"Listening" with Your Heart

First off, I have to applaud Colleen Hoover for creating the unconventional main character of Ridge who is strong, positive, talented and happens to be deaf.

I listened to this story critically because I am fluent in sign language and work with children who have a hearing loss. I was uncertain how authentic Ridge's character would be and I couldn't help but wonder how his hearing loss would be perceived by others who consider themselves deaf. I am sure there are varying responses and opinions to his musical abilities and ways in which he communicated. I'm remaining neutral because I believe Hoover created an exceptional and loveable character and his inability to hear makes him extraordinary. I don't think she intended for Ridge to be typical in any way.

Sydney's character started off a bit shaky for me. I know she found herself in circumstances that made her angry and that fueled her to be a bit irrational. Name calling and punching people was immature (to a degree) and I thought this might be something that continued throughout the novel. I'm happy to say that it didn't. There's a lot of wavering between right and wrong in her mind and I found myself appreciating the ways in which rationalized and justified her feelings and actions. It all made sense whether you liked it or not.

I'm usually not interested in novels that include a love triangle, but this story wasn't what I expected. It had a strong undercurrent of good morals and respect with a focus on the internal, not the external attractiveness of a person. The messages in this story are also good ones: "listening" to the heart, not needing to be a hero to a woman who is already a heroine, giving yourself freedom and time to be alone to figure out what is right, etc.

As with her previous books, Hoover writes with great levels of emotion, angst, and humor (loved the pranks) not to mention that addictive quality that makes her books un-put-down-able. She takes what could be very predictable and twists it into something that is unique and bittersweet.

A bonus to this novel is the fact that it has an original soundtrack. All those songs Ridge and Sydney wrote are actual songs by Griffin Peterson. While I didn't purchase the Maybe Someday album, I did listen to all the samples on iTunes and found them to be a very complimentary, sounding better than I imagined them in my own mind. How cool is that?

Lastly, I have to say that the narrators for this book were really good, especially Zachary Webber who read as Ridge and really captured his quiet strength.

114 people found this helpful

Book hang over after listening to this story!!!

If you could sum up Maybe Someday in three words, what would they be?

Incredible, Mind-blowingly Awesomeness

This novel Maybe Someday just blew my mine. I love everything about it from the beginning to the end. The story between Ridge and Sydney is so heartfelt that I felt everything they did while reading their story. Getting to hear the songs when I read them was incredible. I had bought Griffin Peterson's album before this book came out and I loved the songs and they way he sings them. Now reading the meaning of the songs brings happy tears in my eyes. I recommend buying the album and listen to it while reading this book because it brings the story to life. Yes this book will have you in tears and while reading it you will be consumed by the story and not be able to do anything until you have read the whole book. I love that Colleen Hoover writes these wonderful stories and her books are for every age group. Her stories are focused on the storyline and about real life situations which makes her stories the greatest.

What other book might you compare Maybe Someday to and why?

None to compare. This story is unique.

Have you listened to any of Zachary Webber and Angela Goethals ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to these narrators before. I loved the way they made these characters come to life and I felt emotions that I didn't when I read the story. You could hear the heartbreak when it happened and it made me feel a deeper emotion to the characters.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Loved everything about this book and it is one of my favorites. Yes I cried and laughed. My emotions were everywhere.

Any additional comments?

I love this story that Colleen Hoover created. I recommend that everyone who listens or reads this story, please listen to the songs that are in the book which is song by Griffin Peterson. He has a whole album called Maybe Someday which is the same name as the book.

23 people found this helpful

Definitely my new favourite book!!

This book is by far the best I've ever read, it's so captivating with the emotional roller coaster of a storyline that tugs on your heartstrings I could read it again and again! The fact that there's a soundtrack to accompany it just takes this story to another level completely and it really draws you in being able to listen to the lyrics they write together put into actual songs instead of having them read by the narrator a bit awkwardly. This book is just on a completely different dimension and I would highly recommend it as it just has everything you could want from a story rolled into one, it's just sad when it comes to an end!

42 people found this helpful

misleading catagory

Any additional comments?

I feel like I was misled into buying this book. After reading all the rave reviews, I thought I had found a new author to read, but don't be fooled, her books are young adult, not contemporary romance. I really wish Audible would list these teen romance novels in their own Young Adult category because they mainly appeal to young people. They remind me of the Judy Blume books I used to read when I was sixteen. After reading a few chapters I rolled my eyes and skipped ahead to the predictable ending. If you're over 21 you'll expect more.

39 people found this helpful

Better in Audio

Would you consider the audio edition of Maybe Someday to be better than the print version?

Maybe Someday is a book I gave four stars to when I read the ARC just before it was released. I was a little bit hung up with the cheating, thinking of cheating and waffling on both Ridge’s and Sydney’s parts. Especially because I enjoyed Maggie and I felt so bad for her, even if Ridge and Sydney never actually crossed the line and did cheat.

However, listening to Maybe Someday, with a male and a female narrator made the experience very different. I was drawn into their conflicting feelings, and the way they were both holding back for fear of hurting Maggie, even as they were hurting themselves. And since each chapter is from either Ridge or Sydney’s point of view, having two different narrators worked extremely well. I think I’d actually rather recommend the audio-version than the written book in the case of Maybe Someday.

