Draft:Ugly love

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Title: Ugly Love Author: Colleen Hoover Published: August 5th 2014 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pages: 322 Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance Intro: Ugly Love is one of Colleen Hoovers’s many modern romance novels, published by Simon & Schuster. The main audience of Ugly love is young adults. The story alternate perspectives from the main characters Miles and Tate.

Plot: The story Ugly Love begins when Tate Collins, a nursing student, temporarily moves to San Francisco to live with her older brother, Corbin, who works as an airline pilot. She plans to stay with him while she pursues her master’s degree in nursing. Upon her arrival, Tate’s life takes a sudden and unexpected turn when she encounters Miles Archer, Corbin’s best friend and fellow colleague at the same airline.

Although Tate feels an instant attraction to Miles, she quickly realizes that he’s closed-off and emotionally guarded. Their connection grows tentatively at first. Tate sees Miles as more than just a good-looking pilot. She sees hints of vulnerability beneath his reserved facade. On Thanksgiving, when Miles joins Tate and her family for dinner at her parent’s house, the sparks between them become undeniable. Following the dinner, they share a first kiss. This moment marks the beginning of a complicated and intense relationship between the two.

However, early on Miles is upfront with Tate about his limitations and warns her that he can’t offer her any kind of future, nor is he emotionally available. These conditions make Tate wary, yet she finds herself unable to resist the wonder of a potential relationship with Miles, even if it’s on his terms.To protect himself and maintain the distance he’s telling himself he needs, Miles establishes strict rules for their relationship. The first and main rule was: “Don’t ask about the past, don’t expect a future.” The arrangement allows both of them to focus solely on the physical aspect of their relationship, keeping emotions at bay –– or so they think. What starts as a purely physical connection slowly becomes something more for Tate although she tries to deny it. As time passes her feelings grow stronger and it becomes harder for her to maintain emotional distance. She feels trapped between her desire for Miles and the pain of knowing he’s unwilling to commit to her in any meaningful way. The story’s narrative alternates between Tate’s present-day experiences and flashbacks to Miles’s past, six years earlier. Through these flashbacks, the reader begins to understand the tragic events that have shaped Miles into the emotionally withdrawn man he is today. In these glimpses of his past the reader starts learning about his first love; Rachel, a girl who turned out to be his stepsister. Initially their relationship was kept a secret due to the complications of their family situation but as their feelings for each other deepened, they found themselves unable to stay apart and soon they found out that Rachel was pregnant. Therefore, despite the initial fear of backlash they anticipated from their parents, they decided to come clean about their romantic relationship. At first their parents kicked out Miles but later came to somewhat accept the situation.

However, Miles’s and Rachel’s love story was not destined to have a happy ending. Tragically, the dream Miles and Rachel had begun envisioning of a life filled with loving family was shattered when they were involved in a car accident on their way home from the hospital after Rachel gave birth. In the crash, their newborn son lost his life. This traumatic event devastated both Miles and Rachel, driving them apart as they struggled to cope with the loss. Overcome by guilt and grief, Miles shut down emotionally, unable to let anyone else in and unable to confront the pain of what he had lost. As the years passed Miles buried his heartbreak using emotional detachment as a shield to protect himself from further pain. This internal struggle is the very reason he insists on keeping things strictly physical with Tate. However, as their relationship progresses and the lines between physical and emotional intimacy begin to blur. Soon, Tate finds herself wrestling with her own feelings for Miles. She starts to realize that she’s falling in love with him, despite knowing he may never fully open up to her.

As Tate’s feelings intensify, Miles begins to sense the cracks forming in his emotional walls. He realizes he’s falling in love, being compelled by her warmth, understanding, and patience. Eventually Tate’s love forces Miles to confront the unresolved trauma and heartbreak from his past. She along, with advice from a mentor figure, becomes the factors that drive him to finally face the pain that has isolated him from the world, Rachel. It’s through Rachel’s encouraging words and through him witnessing her happiness with a new life, husband and baby that Miles learns he has to forgive himself for the tragedy he endured. Only by addressing the past can he open himself to the possibility of love again and find happiness with Tate which they do. He confesses his feelings and allows himself to be happy and to not let the pain consume his life. Miles and Tate end up moving in together, getting married, having a child and living happily ever after.

