Hope(less) by Melissa Haag Review

Hello my lovelies,

I was recently given the opportunity to review Hope(less) by Melissa Haag from Mark My Words Book Publicity. In exchange for an honest review, I was given a free eBook copy of the novel. The below review is my own opinion and not influenced by any out side factors.

The alternate cover edition of this book can be found here.
Freedom is so close Gabby can taste it. After years of meeting single werewolves and successfully dodging the mating bullet, she's on her way to her last Introduction to say "No, thanks" one final time. As a human, she has no plans to attach herself to a werewolf. But, she didn’t count on meeting Clay.

With a single look, Gabby knows Clay is the one. And, unfortunately, he knows it too. The silent, ruggedly-handsome werewolf is determined to win his mate by any means necessary. Gabby does what any sane girl would do and runs. Not only does Clay follow, but something truly dangerous does as well.

Now, hunted for the secrets she’s spent her whole life protecting, Gabby must turn to the one man she didn't want for the help she needs. Time is running out to discover who or what wants her, and Gabby’s just starting to realize there’s more at stake than the heart and freedom of one human girl.

Hope(less) by Melissa Haag

The Review

This novel had a great premise when I first read it. I was excited to see how Gabby and Clay’s relationship would play out and what role Gabby would play in this supernatural world Haag created. Gabby’s supernatural ability was unique and definitely had me intrigued as to how Haag was going to describe and work-in this ability.

However, when I first began reading the book I was a bit disappointed. The beginning was a bit hard to plow through. There was a lot of unnecessary background scenes that would have been better worked-in  later on in the story as well as some weird time transitions. I felt the beginning would have been a lot better if the story began with Gabby’s last visit to the compound as that’s where the story really seemed to pick up and “begin” in my mind.

I was also a bit unsure of Gabby’s ability. It seemed like a very unique ability for a character and one I have not seen in any other story as of yet. I was super excited to see how Haag would use it in the novel. However, it seemed a bit hard for me to picture the ability in the novel whenever Gabby described it. I was a little turned off from it and it took me a while for it to grow on me. Luckily later on in the novel, the ability was more clearly described and as the action picked up so did Gabby’s use and, later, understanding of her gift.

With all that said, I have to be honest and say that even though I had problems with the novel in the beginning I actually couldn’t stop reading it once I bypassed the rocky beginning. I was hooked on Gabby and Clay and wanted to see how their relationship would evolve and turn out. Would Gabby accept Clay as her mate? Would she let him in? I couldn’t put the book down.

This is where Haag truly excelled. Her ability to bring Gabby and Clay together and the way she wrote their relationship was perfect. I fell in love with this love story. I have to say that Clay might in fact be my new favorite book boyfriend, which is something highly hard to obtain from me ;). I absolutely loved the way he wooed Gabby; the way he sneaked into her heart without her really realizing it. It was a slow love story, but more realistic than the insta-love seen in most books. It was by far one of my favorite love storylines to read. And if you’re a sucker for those types of storylines than I highly recommend this book. 🙂

As a beginning of a series, Hope(less) was an alright starter. The overall storyline of “judgement has begun” and the mystery sparks of light were not done horribly, but didn’t keep my interest as much as Gabby and Clay’s relationship storyline did. However, towards the end the action really picked up and I think it was enough to easily relay into a second book. I will most likely be picking up the next installment to continue on in the series. However if you’re looking for a very well done paranormal series you might find some disappointment with this opener novel. Personally, I’m going to wait until the second novel before making any decisions on the overall series, but I can see how some might be turned off because of the first installment.

Overall, this story was a keeper for me based solely on Gabby and Clay’s relationship. Their love story was an epic one for me because it seemed so real and Clay was absolutely wonderful. As a paranormal series, this was an okay start, but I’m hoping the next installment will be better in this regard. In the end, I’d recommend this to “romance” lovers and just warn paranormal lovers that it might be a slow start to get through before being able to enjoy the paranormal storyline of this novel.

The Details:

Publisher: Melissa Haag
Pages: 352 
Price: Free* (Kindle edition)
Place: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, GoodReads

*Free  as of the date of this review. 

Have you read Hope(less)? What are your thoughts on the series? As in love with Clay as I am? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you think! 

Later BookNerds!

xo,

NicoleLynn