Book Review
Colleen Hoover made her literary debut in 2011 and has since established herself as one of the most prolific and financially successful romance novels of the new millennium. Hoover, or CoHo as her fans refer to her, has consistently appeared on both The New York Times and Amazon bestseller lists. She redefined the romance subgenre by introducing complex characters who are confronted with serious emotional problems.
Reminders of Him (2022) is both a traditional romantic comedy and a new take on the genre. After serving five years in prison, 26-year-old Kenna Rowan has returned to her hometown close to Denver. She is adamant about getting along with Diem Landry, her four-year-old daughter. The romance genre is represented in the narrative through the characters’ tentative steps toward new love and the characters’ affirmation of hope as they navigate fresh beginnings with the help of friends and family. Yet Kenna is not your usual romance novel heroine.
She was incarcerated due to a drunk driving accident that claimed the life of the only man she had ever loved, Scotty Landry, Diem’s father. Grace and Patrick Landry, Scotty’s parents, are now raising Diem. The book tests how to deal with guilt and self-doubt and demonstrates how a bandaged heart can find its way to love once more through its investigation of the mechanics of mourning, the complex psychology of forgiveness, and the heroic quest for a second chance.
Introduction
After serving five years in jail for involuntary vehicular manslaughter in the murder of her boyfriend, Scotty, Kenna is finally let out at the age of 26. She returns to her hometown despite being aware of the dangers because she wants to meet Diem, the daughter she gave birth to while she was incarcerated and who is now being reared by Scotty’s parents.
On her first night in town, Kenna looks for a bookstore she frequently visited but discovers it has been converted into a bar. She enters for coffee and is temporarily captivated by the appealing bartender, who later reveals himself to be the owner and one of Scotty’s best friends, Ledger Ward, a former professional football player. Ledger, for his part, can’t take his eyes off the lonely, dejected woman sipping coffee alone. She is unknown to him. Ledger has a friendship with Diem and lives across the street from Scotty’s parents. Kenna and Ledger get to know one another over the coming weeks. Kenna introduces herself to Ledger as Nicole in order to prevent any commotion in public, but he soon recognizes that she is indeed Kenna. Kenna accepts a position as a grocery store cashier.
The easiest method for Kenna to meet her daughter, in her opinion, is to walk up to the Landrys’ front door and apologize to them. The people misunderstood her catatonic demeanor during her trial for Kenna’s lack of interest. Kenna is only saved from what Ledger promises her would have been a horrific incident by him forcibly dragging her out of the Landrys’ yard. The Landrys are attempting to rebuild their lives, as Ledger attempts to explain to Kenna. Kenna is brokenhearted yet adamant about seeing her daughter. Ledger fights against the community’s impression of Kenna as a callous monster who abandoned Scotty to perish on a lonely country road as he witnesses Kenna’s feelings.
Kenna is adamant about one thing: She wants to see her daughter without damaging the environment that Ledger and Scotty’s parents have created for her. As reports of Kenna’s whereabouts spread around the community, Scotty’s parents successfully obtain a restraining order prohibiting Kenna from coming within 500 feet of her child. But the more Kenna confides in Ledger about her suffering, the more they start to fall in love. Ledger was engaged, but the relationship ended when his fiancee became uncomfortable with how much participation he kept up in Diem’s life. Kenna rediscovers a great delight in the closeness that she had almost forgotten when she and Ledger eventually make love. They love each other.
The restraining order breaks Kenna’s heart, and she considers leaving town entirely. After all, her daughter is content and the Landry family is doing well. Ledger offers Kenna a part-time job in his pub to help her save money so she can leave the area. The only time Ledger starts to view Kenna differently is when Roman, his bartender, confronts him. Roman reminds Ledger of how frequently Ledger has extended second chances to those who work at the bar, including Roman. Ledger believes he may have treated Kenna unfairly. But when Scotty’s parents find out that Ledger is dating Kenna, they make him pick between the Landrys and Kenna.
