fix the problem without [ __ ] telling her any of it which all leads to her apolog oling to him for not listening a year ago I'm sorry he had like four years to come clean to you and this doesn't actually change things why are you sorry for anything it just feels like the story puts out there that she needs this guy to validate her confidence issues the ones that he caused so yeah premise wise and early on this [ __ ] got me but Ben is horrendous and then they just cut Fallon off at the knees anytime she does anything positive for herself or has any vote of like self-confidence or says something to stand up for that is just so infuriating much like dear Evan Hansen there is definitely a horror version of this story to be found so yeah happily ever after for these two geez I wonder if you can be charged and fin for arseny years later if you admit to it in the book you plan to publish oh no officers and prosecutors it's fine we're in love now he sh be charged and I'm not saying that people have to be perfect I love flawed characters but it is what you do with them and what is done with them here is so [ __ ] so yeah in my non-qualified non-expert opinion this book is kind of horrific it is far more on the side of horrific than romantic I can totally see why it pulls you in and it just it really is when you start thinking about the things that are said the things that are done the way people act that you're like oh my [ __ ] god so yeah that's November 9 that was certainly an experience I'm sure this video is very long and that I don't even talk about half of the stuff that happens there's just so much to hone in on that you you could probably it raises my voice gets me going so so that I have I have to I have to go now but thank you all so much for watching thanks as always to my patreon supporters and YouTube channel members subscribe to the channel if you're new leave a like on the video if you're into that kind of thing and all my different social medias are listed down below I hope you're all having a fantastic day I'm mostly okay and we'll catch you all later

Channel: Amanda the Jedi

Views: 198,403

Keywords: colleen hoover, november 9 book review, colleen hoover november 9, worst of colleen hoover, amanda the jedi colleen hoover, amanda the jedi november 9, colleen hoover reaction, fallon and ben november 9, colleen hoover books, colleen hoover review, colleen hoover book review, amanda the jedi booktok

Id: TbcR215mqek

Length: 36min 54sec (2214 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 28 2023