“Maybe Not” by Colleen Hoover
★★★★☆
Colleen Hoover, the New York Times bestselling author of Maybe Someday brilliantly brings to life the story of the wonderfully hilarious and charismatic Warren in a new novella, Maybe Not.
When Warren has the opportunity to live with a female roommate, he instantly agrees. It could be an exciting change.
Or maybe not.
Especially when that roommate is the cold and seemingly calculating Bridgette. Tensions run high and tempers flare as the two can hardly stand to be in the same room together. But Warren has a theory about Bridgette: anyone who can hate with that much passion should also have the capability to love with that much passion. And he wants to be the one to test this theory.
Will Bridgette find it in herself to warm her heart to Warren and finally learn to love?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
*NOTE: This is going to be a spoiler-free review but I will be sharing some of my favorite quotes from the book, and general opinions on its’ characters, story-line, etc. No big reveals!*
She’s mean, Warren. Probably the meanest girl I’ve ever met in my life. So if she murders you in your sleep, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
When I read about Warren and Bridgette’s relationship in Maybe Someday, I couldn’t help but fall in love with both of them, even though they weren’t the central focus of that story. They are in this book though, and that’s why I was flippin’ out about the fact that there is an actual spin-off dedicated to those two.
Warren and Bridgette have a love-hate relationship. You open the book having that piece of information about the two if you read Maybe Someday beforehand. But seeing as this novella is purely dedicated to letting us witness Warren have growing affections for his new roommate, we see sides to both of them that we never had the chance to before.
“You kiss like you’re trying to resuscitate a dead cat,” she says, disgusted. “You kiss like you are a dead cat.”
There were moments that made me sigh and want to wish Warren were real so I could give him a huge hug, and moments that had me laughing really, really hard. Whatever doubts I’d had about the pair’s relationship while reading Maybe Someday vanished. Because they’re perfect for each other.
The very first chapter started off in such a way that had me shaking my head to myself in laughter, going “classic Warren”. I loved reading this story mainly because we got to learn about and explore more of other characters that hadn’t been the main focus of Maybe Someday. There’s more Brennan-interaction – which made me happy as he only appears a few times in Maybe Someday. We also discover Bridgette’s full story, which for those of you who didn’t find her likable in the first book will definitely warm up to now.
Halfway through Maybe Not, we see the start of Maybe Someday‘s storyline with Sydney moving into their apartment. And while we already know what exactly is going to go down for Sydney and Ridge, we also get an extra glimpse of ‘behind-the-scene’ shenanigans through Warren’s perspective. For example, why Warren is so addicted to porn. And it’s not just cause he’s Warren, trust me.
“The only difference between falling in love and being in love is that your heart already knows how you feel, but your mind is too stubborn to admit it.”
Compared to its previous novel, Maybe Not lacks the magic and page-turning thrill that Maybe Someday provides us. But doesn’t have to be perceived as a bad thing as it’s a novella, and a light-hearted story compared to the angst-filled and emotional Maybe Someday. It’s also a lot more smutty (it’s Warren and Bridgette we’re talking about here) but I saw that coming.
Unlike other novels *coughs* 50 Shades of Grey and Bared to You *coughs* where the sex is absolutely pointless and does NOTHING to add to the actual progression of the story – it’s justified in this case. Besides, it’s Warren-smut. *wiggles eyebrows* A definite must read for fans of Bridgette and Warren! I give Maybe Not a Warren-ful 4*s (see what I did there)!
Oh! Definitely checking out the Novella too!!