Ledger learns from Kenna that she writes Scotty letters, which helped her while she was imprisoned. There are currently over 300 letters. Kenna is questioned by Ledger about if he can read a letter that explains Scotty’s fatal accident. Kenna reluctantly reads it to him. According to the letter, Scotty and Kenna both consumed alcohol that evening, albeit Kenna appeared to be slightly less wasted. Kenna was driving when the vehicle entered a skid and overturned in a ditch. Kenna walked home in shock, certain that Scotty had died and that she was to blame. She wouldn’t learn Scotty died on the roadway more than six hours after the collision until the following morning. She is incapable of grieving, as evidenced by her catatonic demeanor during her trial.
Ledger can now see how brutally the town viewed Kenna. He is determined to set up a meeting between Kenna and Grace, Scotty’s mother. Grace is shocked when Ledger displays a copy of the letter to her. She spent five years hating the girl who killed her son, but today she has a very different perspective on the accident’s circumstances. She wants Kenna to know that she is now sorry for the mishap. Grace enters Kenna’s apartment with Ledger’s assistance. She sobs and clings to Kenna there. Kenna will be introduced to Diem by Grace.
Diem and Kenna have supper together at the Landry residence. Instantly clicking, Kenna experiences delight for the first time in a long time.
2 years have passed. Across the street from Diem and the Landrys, Kenna and Ledger now share a home. Diem currently resides with her grandparents in order to maintain stability in her life, but she frequently visits Kenna and Ledger. Now that Kenna and Ledger are parents, Scotty is their son.
CHAPTERS 1-9 ANALYSIS
Reminders of Him is a tale of second chances and a parable of redemption. Against the counsel of everyone she consulted while incarcerated, Kenna returns to her homeland. With her daughter this time, she is determined to start over in life. It’s a risky, even desperate, strategy. After all, the population is persuaded that she is a callous, selfish monster due to her odd behavior following the disaster. As a result, these beginning chapters introduce three important topics: Kenna’s first efforts toward reclaiming her heart; her first hesitant feelings of affection toward the enigmatic bartender named Ledger; and her perception of life as depressing and dismal.
The first thing Kenna does in the book is both revealing and unsettling. She makes a stop at the scene of the accident before entering the town and speaking to anyone. She is unhappy because she is certain that Scotty’s parents put the wayside cross there. Scotty would not have enjoyed the public nature of such feelings, so Kenna draws up the simple cross before she tells anything about her character. One interpretation of the gesture is that Kenna is narcissistic and a control freak who wants to push her way inelegantly back into the society from which she was expelled five years prior. The gesture suggests Kenna might be too direct or insensitive in her approach to building a relationship with her daughter. This scene establishes what is only apparent upon second reading: “The only thing that calms my anxiety is doing things that make me feel like I’m still in charge of my life and my decisions,” she confesses. We might come to the same conclusions that the community did following the accident when we get to know Kenna for the first time. We misinterpret a gesture that shows her affection for Scotty and her sense of their shared protectiveness as egotism and insensitivity. Kenna seeks to regain a sense of control over her life after spending five long years under constant observation.
After only two hours at the bar, Kenna is already having a sexual relationship with her late boyfriend’s best buddy. Once more, a reader might draw the incorrect conclusion too quickly. After five years in prison, she is more than just self-centered. Due to the emotional devastation of Scotty’s passing, her imprisonment, and her estrangement from her daughter, she is desperate, torn, hesitant, and looking for approval from others. Kenna is currently caught between identities, as her choice to go by Nicole suggests. She is and is not Kenna, Scotty’s lover, Ledger’s hookup, Diem’s mother, and most importantly, she is and is not Ledger’s hookup.
Additionally, these chapters make an effort to explain what is in fact indescribable. The attraction dynamic defies logic and explanation. In this, the book is truthful. These chapters, which switch between Kenna and Ledger’s points of view, make clear that neither one of them is looking for a relationship. She recently ended a protracted and failed engagement, and Kenna doesn’t want anything or anyone to keep her from seeing her kid again. Yet as soon as Kenna walks into the bar, neither of them can stop staring at the other, despite their mutual belief that the other would only cause problems.
