On this episode of Reading with R, Ruqayyah reviews the book Slammed by Colleen Hoover. The novel propelled her into the world of poetry, particularly slam poetry. Listen to the show to find out how?

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect that of Ayamba LitCast. Enjoy the show!

Intro

Well, hello there. Welcome back to another episode of Reading with R. It's your girl Ruqayyah, in your speakers every month, talking about books with you, her favourite thing to do. You can catch us on our website, Ayamba LitCast website, or Spotify or iTunes or Apple Podcast or Audible. Anything that is your favourite podcast listening app, whether just search Reading with R, or you could search Ayamba LitCast and listen to our other amazing shows as well.

So, on today's episode, it is a Colleen Hoover special. Yes, Colleen Hoover, ladies and gentlemen. I think it's very apt that I start my very first Colleen Hoover review with my first ever Colleen Hoover book that I read. Which, coincidentally, was also her debut novel, 'Slammed.'

Slam Poetry

So as the name implies, 'Slammed,' your heart will literally get slammed into when you read that book. Like, practically all Colleen Hoover books are like that. But, no, that's not why it's named 'Slammed'. It's named 'Slammed' because there's a lot of slam poetry in it. So, a funny story. That book was my introduction to slam poetry, spoken poetry as a whole.

I had never heard of spoken poetry before. So, when I read that book and I saw that you could perform poetry, I was intrigued because you know, as your typical student in my junior classes, my lower-level classes. We had poetry as part of our English and it was all William Wordsworth, Shakespeare, you know. No shade to those guys, but like, you know how they go.

And then our teacher was like, "Oh, we're doing the romantics." And in my head, I'm like, "Whaaat!? Are you sure this is an appropriate curriculum?" You know, teaching little kids, romance and lo and behold, I found out that apparently, romance meant love of nature. And I'm like, I can't believe how the world has evolved and what it has turned into these days.

But anyway, back then when I was taking Shakespeare awards, William awards with all those, oldies, I convinced myself that I wasn't a poetry fan. That was what I told myself because it was so hard to understand. I didn't really get that you could just take only some of the figures of speech and do what you wanted with them.

I thought poetry had to be complicated and just weird and just something I didn't get. So, reading Slammed, I could say opened up a whole new world to me because from there I found modern poetry, I started listening to spoken word poetry on YouTube and I was opened up to a whole new world. And I was like, I can't believe I used to say I don't like poetry, so yeah. Thank you, Colleen Hoover, you did that.

You know, not just the world of spoken word poetry, Colleen Hoover, and the fandom has just been an amazing space. You know, recently I even saw a lady on Book Tok. She makes these mini books. You guys have to check that out. I think it's @TVandJohn on TikTok. She makes mini books, it's so cute. Honestly, she makes all these mini books and then she fills a jar with them. It's like her TBR or maybe books she has read.

Anyway, it's a cool hobby. I've been saying I want to do that, but I haven't gotten around to it. I'll do that inshaallah. I know maybe we could do a mini-Reading with R library. You know, with mini books of all the books that we have reviewed. And, you know, if anybody wants to give me free books as well, I'm down for that. So, back to Colleen Hoover - Slammed.

The best part about this is that. I read Slammed quite a while ago, but the main idea or like the shape of the story is in my head. Fortunately for everyone involved, I don't remember so much as to spoil it for everyone. So, like all Colleen Hoover books, it was a very real book. It was very heartrending. There was a happy ending, but it's like reality. The writing was so real. The emotions were so real. It wasn't just your typical cliche. And that's in the debut novel ladies and gentlemen.

So, it's this girl. She's new in town. She moves in. Her next-door neighbour, he recognizes that she's having some hardship adjusting to her new life. So, he takes her to this slam poetry presentation-ish performance. And it was beautiful. She was hooked from the beginning. And another thing is that every chapter, I think, included an excerpt of lyrics from the Avett Brothers. It's a band that Colleen Hoover and all her kids are into. Don't ask me how I knew that.