Both of the narrators worked very well for me, and I’ll be looking for both of them when I search for more audiobooks to listen to. I know that Angela Goethals has narrated other books by Colleen Hoover, and she did an awesome job with Maybe Someday. Listening to the anguish the characters went through made my experience more haunting, and strangely, it was easier for me to idientify with Sydney when I could hear her telling me her story.

Also, the back and forth between the narrators made the chapter breaks in Maybe Someday smoother, and I enjoyed both of the narrators voices, their switches were truly seamless, and added something more to the story in my opinion.

8 people found this helpful

Zachary Webber is Awesome

He has the absolute best voice. I loved this book, great story, great pace. Highly recommend.

17 people found this helpful

Wonderful!

Any additional comments?

Wow, I could not put this down. Great story and characters. There were funny moments as well as heart wrenching moments. Fabulous novel idea to incorporate the music within the storytelling! It worked wonderfully! Great job Ms. Hoover! You did not disappoint! Can't wait for your next one.

8 people found this helpful

Very Good Story

There are a lot of 5 star reviews for this book both here and on amazon and I agree with almost of them. This book has a very good story line.

Maybe Someday was almost entirelly written in the stream of conscienceless style and I have always found that style very hard going. Added to that is that there is so much angst in this story that I felt like I was running out of breath a couple of times. All that angst kept accumulating in my brain the way mud accumulates on your boots does when you walk across a muddy field after a wet spell.

On the up side I really liked the characters in this story and thought it was beautifully read. Both narraters did a wonderful job of breathing life into them. But I didn't want to spend so much time in Ridge and Sydney's heads. I wanted the story to be more about what they were actually doing and less time about what was going their heads.

21 people found this helpful

BITTER-SWEET BEAUTIFUL PERFECTION

Thank you Audible for making this book one of your Daily Deal because it gave me the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the talented Colleen Hoover again.. and for that I’m very grateful.

Thank you Colleen Hoover for writing such a heartachingly sad yet beautiful love story.. a story of finding true love when you’re not looking for it because the timing’s all wrong for both of you and you have to somehow ignore it because it’ll never be the right time. He’s already in love with somebody else and the last thing you want to do to them, and to yourself, is to repeat the nightmare you’re running away from. Because you both know cheating in any form is wrong no matter the situation, or your soul’s connection, you have to do the right thing and let go despite the pain, the loss and the internal struggle. Yet, despite trying to do the right thing, bad timing and Fate are there to bulldoze, to break, to steer and to set you on a path.. a path that leads you to your destiny.. your HEA.

Thank you to all who left a review because it was your words that made me buy this book, to happily wallow and submerge myself in amongst its words, to savor devour and stew over its tragic yet beautiful storyline and to bask in the euphoria of a perfect listen.

Worth a credit? Yes. Yes.. Yes.. it was a brave story to write, a heartbreaking story to witness and a poignant story to reminisce on as a beautiful tender love story emerged from the inevitable ashes of another beautiful tender love story. The passion was palpable, the love was deep, the characters were multi-dimensional, the emotional feels never ended, the heartbreak was agony, the words were profound.. and the pain and the pleasure of this book will stay in my heart forever. The Dual POV narration is where the magic happened bringing it, and it’s characters to life, but the true genius is its creator.

5 people found this helpful

Ugh

I was hoping for a cute romance. I wanted something fun that would take my mind off of things for a while. Instead I got this story which stressed me out way more than it should have and pissed me off. Not because the story was engineered to piss me off. I followed these characters through to the end and they were the worst. They didn't have any character arcs, they didn't learn any important life lessons, they were sanctimonious liars that shouldn't have been given a stage, the whole premise felt false, and the end left a bad taste in my mouth.

I think the author was like, "How can I have two people have an affair and have everyone in the story be okay with it?"

And then this story was born.

Ridge is SUCH a good person. Who would never ever do anything bad or ever hurt anyone ever. Because he is SOOOOO good. Sydney is such a good person too. They are just victims of their emotions. No one could ever blame them for anything that they did because their feelings are just SOOOOO pure. They are pure and sinless and no one could say that they did anything really wrong.

The characters are just SO logical (no, they're not. They're justifying pontificating douchebags), and they fall in love in spite of themselves. In spite of Ridge having a girlfriend he would do anything for. Except, y'know, not fall in love with someone else. Which I feel is a requisite for having a relationship. Her exboyfriend Hunter was right. Emotional cheating is just as bad as the physical cheating. But not according to our heroes.

But hey, maybe I'm the crazy one here.

Also, this may be a silly thing to get nitpicky about, but when she's wondering why he didn't tell her that he was deaf and then he responds with why didn't you tell me that you can hear? (or whatever the exact quote was). She feels like a moron and is like, OH OF COURSE! I'm an idiot! Why should I assume that someone can hear, when their number one hobby and the reason for our friendship involves hearing?!

Of course she would assume he could hear. Her only interactions with him have been through him playing music. Which is traditionally a thing that hearing people do. But no. She's the moron for thinking that someone who plays the guitar in tune could also hear.

This book was full of stupid people, making stupid decisions, but congratulating themselves on being oh so smart and sensitive.

Blech.

5 people found this helpful