Woman Down By Colleen Hoover Source Received as a gift
Published by Montlake on January 13, 2026
Rating:
Her words used to set the page on fire. But a viral backlash over her latest film adaptation forced Petra Rose to take a hiatus, resulting in missed deadlines and an overdue mortgage. Branded a fraud and fame-hungry opportunist, she learned the hard way what happens when the internet turns on you. And she’s been uninspired to write ever since.
Now, with her next suspense novel outlined and savings nearly gone, she retreats to a secluded lakeside cabin, hoping to find inspiration. It’s Petra’s last-ditch attempt to save her career—and herself.
Then he shows up.
Detective Nathaniel Saint arrives with disturbing news, his presence igniting a creativity in her she thought long since burned out. Petra’s words return in a rush, and her fictional cop character begins to mirror the very real cop who’s becoming her muse.
Their “research” sessions blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Each glance, every touch pulls Petra deeper into a world she thought she’d never lose herself in again. She’s never felt more alive. But inspiration this powerful comes at a cost.
When Saint starts taking his role in her career a little too seriously, Petra’s forced to confront the chaos she created. But doing so could cost her more than the reputation she’s been trying to salvage. The reputation the world wrote for her—the reputation only she can reclaim.
I went into this hoping it would be a fun, quick read thriller. My initial impression was that it was very silly from the outset, but could be kind of fun.
But the ending…yikes. It was just too out there and had way too many twists, many of which didn’t even make sense to me, and which left me with so many questions. It was so unsatisfying.
Simply put, this was not a good book. I think it’s marketed as a romantic thriller or dark romance-thriller or something, but I thought the sex scenes were cringey and that there was a distinct lack of romance. As for being a thriller, this was just so boring! It was predictable and repetitive.
While I generally like author characters and stories about writers and writing, this one seemed so similar to the author’s real life that it was distracting and really eye-roll inducing for me (yes, there was a foreward from the author saying this is not based on her life – but it seemed way too coincidental, and also, if your book is so similar to your life that you feel like you need to include a disclaimer saying otherwise, maybe the book needs some edits). Also, there was such a focus on fan expectations and fan / online backlash, and stuff like going live on social media to connect with fans – I kept waiting for her to actually examine the writing process but it seemed to mostly be about social media.
There was also a super random and strange diatribe by Petra against corgis, of all things, in the opening chapters that flummoxed me. It seemed to serve no real purpose (other than to make me dislike her and distrust her opinions on everything that followed).
Anyway, I guess it’s time for me to accept that Colleen Hoover is just not an author whose books are for me.