Don't ask me how I know that her kids are also into the Avett Brothers as well. But unfortunately, unlike slam poetry, that didn't catch. I tried listening to the Avett Brothers and I realised that I prefer reading their lyrics to listening to their music. I don't know. Maybe I didn't try hard enough, but it didn't catch on. And then they formed a friendship and there was a lot of stuff involved and it was a beautiful book, really.

Real Advice

There's a lot of real-life advice in there. The main actor, the guy that helps her settle in. He lives with his brother, and she also lives with her brother and her mom. So, the first time she was going out with the guy, her mom gave her a really, really, really, good piece of advice. Yeah. She said that she should ask herself three things, every single time she is going out with a man.

The questions are as follows.

1.    "Does he treat you with respect at all times?"

2.    "If he is still the same person that he is today in twenty years’ time, would you still be with him?"

3.    "Does he inspire you to be a better person?"

Just a moment for that to settle in.

I kid you not, I literally had different versions of those questions asked to me in a premarital course that I went through. These are so, so, so important. Because respect, yeah. Lots of people say that even when the love is not there, blah, blah, blah, respect is going to be what is holding the marriage together. I strongly believe in that.

If a person does not respect you today, the first day he meets you, the first day you go out with him. He's not going to respect you five years from now. He's not going to respect you ten years from now. It's that lack of respect that will lead him to do so many terrible things that will eventually lead to the ruin of the relationship.

But ladies and gentlemen, before you say I'm being partial, it goes both ways. Honestly, all of this advice, they go both ways. If she doesn't respect you, I don't think it'll go anywhere. Number two, if they are the same person, very, very, very, very, very important Maryam Lemu said a different version of this.

She's like, if you're going into a relationship to change someone, then don't do it. Because, what if they don't change? What if they are still that same person that they are. That is very important. If they are still the same person, they are 20 years from now. Layken's mother's question.

And the third one, do they inspire you to be a better version of yourself? That is to show you that despite how important that second point is, that we should still be open to personal growth. We should be open to becoming better people. Okay, Reading with R has taken a very deep and philosophical turn today, but oh, well. Back to a lighter note.

Verdict

Slammed is really good. That's just what I'm going to say. It's really good. It's set in a small town. For a lot of us readers of books, romance books, just YA general. We're used to reading books set in America, small town America. Honestly, I feel like a person that grew up in a small town, America, because of the amount of novels that I have read, set in small towns. The whole boy, next door. Oh, a new girl moves to town. I love that. It's a bit nostalgic in a way, because a lot of the books that I read as a teenager and later on, they featured things like that.

On that, that is that ladies and gentlemen, I will allow you to go and experience Layken, Will and slam poetry and the Avett Brothers. And if you haven't already, discover Colleen Hoover on your own. Also, I want you guys to do something for me.

Enjoy Poetry

Go to YouTube. Listen to some spoken word poetry. Listen to slam poetry. Get your heart slammed. Let me give you some recommendations. Rudy Francisco people, Emi Mahmoud people. Safia Elhillo. I could go on and on. Oh, and our very own Hauwa Saleh, Poetry Doctor. She has a show on Ayamba LitCast where she recites poetry. So even if you have a poem, like, and you would like to have it recited, send it over to the Poetry Doctor and she has got your back.

So, after that, we have a bit of a surprise coming up for the next episodes. Make sure you stay tuned next month to listen to our next episode. It's going to be huge. And in November, I have another Colleen Hoover shaped surprise. So, for avid fans of Colleen Hoover, me saying, I have a November shaped Colleen Hoover surprise, they have guessed it. If you guess it, send me an email at ruqayyah.nabage@ayambalitcast.com with your guesses, thoughts, topics, and books you want reviewed. All shoot them to my inbox.

That was too long. My Twitter handle @anchoredbywords, no space. Or even easier, go to our website, www.ayambalitcast.com and type up your comment. I hope you enjoyed yourselves. I enjoyed myself as usual, and I leave you in the keeping of the almighty translated in Arabic to be fi amanillah.