My streak of love/hate continues with Colleen Hoover's books, though unfortunately, Layla falls squarely into the ignominious hate category.
When Leeds meets Layla, he knew immediately that she's the one. But Layla is attacked not long into their relationship, leaving her with mental and physical scars. Leeds, in the hopes that it will bring them closer together, whisks her away to the place where they first met. But of course odd things start happening. And in trying to get to the bottom of it, Leeds grows close to Willow, a mysterious woman. Soon, he's confused about where his loyalties really lie.
Whenever I see a Colleen Hoover book that crosses genres, I'm always salivating to get my hands on it. But we're not long into this story before it becomes apparent that it would be bogged down by a problematic narrative, and nothing can save it from then on out.
The story is told entirely from Leeds' perspective, and I have to say, he is probably the most despicable character I've ever come across. He is extremely self-centered and morally corrupt. What first starts out as manipulation of his girlfriend soon turns into gaslighting, which then becomes full-on physical restraint and emotional torture. Through it all, he justifies it by saying he can't stop himself and it's because he cares for Layla.
Honestly, the whole thing was so horrifying and hard to read, I had to take breaks after almost every paragraph. I definitely did not expect to be reading, in detail, one person emotionally torturing another person, all in the name of love.
But the crux of the issue is that Leeds isn't written as a villain. He's the main character of the love story, and we are supposed to sympathize with him and cheer him on. And when we get to the resolution, it obviously tries to justify what Leeds did. But that's problematic too because he did not actually know of these justifications when he committed his horrible acts.
I appreciate Hoover's attempts to cross genres, and find the mix of different ones in this story to be interesting and unique. But when it comes to execution, I'm honestly appalled by the results. To read it as it's written, with Leeds being the protagonist we should cheer for, is repugnant and beyond what I can tolerate, even in a story. Perhaps the moral here is that love justifies all, but if so, that is disturbing indeed.
Readaroo Rating: 1 star
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