This is a case of “love at first sight,” therefore it makes sense that the developing romance would revolve around the eyes. Even as Kenna sips her coffee, Ledger can see the anguish in her eyes. Ledger’s eyes are stormy, and Kenna can tell. Love at first sight and the alluring pull of attraction are clichés in the romance genre. Ledger’s spontaneous request for Kenna to return after the bar closes makes sense under that tradition. Only Ledger and Kenna themselves are perplexed by the reasoning behind that plea and her choice to come back. They will be strengthened by this initial love awakening.
Nevertheless, despite their darkness, the novel’s initial chapters establish the groundwork for its hopeful conclusion. Long before she tells Ledger about the accident, Kenna exudes melancholy. She has become depressed since the accident: “I have a daughter I have never assisted. She smells in a way I’ve never experienced. I’ve never yelled her name when she had a name. Ledger doesn’t express his feelings, but he does reveal a similarly terrible existence of misfortune and squandered opportunities. His professional life came to a premature end. Pointless death claimed his best friend. Just a few weeks before the wedding, his only committed relationship ended. The four-year-old girl who lives across the street is his closest friend. He is, in a sense, just as depressed and broken as Kenna. At this time, he would concur with Kenna’s concluding statement that “happiness isn’t some permanent thing” and that “life can be so fucking harsh and hard”. The emotional low point of these chapters is here; things can only get better.
CHAPTERS 10-19 ANALYSIS
The dilemma of the family and the nuanced notion of home are introduced in these chapters. Kenna considers the strained relationship with her own mother as she fails miserably to meet her daughter. Kenna feels abandoned by her own mother, which influences her desperation over ever meeting Diem. Ledger starts to sift out his mixed feelings toward both the monster Kenna, the convict who killed his friend, and Kenna, the woman he has met. Ledger starts to shift as he contrasts his preconceived notions of Kenna with what he is learning from their chats.
Motherhood itself serves as a distinguishing motif for the book. The events surrounding Kenna’s homecoming to her hometown revolve entirely on Mother’s Day. Kenna questions whether she qualifies as a mother at all. This conundrum is introduced by the scrunchie incident in Chapter 17. She senses the strong presence of the young child she has never met as she spots the scrunchie next to the car seat in Ledger’s truck’s rear seat.
“I want to crawl into this back seat and remain here with her booster seat and her hair scrunchie and see if I can locate any other remnants of her that’ll give me hints as to what she looks like and what type of life she has,” Kenna says in an emotional response. Kenna describes how her absence has turned into presence in this, but she is dubious if that qualifies as motherhood. The only example she has is her own mother, who abandoned her when she was seven and stoically refused to aid Kenna when she needed it. Kenna’s own mother dismisses her daughter’s maternal urgencies as a planned ploy to shame her by refusing to take part in any legal strategy to win the imprisoned Kenna parental rights.
Kenna, who is denied a relationship with her daughter, searches out partnerships that mimic a mother-daughter relationship for consolation, such as her friendship with Lucy, a teenager. Ivy is a woman who Kenna bonds within prison and sees as the ideal mother figure because of her quiet knowledge and unwavering devotion. Interestingly, Kenna’s desire to pretend to be a parent can be seen in the growing bond she has with the stray kitten she has named Ivy. Kenna starts to confide in the cat and even looks for her company as she struggles to part with the pet.
In these chapters, the threat posed by the Landry family becomes apparent in contrast to Kenna’s struggles to find her way to the mother position she is certain she is supposed to perform. The Ledger chapters give this alternative narrative. Ledger continues to occupy an unstable position. He is torn between his developing feelings for Kenna and his long-standing feelings for Diem. Kenna is not wanted by the Landry family. The bereaved parents are pleased with their lives and are not ready to pass on emotionally. It’s impossible to be forgiving.
