Slammed and Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover

Layken Cohen's life has changed dramatically in the last 6 months. Her father died unexpectedly and now her mother, younger brother Kel and Layken have packed up their home, left Texas behind, and moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan. Just when all hope seems lost, Layken meets Will Cooper. Will is her 21-year-old, attractive neighbor with a passion for slam poetry. Layken and Will form an intense emotional connection and Layken finds herself falling for Will hard, even after only knowing him a few days.

Their relationship takes an unexpected turn when Layken discovers that Will is in fact her new poetry teacher. Will, who is caring for his younger brother, Caulder, after the death of their parents cannot afford to jeopardize his job, which means that Layken and he have to break it off. Now the two are left with daily awkward exchanges and broken hearts. Layken's world is further rocked when the real reason why her family moved to Michigan is revealed. The only thing that Layken seems to know for real is that she loves Will, but will they ever be able to overcome all of the obstacles life has placed in their way?

Point of Retreat is the continuing story of Layken and Will, and told from Will's perspective this time. Having overcome enough of the obstacles to their relationship to be together, Layken and Will soon find that love may not be enough to get them through. When Will's ex-girlfriend reemerges after 3 years, Layken is left questioning the very foundations of their relationship. Will must now figure out a way to prove to Layken that their love is real, that "sometimes two people have to fall apart to realize how much they need to fall back together."

I loved this series! Loved, loved, loved it! I have to admit when it was revealed that Will has in fact Layken's teacher I thought that was it, that there was no way I was going to make it through this book. As a teacher, the idea of anything but a professional relationship between student and teacher just grosses me out. But I am also OCD when it comes to finishing a book and I'm glad that I was able to work past that little issue, because I really enjoyed this series. The characters are fantastic and create a wonderfully imperfect family, proving yet again that blood does not always a family make and that the human heart is stronger than it may appear.

I was slightly annoyed with Layken in Point of Retreat and felt that most of her hang ups where the result of her own insecurities and not Will's actions, but I also really loved watching Will find ways to prove her wrong. I enjoyed the poetry element of the book, as I myself am a big fan of slam poetry, although it loses some of its essence when read and not seen. It would be a really cool element to include should these books ever be made into a movie. This series is a quick read and full of plenty of angst, which will appeal to romantics and YA lovers. Solid 4 stars for me!