Confess, by Colleen Hoover

Book 8 of 2016

Colleen Hoover’s Confess is the epitome of the perfect beach-read.

I’ve been meaning to check out one of Hoover’s novels since spotting some of her book covers on various bookstagram accounts, and I’m so glad I finally picked one up. I decided on Confess because I loved the cover art. That’s right: I judged a book by its cover.

Confess takes place in sunny Dallas, TX, but it’s soon clear that not everything is sunny in twenty-one year old Auburn’s life. She’s experienced tragic, heart-wrenching love in what seems like another lifetime, and recently moved from her home in Oregon, Portland to Dallas, Texas…only the readers don’t know what brought her there.

Auburn works at a salon to make ends meet, but she needs to make more money. One day, she sees a ‘help wanted’ sign in the front door of an art studio on her way home from work, so she decides to apply. Of course, she doesn’t know it at the time, but the day Auburn heads into the art studio is the day she meets Owen. And the day she meets Owen will change her life forever.

Owen is a young, talented artist who asks people to anonymously submit personal confessions to his art gallery, and then he paints his interpretation of the admissions. And while Owen seems like a dedicated and charismatic artist, he has his own not-so-sunny secrets and a haunted past. The readers discover quickly that Auburn and Owen’s pasts intertwine (though Auburn doesn’t know it) and the mystery element to the story forces the reader to flip each page of the book so quickly they’re bound to get a paper cut.

Both Owen and Auburn have their secrets…but will they ever get the chance to confess them to one another? You’ll have to read to find out. I promise, it’s worth the read! Call me an instant Hoover fan!