This family has already drawn the lines of battle. The dialogue between Patrick and Ledger, who has “loyalty whiplash”, shows that the family is only up for conflict and opposition. Up to the point that Ledger eventually gives Grace Kenna’s letter, this is how the family is defined in the book. The Landrys signal the point at which they must advance when they consider getting a restraining order against Kenna. It is their darkest hour, a choice untainted by truth or muddled by information. Kenna is kept apart. Kenna really wants Ledger to answer no when she asks him whether he regrets kissing her. She is crushed and left feeling even more alone than before when he expresses his regret.
The work strikes a beautiful balance between overcoming obstacles and adjusting to them in Diem’s character. Diem, who is almost five years old, manages to combine her irrepressible whimsy with the harsh realities of her upbringing—her mother is a convicted felon, and her father is deceased. Diem signifies that the only way to appreciate the urgency of now (her name means “day”) is to be like the fencing master she hopes of becoming, whether she imagines T-balls as dragon eggs or dreams of being in a cartoon. A skilled fencer responds with dignity, grace, and elegance to every challenging and unexpected turn of circumstances. The notion of a loving home and a strong family in the book is based on this ideal.
CHAPTERS 20-25 ANALYSIS
These chapters focus on a single crucial idea: the discrepancy between who a person is and how a person is perceived. This is because the plot is now moving toward Kenna’s redemption. According to the book, Kenna is not who the community, Ledger, and Scotty’s parents think she is. Ledger similarly demonstrates that, like Kenna, he is not who he seems to be; he suppresses his emotions and keeps a tight moat around his history. Ledger and Kenna will both discover how to quit hiding behind masks. These chapters mark the beginning of that shift toward sincerity.
By accepting the job at the bar, Kenna appears determined to play the cruel monster the community thinks she is and to betray her own values. After all, she gives in to the idea that, despite her sentiments, she cannot be a part of her daughter’s life. She realizes she has to leave town. The ruse is further implied when Kenna continues to present herself as Nicole and offers to remain in the kitchen, where she is hidden.
The headphones she wears while in the kitchen emphasize this suppression of her true personality even more. Kenna is bothered by the dishwasher’s insistence on playing music to make the kitchen more lively. Ledger finds it hard to accept that Kenna detests music. When Scotty and Kenna were dating, music was always playing. In fact, She claims that music is “the one thing that grounds me” in the letters that Kenna writes to Scotty about their courtship. The earbuds stand in for Kenna’s ongoing illusion and how she isolates herself by hiding who she really is. She enables herself to contribute to the community’s impression of her as being antisocial, haughty, and emotionless. Only afterward does she confess to Ledger that she despises music since every song, happy or sad, makes her think of Scotty. Her heart is still sore from the loss, which is still so recent. Alone in the kitchen with her headphones in, Kenna simply comes out as emotionless and frigid. Here, at the halfway point of the book, Kenna seems content to let other people’s opinions of her define who she is.
Ledger is leading a life that is practically identical to Kenna’s, which surprises the reader in these chapters. He has so far come off as a trustworthy if reserved, character who is who he says he is. He treats the bar’s customers the same way he does his staff and Kenna. He seems to be straightforward. Kenna only starts to realize the stoic Ledger has secrets in these chapters. Ledger is, in his own unique way, a planned performance piece that hides his true self. His connection with Roman was sparked by Ledger’s participation in the rehearsal play that rendered Roman disabled and ultimately led to his descent into a substance abuse disorder. Similar to that scenario, Kenna feels guilty over Scotty’s demise. When Kenna finds out that Ledger walked out on his wedding because he was in love with Diem, the parallel is further highlighted. Both Ledger and Kenna are unwilling to live without Diem. Kenna understands she has a compatible friend and potential ally in Ledger. Similar to how Ledger cares deeply about Diem, he too sacrifices his wedding preparations (and later the country house he is creating) for the child.
