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Without Merit cover art

Without Merit

By: Colleen Hoover
Narrated by: Candace Thaxton
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Publisher's Summary

From Colleen Hoover, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 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.

©2017 Colleen Hoover (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

What listeners say about Without Merit

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great story, great narrator

I loved this story and the narration. I actually thought the narrator really got the vibe right. great message. I listened to this over a couple of days

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A story of Struggle

A slow book to start. Merit is struggling, she doesn't feel like she belongs. Merit doesn't feel like she fits in with her family or those around her. She pushes people away. When she tries to end it, suddenly everyone pays attention and they realise that she isn't the only one who needs help. Her relationships start to grow with those in her family, allowing growth. I'm sad for Merit that it took attempted suicide to get attention of those around her.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing surprise

randomly stumbled into this book and loved it! Narrator isn’t my favourite but story was better then expected

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Ash
  • 18-11-2023

5*Dysfunctional Family Stars

I have had this book in my library for a while now and decided now was the time to delve back into the world of Colleen Hoover’s storytelling. I love her unique stories which are always full of feels happy and sad.

Without Merit did not disappoint. I was so invested in the lives of the Voss family who were the most dysfunctional family I have ever come across.

The story revolves around Merit and the family drama that surrounds and affects her. It was powerful and there were so many layers to it, depressions, love, grief and sexuality.

This was an emotional read full of feels and characters that were real with their struggles.

I loved this story and below are two of my favourite highlights.

"Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness."

“Don’t make your presence known. Make your absence felt.”

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wow what a family!’

This isn’t your typical CoHo book but what I loved about it was that ALL the characters were flawed and everyone was hiding their own little secret. The book also dealt with many controversial topics like depression and I think Colleen Hoover did well in incorporating this into the story. If you are after a romance novel then look elsewhere because it’s low on romance and high on family dynamics and relationships.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

it's ok

it's an ok story but not her best book. if I was an emo teenager on the brink of understanding mental illness and that I was not the centre of the universe and I think this would have been written just for me. I did enjoy the book but I wouldn't listen to it again. unlike other books that seem to be poorly written but with a great idea this book seems to start with a fairly mediocre idea but written well.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

What a Mess

This family is so messed up. Every person living in Dollar Voss has a secret and Merit is keeping them all. But all is not as it seems and Merit soon realizes she’s judged everyone unfairly. Loved this story and how it unraveled.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Family!

This fantastically quirky family was amazing! merit's character was truly awesome and I adored the dynamics of the family.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • MM
  • 07-02-2022

Unexpectedly wonderful

This book is really different and just great. Such an enjoyable listen that is really entertaining and also deep and heartfelt.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

“Don’t make your presence known. Make your absence felt.”

3.5 ⭐️
First, I want y’all to know without merit isn’t a romance its more of a side plot. It’s not a Colleen Hoover book if it doesn’t have an important message Trigger warning this talks about depression, suicide, SA and other things. With that I really think everyone should read this just cause it talks about such heavy topics that people need to read. There were some comments that came off as slut shaming and homophobic which is why I had to had to give it a normal rating.

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