Main themes: Love and Heartbreak: Ugly Love showcases the beauty but also the difficult and unexpected nature of love. Through Miles’s backstory you get to experience the heartwarming feelings portrayed by Hoover with words such as “Everything is better now that I have Rachel” (p.140) and “ I look at her—at the girl I gave my heart to—and wonder how I got so lucky” (p.187). Their love story builds up to a point where all the problems at first disappear to a sudden and unexpected split. The loop somewhat repeats itself with Tate and Miles’s story. Their relationship begins as a casual, physical attraction but quickly becomes complicated by deeper emotions. However,this time around Miles is emotionally unavailable, haunted by his past, and insists on keeping things purely physical. Miles and Tate, similar to Rachel’s and Miles's situation, have a sudden split-up. This leads Tate to experience both the highs of intense passion and the lows of emotional emptiness, as she grapples with wanting more from someone who can’t give it. This theme illustrates how love can be both beautiful and destructive, leaving lasting marks on those who experience it.

Self-worth and boundaries: Tate’s experience with Miles teaches her the importance of self-worth and boundaries in relationships. Initially, she allows herself to be pulled into a relationship on Miles’ terms, ignoring her own needs and desires in hopes that he’ll change. In the book Tate expresses through what appears to be her thoughts “I'm an agenda now. I don't want to be an agenda. I want to be a plan. A map. I want to be on a map to his future” (p.107). This portrays her inner monologue wanting more but settling for less because that is all Miles is willing to offer. However, as the story progresses, Tate realizes that self-respect doesn't mean sacrificing her own well-being for someone who can’t reciprocate. This theme is empowering, especially for readers who may relate to putting another person’s needs above their own. Tate’s journey demonstrates that boundaries are essential for protecting one’s self-respect and mental health, meanwhile being an inspiring message for the audience to reflect on their own relations.

Grief and Trauma: In Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover, the themes of grief and trauma are central to understanding Miles Archer’s character and the barriers he faces in his relationships, especially with Tate. The first instance of grief Miles endures is when his mother passes. Less than a year later his dad tells him about his new girlfriend, Lisa. “It’ll be me, my father and Lisa. It doesn’t feel right, considering my mother’s presence is everywhere in this house” (p.35). The quote portrays that he struggles to process the emotions of his moms death and Lisa as he feels, taking her spot. Through this he finds comfort in Rachel which might have suppressed his grieving process. This shines through later on in his relationship with Tate as he was closed-off due to suppressing his grieving process with Clayton.

The other trauma Miles’s past has is the loss of his infant son, Clayton, whom he loved deeply. This tragedy leaves him shattered, guilt-ridden, and unable to forgive himself, even though the accident was beyond his control. His sense of responsibility for Clayton’s death becomes an emotional prison, locking him away from both vulnerability and intimacy. This unresolved grief leads Miles to distance himself from meaningful connections, making him believe that love only brings pain. He explicitly decided never to fall in love again, convincing himself he is protecting others as well as himself. Miles’s relationship with Tate serves as an example of how unhealed trauma can seep into new connections, impacting both people involved. Though Miles and Tate share a strong attraction, his emotional unavailability and refusal to let go of his past trauma make their connection tumultuous. For instance, while he feels drawn to Tate, he continuously pushes her away, unable to reconcile his affection for her with his self-imposed rule to never love again. Tate, in turn, finds herself torn between her feelings for Miles and the pain his distance inflicts on her. This dynamic illustrates how unresolved grief can sabotage relationships, as Miles’s past prevents him from fully engaging in the present.

Development history: Colleen Hoover in an interview from Goodreads explains her unusual way of writing Ugly Love: “I knew Miles’s story before I knew Tate’s story, so I actually went in and wrote all of Miles’s chapters and his whole story before I started in on Tate’s story.”

Review: In a review written by Olivia Schmid from The College Reporter she writes "No matter how ugly, I did indeed love Ugly Love. It’s predictable, it’s Colleen Hoover… but I found it to be great."

Reception: College Reporter newspaper from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster Pennsylvania, USA, calls the book…. https://www.the-college-reporter.com/the-gist-ugly-love/2022/10/

Ugly Love ranked number five on NPD BookScan’s November 2022 bestseller list: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/colleen-hoover-dominated-book-sales-in-2022/