Maybe someday
by Colleen Hoover · 2014
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.7/5
Hoover constructs an emotionally honest love triangle that refuses easy villainy, though her formal choices occasionally betray the subtlety she pursues. A novel about desire, guilt, and the people we hurt despite our best intentions.
Hoover constructs an emotionally honest love triangle that refuses the comfort of villainy, though her formal choices occasionally betray the subtlety she aims for.
Maybe Someday is a competent exploration of impossible desire and the guilt that accompanies attraction we cannot will away. Hoover's strength lies in her refusal to demonize any party in the central triangle; her weakness lies in moments where character behavior shifts to serve plot momentum rather than emerge from genuine internal conflict. This is a book that earns its emotional weight, even as it sometimes strains against its own architectural decisions.
The novel's central premise—Sydney, newly homeless after discovering her boyfriend's infidelity, moves into an apartment with Ridge, a musician in a committed relationship—could easily collapse into melodrama or moral simplicity. Instead, Hoover grounds the narrative in the messy specificity of how attraction actually operates: not as lightning bolt but as accumulation, through shared creative work and vulnerability. Sydney and Ridge's connection through songwriting feels genuinely earned; the music functions as both literal plot device and metaphor for emotional honesty. This is Hoover's genuine gift: the ability to make readers understand how two fundamentally decent people can find themselves in an ethically compromised position without either becoming a villain.
The novel's structural restraint—its refusal to traffic in external conflict, family drama, or manufactured obstacles—distinguishes it from much contemporary romance. The conflict is, as other reviewers have noted, almost entirely internal; two people wrestling with feelings they cannot suppress and cannot easily justify. This formal choice is admirable, and it forces Hoover to do the harder work of making emotional states legible on the page. Her prose, when working well, achieves a kind of emotional transparency that explains why readers report needing to pause and breathe.
Hoover's treatment of Maggie, Ridge's girlfriend, deserves particular attention because it demonstrates her commitment to moral complexity. Rather than rendering Maggie as an obstacle or villain—the easy choice—Hoover insists on her humanity, her own capacity for hurt, her own investment in the relationship. This refusal to simplify the emotional mathematics of the triangle is the novel's most structurally ambitious gesture. It means the ending cannot offer the clean resolution that genre convention might demand; someone will hurt, and Hoover accepts that tragic inevitability.
Yet the novel stumbles precisely where it should be strongest: in moments where character behavior seems to pivot toward plot convenience rather than psychological necessity. One reviewer notes, with justified frustration, instances where characters act in ways that feel inconsistent with their established selves—moments that read less as revelation and more as authorial manipulation. This is particularly damaging in a novel whose entire emotional apparatus depends on the reader trusting that these characters are behaving authentically, however painfully. When that trust fractures, even briefly, the carefully constructed emotional edifice becomes harder to reinvest in. The novel's reliance on text messages and digital communication also occasionally flattens the immediacy Hoover otherwise achieves; there are passages where the medium becomes a crutch rather than an enhancement.
What remains striking about Maybe Someday, despite these reservations, is Hoover's refusal to offer cheap absolution. The novel ends not with resolution but with possibility—the title itself becomes a kind of permanent deferral. This is a formally conservative choice dressed in emotionally progressive clothing; it allows readers the fantasy of 'maybe someday' without forcing Hoover to adjudicate the moral questions her premise raises. Whether this constitutes artistic wisdom or artistic evasion likely depends on the reader's temperament. What seems clear is that Hoover has written a novel that understands something true about the architecture of desire, even when her execution occasionally betrays that understanding.
Key Takeaways
- Desire as accumulation
- Moral complexity resists resolution
- Emotional authenticity under pressure
Summary
- Sydney discovers her boyfriend's infidelity and becomes unexpectedly homeless, moving into an apartment with Ridge, a musician she's heard playing from her balcony.
- Ridge is in a committed relationship with Maggie, but his creative and emotional connection with Sydney becomes increasingly difficult to deny or compartmentalize.
- The novel's central strength is its refusal to vilify any member of the love triangle; all three characters remain fundamentally sympathetic even as they hurt one another.
- Hoover employs minimal external conflict, instead focusing on the internal emotional and moral struggles of characters caught between competing loyalties and authentic desire.
- The songwriting process becomes both plot mechanism and metaphor for emotional intimacy, allowing Sydney and Ridge to express what they cannot speak directly.
- Occasional character behavior feels inconsistent with established psychology, suggesting plot convenience overriding authentic motivation in key moments.
- The novel's ending opts for permanent deferral rather than resolution, leaving readers with 'maybe someday' as both promise and evasion.
- This is a competent, emotionally intelligent novel with notable formal restraint, though it occasionally sacrifices character authenticity for narrative momentum.
Chapter Guide
- Chapter 1: A New Apartment, A New Melody
- Sydney, reeling from the betrayal of her boyfriend and best friend, finds herself suddenly homeless and drawn to the music emanating from her mysterious new neighbor's balcony. This initial encounter sets the stage for an unexpected connection forged through shared melodies and unspoken understanding.
- Chapter 2: Ridge's World of Sound and Silence
- Ridge, a musician facing his own creative block, observes Sydney from afar, recognizing a kindred spirit in her quiet despair. He grapples with the complexities of his life and his unique way of experiencing the world, which deeply impacts his songwriting process.
- Chapter 3: Lyrics and Lingering Looks
- Their interactions deepen as Sydney begins to write lyrics for Ridge's melodies, discovering a powerful synergy between them. The boundaries between their lives blur, marked by an undeniable attraction that complicates their existing relationships.
- Chapter 4: The Weight of Commitments
- Ridge struggles with his loyalty to his long-term girlfriend, Maggie, whose chronic illness adds another layer of complexity to his affections for Sydney. Sydney, for her part, attempts to navigate her burgeoning feelings while respecting Ridge's commitments.
- Chapter 5: Confessions and Consequences
- Tensions culminate in a series of difficult conversations and revelations, forcing both Sydney and Ridge to confront their true feelings and the potential fallout. Their choices threaten to upend their lives and the lives of those around them.
Read the full review at https://reviewerinsight.com/book/69ed55bcf2f1713bdeb31e11/maybe-someday