Ledger’s reaction to Kenna spending time with Roman reveals how strictly he reigns in his emotions. Kenna’s attraction to Ledger is undeniable as she admits: “His presence always produces this hum under my skin”. Ledger, on the other hand, gives Kenna a weird look as she exits Roman’s apartment after going to get the tables and chairs for the Mother’s Day luncheon. “Almost like he’s doing everything he can to keep me from knowing his thoughts,” says Kenna when she can’t figure him out. He now appears to be shrouded in shadows, like Kenna, simultaneously present and absent. Kenna/Nicole works at a grocery store and a pub in the hopes that no one will know her. This section ends with Ledger quoting a line from the dark love song “If We Were Vampires” by Jason Isbell, in which the singer laments that if we were vampires and could live forever, these games we play might be enjoyable: “Kenna and Ledger are both pretending, both ignoring their emotions, both playing games with each other.” The song claims that “maybe time running out is a gift.”
CHAPTERS 26-33 ANALYSIS
In these chapters, Kenna finally informs Ledger of the details surrounding the incident that claimed Scotty’s life. By this point, Ledger has a sneaking suspicion that Kenna is a decent person who is sincere in her sorrow for her deeds, but the specifics have never been revealed. Sharing the letter signifies Kenna’s transformation from hiding from her identity to becoming it. During that exchange, Kenna shows the depth of her honesty and starts her journey toward atonement.
If the letter represents the start of Kenna’s emotional healing, these chapters also include two significant occurrences that show she is now prepared to accept her identity. The first is when the restraining order is handed out, and the second is when Kenna and Ledger finally make love.
The restraining order Scotty’s parents requested shows how poorly they understood Kenna. That restraining order’s connotations were briefly accepted by her, which demonstrates Kenna’s readiness to accept that misinterpretation. Kenna accepts Ledger’s offer of money in order to leave town because she is distraught over the restraining order. She gives in to the Landrys’ perception of who she is. They misinterpreted Kenna’s frantic behavior at the supermarket parking lot. They think she was recharging the vehicle for a violent act. They make her out to be a danger. Kenna is the same selfish, immature girl who killed their son, they tell the lawyers: Why am I still standing here? Kenna thinks to herself as she gives up on her desire to be there in her daughter’s life. “[I]t sure feels like I’m all out of wins,” she says in her letter to Scotty that night, expressing her desperation.
The first time Kenna and Ledger make love is depicted in a sensual and spiritual encounter. They have become close, and their friendship portends her choice to tell Ledger about the most upsetting letter she ever wrote to Scotty. Kenna has finally realized that she needs a partner. They ultimately push through the distance between them, a maze of lies and half-truths, the game they each play with hiding who they are and how they feel. It’s time to be truthful.
The letter, which is presented in the longest chapter of the book, is honest and direct right away. Kenna does not excuse her behavior or avoid taking responsibility for it: she drank, drove too fast, and slammed on the brakes. But each choice was supported by sound logic. The back road was deserted, making the posted speed limits seem more like suggestions. Scotty was in no condition to drive, and it was challenging to slow down due to the gravel that was strewn across the road.
Kenna went into shock when she thought Scotty was gone and as she started to understand that she was to blame for the passing of the only man she had ever loved. She took action based on her heartfelt perception of the circumstances. Later, when she realizes her error, she sinks into such deep sorrow that she is unable to speak to her own attorneys or defend herself. Her heart has been broken. She is not the cold-blooded monster the community has long assumed she to be.
The letter describes how Kenna felt doubtful and self-conscious even after learning she was pregnant. Her reasoning is based on the assumption that Diem was a curse, a method for the deceased Scotty to avenge her by preventing her from experiencing happiness: “Not having Diem in my life would imply it’s your way of punishing me”. Kenna’s perspective reached its lowest point when her own adorable child turned into a sad reminder of Scotty.
How Ledger will react to these facts is left unclear in these chapters. When they made love, he came to the conclusion that he cannot truly love a woman who he still knows so little about. Even more intimate than their romantic act was sharing the letter. But as these chapters come to a close, it’s unclear how Ledger will react to this letter: Kenna concludes the letter to Scotty by saying, “I’m not a bad person; I just hope our daughter will forgive me someday. your parents as well. If a miracle occurs, I might then be able to start forgiving myself. After a series of more frantic excuses, Kenna ends the letter by asking Scotty, who is now dead, to pardon her. The novel is currently stuck between tragedy and redemption.
