Reminders of Him: A Book Review
By: Mallory Johnson
Reminders of Him is an emotional adult fiction book by the famous author Colleen Hoover. It is her latest release, and it came out on January 18th, 2022. There is some romance, but I would not call it a romance novel because there are other, more serious aspects to the story. Before I go any further, SPOILER ALERT, also, trigger warnings for death, accidental murder, impaired driving, a car accident, alcohol and drug use, pregnancy, incarceration, grief, mental illness, swearing, sexual content, neglectful parenting/child abuse, suicide attempt and suicidal thoughts, blood and injury detail, abandonment, and kidnapping. The story follows a young woman named Kenna, who has just been released from prison after serving five years for the accidental death of her boyfriend, Scotty. She is on a journey to find her five-year-old daughter, who she gave birth to while in prison. She does not expect to connect with a familiar face in a hometown bar.
I had high expectations for this book because it was hyped up a lot, and so was the author. It exceeded all my expectations! I went into the story not knowing much about the plot/tropes, which I enjoyed because it was a lot of fun figuring it out and predicting where the story was going. An aspect of the level that I loved (and did not expect) was the commentary on how women are treated in the criminal justice system and how hard it is to adjust to regular life after being released from prison. Kenna discusses how hard it is to find a job with her criminal record and fears running into people that know her in her small town. Reminders of Him is a story about forgiveness, reputation, familial and romantic love, and loss. These are complicated topics to discuss and write about, but Colleen aces it. The story is very emotional as we see Kenna grieving for Scotty and trying to pick her life back up.
I loved that she coped through writing letters to Scotty; I especially loved how they caused a significant turning point near the end of the story. Colleen Hoover has a reputation on TikTok for writing heartbreaking stories, and this book is no exception: I was sobbing reading the last fifty pages! I LOVED the ending - it was beautiful and wrapped the story up in a very satisfying way. After I finished reading, I set the book down and realized that the pigeons on the cover tied into the account! One of my favorite parts of the story is that a character (not named because of significant spoilers) made Kenna a playlist filled with happy songs because sad songs reminded her too much of Scotty - and how the playlist is listed. On the last page! A quote that I love is, “People say you fall in love, but fall is such a sad world when you think about it. Falls are never good. You fall on the ground. You fall behind. You fall to your death. Whoever was the first person to say they fell in love must have already fallen out of it. Otherwise, they’d have called it something much better.” I also loved when the title came into play near the end of the book.
Overall, I LOVED this book so much. I loved the characters and found them easy to sit and read because of their short chapters. I give it a strong 10/10 and highly recommend it! I am so excited to read more of Colleen Hoover’s work! This is easily already one of my favorites reads so far (and this was only book number seven of the year!)