Without Merit: A Novel
From Colleen Hoover, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Regretting You, It Starts with Us, and It Ends with Us, comes a moving and haunting novel of family, love, and the power of the truth.
Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth.
Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.
The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.
Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.
Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.
Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth.
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✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *Without Merit* presents a gripping family drama with a complex, relatable household facing mental health struggles. Many appreciate Hoove...
3.5/5 stars.
I went into this book with the expectations that this book would be middle tier. I can say with certainty, that I was correct.
This book had an interesting story with an intriguing family dynamic. Merit is a very problematic character who is unpolished and unrefined. Which I believe was the point. I don't think we were necessarily meant to fall in love with her as we have with CoHo's past MC's. This story is about more than just Merit, but all of the Voss's. The struggle of a middle-class family with secrets, in which a lot of us can relate.
The relatability of this book is actually what I considered to be a flaw for this book. I read Colleen Hoover's books as an escape and this book had too many real-life examples that I've experienced. I have conflicting feelings towards the mental health issues in this book. I think it's great that the issue is being addressed, but a real issue being paired with CoHo's writing makes the story feel too real. It prevented me from being able to escape from the very affliction that I was reading about.
One of the specific storylines I look for when escaping the deep pits of depression is a swoon-worthy male lead. All dark feelings can be masked by a hunky man, right?! Unfortunately, I didn't find the MC likable nor the main love interest. There wasn't anything in particular that I disliked about him, but it was more that he was such a boy. When reading Hoover's books I have the expectation that I'm about to be sweeped off my feet by a man worthy of sneaking into the reader's fantasies. Instead, it was just a boy who called Merit an "asshole" and didn't even like her during the majority of the story. There's nothing swoon-worthy about that.
As interesting as the odd family dynamic was, it left me missing that warm feeling I get after reading a classic Colleen Hoover.
I went into this book with the expectations that this book would be middle tier. I can say with certainty, that I was correct.
This book had an interesting story with an intriguing family dynamic. Merit is a very problematic character who is unpolished and unrefined. Which I believe was the point. I don't think we were necessarily meant to fall in love with her as we have with CoHo's past MC's. This story is about more than just Merit, but all of the Voss's. The struggle of a middle-class family with secrets, in which a lot of us can relate.
The relatability of this book is actually what I considered to be a flaw for this book. I read Colleen Hoover's books as an escape and this book had too many real-life examples that I've experienced. I have conflicting feelings towards the mental health issues in this book. I think it's great that the issue is being addressed, but a real issue being paired with CoHo's writing makes the story feel too real. It prevented me from being able to escape from the very affliction that I was reading about.
One of the specific storylines I look for when escaping the deep pits of depression is a swoon-worthy male lead. All dark feelings can be masked by a hunky man, right?! Unfortunately, I didn't find the MC likable nor the main love interest. There wasn't anything in particular that I disliked about him, but it was more that he was such a boy. When reading Hoover's books I have the expectation that I'm about to be sweeped off my feet by a man worthy of sneaking into the reader's fantasies. Instead, it was just a boy who called Merit an "asshole" and didn't even like her during the majority of the story. There's nothing swoon-worthy about that.
As interesting as the odd family dynamic was, it left me missing that warm feeling I get after reading a classic Colleen Hoover.
I love consuming a Colleen Hoover book, they flow , they keep me engaged and they always have well crafted characters.
This is my first Colleen Hoover book and I really enjoyed it. Some might call it a love story and there were touches of that but I think it is really a story about family dynamics. The Voss family is highly dysfunctional. The Voss children live in a repurposed church with their father and step mother. Their once cancer strikes mother lives in the basement but never comes upstairs. Their younger half brother is sheltered and not allowed much fun in his life. Merit, 17, is the main character and she is watching her family from the sidelines. She collects trophies for things she hasn't earned, and is the family secret keeper. While browsing for a new trophy one day, she meets Sagan. He stirs something in her and forces her to confront some truths about herself. Merit continues to retreat into herself until she discovers the biggest secret of all. Fed up with all lies, Merit decides to shatter her family by revealing all their secrets but when her plan doesn't work she is forced to finally confront her own issues. While this story was quirky and funny at times, it also dealt with serious issues like depression and suicide. Without Merit explores the layers of secrets in a family and the love that also holds it together. "Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness."
Colleen is perfect yet again!
Even though this was different than her usual, she still hits all the feels. No matter what book of Colleen's you pick up you can't go wrong.
Even though this was different than her usual, she still hits all the feels. No matter what book of Colleen's you pick up you can't go wrong.
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