CHAPTER 34-EPILOGUE ANALYSIS
Grace tells Kenna she’s sorry and that “we go on. It’s that easy. Moving ahead is never easy. Forgiveness is a challenging happy ending. After all, nothing in these concluding chapters absolves Kenna of her responsibility for the incident that resulted in Scotty’s death. In these latter chapters, her guilt, bad judgment, poor decision-making, and lack of interest in her trial remain. Accepting what happened and having empathy—the capacity to put one’s own trauma aside and take into account how suffering in this situation is shared—are prerequisites for forgiveness. Kenna realizes that the only true path to “finding peace”.
These last chapters, which are set against Mother’s Day, highlight the significance of mothers in this movement toward empathy and forgiveness. Nobody escapes pain in disasters like Scotty’s accident, Ledger’s mother advises him. Kenna is the one who ultimately concludes that hiding from her past, posing as Nicole, or relocating out of town are not workable solutions. Mother comes first for her. Although Diem offers her hope for the future without ignoring the past, her heart is heavy with loss and plagued by guilt.
Honesty is the secret to the novel’s happy conclusion. Ledger plays a key role in this. He knows the Landrys would be equally affected by the discoveries in Kenna’s letter because he was so profoundly affected by them. He is right. A sense of closure is provided by the moment between Kenna and Grace, two grieving mothers who shared a profound love for Scotty. Now that she is aware of her mistake, Grace is determined to right the wrong. Inviting Kenna to participate in Diem’s life. The following day, Diem and Kenna finally meet. Diem shows Kenna her pet turtle as she casually accepts the new fact that this woman is her mother.
Despite how moving that scene is, it does not bring the book to a finish. The plot of the book goes beyond a pleasant resolution. Scotty’s eerie presence and all the lingering mementos of him are still around. The novel raises a puzzling conundrum. Now her daughter will accept Kenna into her life. Kenna is capable of being seen in a kind, sympathetic manner by Grace and Patrick. This raises worries regarding how everyone will cope with Scotty’s passing. The tough task of dealing with the past begins with plain sight in the scene where Kenna, Diem, and Ledger return to the crash site and reinstall the wayside cross. The public cross can assist the survivors in remembering Scotty with joy rather than resentment: “Thinking of Scotty no longer makes me depressed. The memories of him now that I’ve forgiven myself simply bring a grin to my face.
Kenna receives the gift of music from Ledger—a collection of tunes that will do much to improve her emotional state. Scotty loved music so much, and now Kenna is getting her love of music back. Instead of making her feel guilty, the songs serve as a reminder of how happy and in love they were together. A similar release from the weight of the past is provided by the ring Grace gives Kenna. Now that she is aware that Scotty desired a future with her, Kenna is able to experience some peace that she had previously been unable to experience thanks to Grace’s pricey engagement ring.
Diem, a byproduct of their love and a symbol of their union, exists nonetheless. Diem allows Kenna to concurrently live in two tenses and is lively and lovely. Although Diem will always make her think of Scotty, the young and fanciful girl manages to balance “was” with a vibrant and enchanted “now.”
All remembrances of Scotty—the roadside cross, music, the ring, and Diem—now bring happiness. Finally, at peace with the past, Kenna says, “I’ve been hard on myself. But I believe I’ve come to a place where I can forgive myself. The pigeon’s quick appearance suggests that reunion. Ledger interprets the bird’s appearance as a sign that Scotty is blessing the new circumstances surrounding Ledger and Kenna’s relationship as well as the new reality of Kenna’s presence in Diem’s life because it makes him think of Scotty’s catchphrase.
The conclusion of the book reports that Kenna and Ledger have started a new life together. They gave birth to a son, whom they called Scotty, two years after Kenna’s homecoming. In this, the baby symbolizes how Kenna and Ledger have each secured the future they have deserved by balancing the past and the present.