When Tate first meets Miles, her initial impression isn't a positive one, despite how handsome he is. Of course, the fact that he's passed out in the doorway of her brother's apartment where she's about to move in—and so drunk that she can barely move him out of her way—doesn't help, and neither does the fact that he calls her "Rachel," and then starts to cry, asking for forgiveness.
All Tate can think is, "I have no idea who Rachel is or what he did to her, but if he's hurting this bad, I shudder to think what she's feeling."
Once Tate gets to know Miles, who is one of her brother's best friends, she can't stop thinking about how handsome he is, and how much she's attracted to him. But he remains a mystery to her, and even as the chemistry between the, intensifies, he doesn't show any interest in opening up to her, either emotionally or physically. However, once they're honest with another about their mutual attraction, but before they embark on a no-strings-attached relationship, Miles sets two basic ground rules:
"Don't ask about my past," he says firmly, "And never expect a future."
Since Tate is in nursing school and working around the clock otherwise, the idea of simply having sex with Miles sounds like a good one. She doesn't have time for a relationship and he doesn't want one—seems perfect, doesn't it? But she is unprepared for how she feels after they have sex, how she realizes she wants more of an emotional connection with Miles, and she doesn't like that he doesn't communicate with her unless he's in town, and isn't interested in even becoming real friends.
The deeper Tate falls for Miles, the more she wants to understand why he has put up such a barrier to letting himself get emotionally involved, to actually feel something deeply for another person. Yet he refuses to answer her questions, and the minute he senses she's getting too attached, he wants to end things rather than let down his guard, no matter how much it hurts Tate.
Is it truly possible to turn one's emotions off and not feel anything for a person you're in a sexual relationship with? Does a person ever truly "deserve" not to be happy? How willing can one person be to constantly let themselves be hurt? Colleen Hoover's Ugly Love is an emotional exploration of a woman fighting her attraction for a man determined not to fall in love with her, but she can't seem to understand why he keeps her at arm's length.
The book shifts narration between Tate in the present time and Miles about seven years earlier, so you can see how their relationship plays out and little by little, Hoover clues you in to what happened to Miles to make him act the way he does. It's an interesting juxtaposition, but the narrative style with which Hoover tells Miles' part of the story is a little odd, so it makes those chapters a little more difficult to comprehend.
This is now the third book of Hoover's I've read, and I'm so impressed with how easily she can draw you in to her stories and how she touches your emotions so completely. It is also super, super steamy, so for those of you who don't like to read a lot of sex scenes, you may want to pass on this one.
Ugly Love didn't quite have the emotional punch for me that This Ends with Us did, but it did make me cry, and I know it will stick in my head for a while. She's truly becoming one of my new favorite authors, even though I'm super late to the party!
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