Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Maybe Someday- Colleen Hoover
Published by: Atria Books, on 18 March 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Pages: 320, Format: eARC
Source: ARC Netgalley

At twenty-two years old, Sydney has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her best friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter's cheating on her—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by Ridge, her mysterious neighbor. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to his playing his guitar every day out on his balcony. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…

*I received a free ARC of Maybe Someday from Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

Maybe Someday is a beautifully written contemporary New Adult romance, and, as usual the prose and the music are big parts of the story. Sydney thinks she knows all about heartache when she finds herself outside in the rain, on her birthday, after confronting her best friend and her boyfriend about their sneaking around behind her back. I truly loved how Sydney dealt with her back-stabbing friends before she packed her bags and left. Luckily for her, Ridge from across the courtyard has one of his roommates bring her up to his apartment and lets her stay until she gets her feet back under her.

Little by little, Maybe Someday reveals its story, the characters and the way it all could work together. Between Sydney thinking up lyrics to Ridge’s guitar, and the way they get along on every level, there really should be only happiness for them, right? Unfortunately for both of them, that’s not how the real world works. Sydney is still dealing with the betrayal of her boyfriend and her roommate, and Ridge has a girlfriend whom he loves very much.

I loved that Maybe Someday is written in dual point of view, so that I could see both what Ridge was thinking and feeling, and everything that happened in Sydney’s mind as well. Both of them are extremely loyal people, and they are also very passionate – both about music and the ones they care about. As the story moves on, it is clear both to the readers and to the main characters that they have strong feelings for each other, and they are both working very hard to not act on those feelings. And while that is admirable in a way, it also kind of bothered me a little. I think it’s because they weren’t completely honest with themselves – and it is difficult to stay loyal when honesty is an issue at all.

However, the character growth, and how lovable they both are made me still enjoy and love Maybe Someday. It is so bitter-sweet, so full of hope, and also mixed emotions and guilt. And in the center of it all is an all-compassing love of music. I actually went and pre-ordered the audio book as soon as I finished reading, because to hear two narrators tell me the story and sing the songs for me will make the experience even better!

As Maybe Someday continues, we also learn that there is much more to the characters than what they seem at the beginning, and the relationships they have built are more intricate because of that. And I both smiled and cried, cursed and swooned, and by the end, I had no idea what exactly it was I wanted to happen!

 I already hate being twenty-two, and I still have 364 more days to go. It sucks so bad that I’m… crying? Great. I’m crying now. I’m a purse less, crying, violent, homeless girl. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I think I might also be heartbroken.

This guy has it. He’s confident and talented. I’ve always been a sucker for musicians, but more in a fantasy way. They’re a different breed. A breed that rarely makes for good boyfriends.

I think the fact that I misjudged him pisses me off more than the fact that he cheated on me. If I can’t even accurately judge the people closest to me, then I can’t trust anyone. Ever. I hate them for taking that away from me. Now, no matter who comes into my life after this, I’ll always be skeptical.

There’s something about these moments when we’re writing music that I absolutely love. All my worries and thoughts about everything wrong in my life seem to go away for the short times we write together. It’s nice.

Although I wasn’t ready for anything right now, I thought the possibility would be there. I assumed that maybe someday, when I was ready, things could have developed between us.