November 9 wasn’t even on my radar until it was the book picked for Caffeinated Book Club. What can I say? I’ve been busy! Needless to say, I’m oh so grateful that it was selected, because otherwise who knows when I would have read it. And November 9 was so GOOD!
I listened to November 9 in one day – literally non-stop. I started it in the morning when I took Buffy for a walk. And then I kept reading while I made breakfast. Then I kept reading while I ate breakfast. And I couldn’t stop when I got dressed for the day. And when I went Christmas shopping (that tells you how long ago I read November 9 and wrote this review…) I struggled to focus on both gift buying and the story, because no way I was stopping. And when I got my nails done, I really struggled not to tell the nail techs – who usually never talk to me! – to shut up so I could focus. Before I knew it I was home, lying on the couch, all pretense of doing anything BUT listen gone. And then it was over and I had the task of writing this review.
Which clearly, I’m sucking at. How do you write a review of a book that is all about the FEELS and the surprises, without giving it all away?
Here’s the most important points:
- The characters are perfectly written. They’re so complex and their layers are so slowly revealed, you’re constantly learning more – up until the very last minute they’re surprising you. But what you get from the start is enough to love them instantly. Ben and Fallon are both so funny and easy to connect to. They’re so real! I want to be their friend!
- The story unfolds seamlessly. I worried about a book that makes you jump a year at a time. How do you get to know characters and feel any flow if you’re just getting a day of their life each year? It was not a problem, that’s for sure! Colleen Hoover puts us in their heads so well that I easily forgot it was just that one day.
- The FEELS! Colleen Hoover is quite possibly the queen of feels. Everything I’ve read by her – which to be fair, is only a couple books – yanks my heart out and stomps on it over and over and over again and just when I think she’s done she throws in that one more twist that makes all previous stomping feel like love taps. How she does it I don’t know, but I bow down to her.
I should also mention that I really enjoyed the narration. For the life of me, I will never understand why anyone goes through the trouble of hiring two narrators to have them read alternate chapters instead of the girl doing all the female voices and the guy doing all the male voices, which is what happened in November 9. But once I got over that annoyance – which I always feel when that happens – the narration was actually quite good. And the switch between narrators was never jarring Zachary Webber and Angela Goethals complimented each other well and their versions of the male and female voices really worked. I think it helps that November 9 didn’t have much of a cast beyond Fallon and Ben, but even their versions of those characters worked well.
So yeah… Colleen Hoover maintains her perfect record with me. Another 5 stars!
I’ve heard a lot of good things about this author, but I’ve never tried her. She sounds really good.
I actually prefer the dual narration (where they do full chapters) versus the duet (female does all female voices and male does all male voices). To be fair, I’ve only listened to one series done that way, so maybe some of the others are better. To be 100% truthful, I really prefer a single narrator that does it all. I don’t know that really one is better than the other, it’s just personal preference for each listener. Great review.
I definitely recommend her, and sounds like this narration would be right up your alley. My favorite for narration is either a production or single narrator. For me, the struggle with two narrators with the dual POV is that every character has two voices. But I’ve grown more used to it.
I loved November 9! Colleen Hoover is my favorite author and you’re right – she definitely knows how to yank your heart out and trample all over it. I thought Fallon was great, I adored Ben (him reading romance novels was priceless LOL), and I just loved the way the story was told (checking in each Nov 9). I’ve read the book and listened to the audio and I agree that the narrators did a great job. I’ve heard both of them narrate other books and they are two of my favorites.
I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as I did! It’s definitely one I’ll plan to reread, maybe I’ll try a format besides audio.
I’ve been wanting to read Colleen Hoover forever! No idea what’s taken me so long! This sounds wonderful. I definitely understand your annoyance on the narration. I listened to Everything Everything and they had a male narrator who read IMs and emails but the regular narrator did the conversation parts using a fake deeper voice. It drove me CRAZY!
I really prefer either one narrator or, if they’re going to have 2, make it like a production. That being said, yeah, this was awesome. I started with ugly love and I still recommend starting there. But this will be a good follow up 🙂
I love it when characters work so well that you want to be friends w/ them in real life! Glad this one was so good. Nice that the narrators worked well too!
Isn’t that the best? If only it could really happen 🙂
Huh…. not familiar with the author or this book, but sounds lovely. As for the narration: does the book change POVs when the narrators change? Because that makes sense to me. I think unless you have a full cast production, it would be hard to listen to with female narrator doing female parts and male narrator doing male parts. I don’t mind the switch if it accompanies the POV switch (especially if it’s first person narrative). Great review!
Really? Oh, you need to read some Colleen Hoover! Yes, it’s with pov change that the narrators change. I’ve listened to a couple audios with male reading male parts and female reading female parts and they’ve spoiled me. But now that I think about it, they were first person and didn’t have the pov change… That would be harder.
I wan’t to read this so badly. Wonderful review!
Thanks! I hope you get to read it soon, it was so good 🙂
I only just picked this book up last month, so don’t feel bad about being late to the party–I’m right there with you! Sounds like a stunner, I need to start reading it ASAP!
It really is. Have you read Ugly Love? The Easter egg is fun 🙂