{Audiobook} {New Adult} Review: Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

Title: Maybe Someday
Author: Colleen Hoover
Narrator(s):  Zachary Webber, Angela Goethals
Series: n/a
Length:  10 hrs 40 mins
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication Date: March 18, 2014
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

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.

Like so many of Colleen Hoover's fans, I was eagerly anticipating Maybe Someday. And while some were disappointed by the turn the romance took in this book, I rather enjoyed the story as a whole. It's also reaffirmed my need to read the Slammed series because if she can so beautifully weave music and lyrics into this story, I need to see what she does with poetry.

I went the audio route for this book, and I think it paid off for me, except maybe when I was listening to the narrator read the lyrics from the book at the same time that I was listening to the soundtrack for the novel. In that respect, it might have been wiser to simply listen to them separately because while I was listening to the audiobook and the actual song, I also found myself reading the lyrics on the website for the soundtrack. A little confusing, but that was totally my fault for not experiencing the three formats separately.

Angela Goethals narrated Hopeless, so I knew I could trust her to do a fantastic job with this novel. And since it's been awhile since I listened to Hopeless, I didn't have to worry about separating the two main characters in each of those books even though they are voiced by the same person. Zachary Webber, on the other hand, is a new-to-me narrator. The first chapter he read had me second-guessing my decision to listen to the audiobook because he sounded a bit monotonous, but as the story went on, his narration grew on me. Webber no longer sounded flat but rather subdued, and as the narrative progressed, it became evident why. And I may be making undue assumptions with that statement, but it worked for me, so I'm going to leave it at that.

As far as the actual story goes, it was frustrating at times to watch these two characters develop such intense feelings for each other and be unable to act on them, but it was also rather seductive. I couldn't turn away from it, even knowing that it might end in catastrophe. The synopsis for this novel is a little lacking in that it doesn't depict a very realistic picture of what the story really seems to focus on. Fair warning: some may find what I'm about to say spoilery, so don't click the button if you want to go into this book knowing next to nothing.

Maybe Someday features a love triangle, and you only get to see it from the perspective of two of the people involved. And it's the worst kind of triangle because both love interests are decent people who don't deserve to be put in this position. Also, it leads to potential cheating because two of the people were already very much involved when the other person in the triangle came along. Love triangles suck because everyone can't be happy in the end, but I was okay with how this one turned out, especially when certain circumstances were brought to light. It was the emotional cheating that bothered me most. Sex is sex, but to me, when you connect on an emotional level even before anything untoward has happened, it's cheating of the worst kind. And it will most likely lead to cheating in a physical sense, as well.

As frustrating as the romance was, the characters were equally as perturbing at times. I feel like Sydney should have realized the situation was precarious to begin with and removed herself from it. Likewise, Ridge should have taken matters into his own hands, but ultimately, he should have never invited Sydney into his life to begin with. They both played it safe for as long as they could, but it was still like playing with a lit match. And I loved that Warren never hesitated to point this out to either of them. It was kind of crazy that Warren was the voice of reason in this case, especially since he was falling for the frosty Hooters waitress at the same time, but I liked how realistically his character dealt with it all. And then there's sweet, understanding Maggie. But I still have to wonder if she was only as kind and wonderful as she was because of her own situation.

Colleen Hoover's Maybe Someday is a very engaging story -- at least, if you can overlook the immorality of the situation these characters are facing, and even then you may still find yourself reading to the end before you realize what's happened. I felt like I was playing Devil's Advocate the entire time I was listening. I can't say that I condone everything that occurred in this story, but I did find it entertaining. It was one of those stories where you cover your eyes and shake your head, dreading reading the next line of text because you think you know what's about to happen and you don't want it to happen, but at the same time, you do. You so do.

GIF it to me straight:

Because seriously, this book is really going to piss some people off,
but others are going to love it, and I'd just really like for us all to be friends.
Also, I have a lot of feelings, and cake would help.

About the author:

Colleen Hoover is the New York Times bestselling author of Slammed, Point of Retreat, Hopeless, and This Girl. Colleen lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys.

Find Colleen:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Labels: audiobooks, colleen hoover, contemporary, music, new adult, reviews, simon schuster, tough subject