When I was first selecting a book, I went through many options and remembered the recommendation that one of my friends made: to read a book by Colleen Hoover. Since I enjoy reading romance novels, I picked the book Heart Bones. I expected it to be like any other romance novel, but it wasn’t. It surpassed my expectations and made me feel as if I was in the story with the characters.

Heart Bones is a heart-wrenching novel that depicts themes of family, love, personal development, wealth, and growing up through relatable, young characters. Colleen Hoover uses literary elements to tell a passionate story through her exceptional use of motifs, bildungsroman, and themes.

The main character, Beyah, lives with her mother (an addict) in Kentucky. When her mother suddenly dies and she is kicked out of her home, Beyah is forced to go and live with her father in Texas. She has no relationship with him, and this change is huge for her; it takes time to cope with and process this new life event. While she is living with her father, she starts to feel something she has never felt for anyone in her life, ever — she starts to feel love.

Throughout the book, Beyah learns what it’s like to have a real family and people who care about her. Her friends and family make her a better version of herself, and force her to crawl out of her shell where she has been damaged her whole life. Some important characters in the book are Samson, Sara, Sara’s mom, Beyah’s mom, Beyah’s dad, and Marcos. These characters help shape Beyah to become who she is at by the end.

Throughout the story, Hoover uses a strong motif to convey the relationship between the characters. One motif that stood out to me was the power of Beyah and Samson’s relationship, which was shown by the alarm that Beyah has set on her phone. At the beginning of the book, the sunset on the ferry has a strong effect on Beyah — “It’s the first sunset I’ve ever felt this deep in my chest. I feel my eyes begin to tear up at the sheer beauty of it.” Beyah has a deep connection with this sunset, and a little later on we find out that Samson is watching her at this moment. On her first day, she buys a phone; Samson helps her set it up, and he sets an alarm so she can wake up to see the sunrise. Instead of canceling the alarm, she keeps it throughout the entire summer, and she and Samson are always up watching the sunrise. This shows the power of their relationship because of the sunrise, which is really important to Beyah and that she is spending it with Samson.

Something else that is important to the text is how Colleen Hoover uses bildungsroman. For example, at the beginning of the story, Beyah talks about how she had no one but herself when she was a kid. She talks about how she would have to eat every meal and save it because she never knew when she would get another one. She also talks about how she has never been loved and doesn’t really have any close relationships with anyone. As the story goes on, she learns the importance of love and relationships, and she grows to even have these relationships for herself. An important quote from the book that shows this is: “I’m ending it [the summer] with something I didn’t have when I showed up here. A family.” This use of bildungsroman was very powerful to me as the reader because of the growth you see through the beginning and the end of the book; it really resonates with the reader, leading them to feel happy for Beyah.

The last thing that is very important to the text are the strong themes that it shows. The text teaches readers the importance of having good relationships with friends and family and the major effects they have on someone. At the beginning of the book, Beyah was closed off and she was never really happy. Once her mom died and she was forced to move in with her dad and his family, she learned how important it is to have people you can depend on. This makes the reader reflect on their own life which, in my opinion, is very powerful, and makes me feel strong emotions toward the text. In the end, Beyah is a whole new person who has changed for the future, and it really shows the reader the power of having important people and relationships in your life.

In conclusion, the book Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover is an amazing, heart-wrenching novel that I would recommend to anyone. The book has important themes and lessons that anyone could benefit from. This book was unlike any other romance novel that I have ever read because of the way that it ended. It was unpredictable and I really enjoyed that. Colleen Hoover used strong, powerful themes, bildungsroman, and motifs that made the book phenomenal to read.