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Too Late

by Colleen Hoover

"Too Late" is a new-adult romantic thriller by Colleen Hoover that follows Sloan, a college student trapped in a controlling, abusive relationship with Asa Jackson, a violent drug dealer. Sloan stays with Asa largely because… more

First published 2016 · 400 pages · English

29 quotes ★ 4.03 (571,419) Contemporary

Quotes from the Book

and that's where love finds you... in the tragedies.
Love. Love is not found. Love finds
He hugs me. That's all he does. He hugs me tightly without a word, yet I can feel everything he's saying.
I guess that's the difference in being loved the right way and the wrong way. You either feel tethered to an anchor...or you feel like you're flying.
Worries flow from her lips like the random words that flow from her fingertips. I reach out and try to catch them, clenching them in my fists, wanting nothing more than to catch them all.
Love finds you in the forgiveness at the tail end of a fight. Love finds you in the empathy you feel for someone else. Love finds you in the embrace that follows a tragedy. Love finds you in the celebration after the conquering of an illness. Love finds you in the devastation after the surrender to an illness.
Love shouldn’t feel like added weight. It should make you feel as light as air. Asa
He's not safe. He's the shark-infested deep end of the sea and if I agree to go out with him, I'd be walking the plank, right off the boat and into his dark depth. How am I supposed to do that when I don't even know if I can swim?
Love is not found, love finds.
I'm definitely an introvert, because people drain me. And now I need silence to refuel.
He unclenched his fists and dropped her worries, unable to catch them for her. But she picked them back up and dusted them off. She wants to be able to hold them herself now.
You hold a fucking door open for a girl, she automatically thinks you´re a gentlemen. She thinks you´re the type of guy who would treat his mother like a queen. Girls see guys with manners and think there is no way they could be dangerous. I held every fucking door open for Sloan that I could find.
I cried because I realized that no matter who he’s become, a part of me is still in love with him...because I don’t know how not to be. I
Guys can be real fuckers sometimes. I
Luke makes me feel like I’m floating. I guess that’s the difference between being loved the right way and the wrong way. You either feel tethered to an anchor...or you feel like you’re flying.
He unclenched his fists and dropped her worries, unable to catch them for her. But she picked them back up and dusted them off. She wants to be able to hold them herself now. I
I squeeze my eyes shut and whisper in her damp hair. "You're all I see, Sloan. Beyond the job, beyond right and wrong. You're all I see.
You're all I see, Sloan. Beyond the job, beyond right and wrong. You're all I see.
Whenever I'm around him, all I can think about is how much more I want to be around him.
The journey from first breath to death has nothing to do with miracles, how much you pray, coincidences, or divine intervention. Sometimes
Love shouldn’t feel like added weight. It should make you feel as light as air.
The journey from first breath to death has nothing to do with miracles, how much you pray, coincidences, or divine intervention.
I don’t even know why I’m crying. Maybe it’s because, until this moment, I had no idea what it felt like to be valued. What it felt like to be respected. Until this moment, I had no idea what it felt like to be cared for.
Fuck my father and his bullshit philosophies on love.
I squeeze my eyes shut and whisper in her damp hair. 'You're all I see, Sloan. Beyond the job, beyond right and wrong. You're all I see.
He cared more about the life of a kid he didn’t even know than he did about his own career. And that’s not a flaw, Sloan. That’s a character trait. Pretty sure they call it compassion,
You can’t drown in Fred water if the cruise ship is full of salmon tacos.” Sloan
El amor no debe sentirse como peso añadido. Se debe hacerte sentir tan ligero como el aire.
But it feels good just getting it out—letting someone else know how much hatred I’m harboring.

Did you know?

  • The story was originally released chapter by chapter on the platform Wattpad in 2016.
  • A revised print "Definitive Edition" was published by Grand Central Publishing on June 27, 2023.
  • The 2023 print edition debuted as a #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller.
  • The book is aimed at mature audiences and carries content warnings for domestic and sexual abuse, drug use, and violence.
  • The male love interest, Carter, is an undercover DEA agent posing as a student in Sloan's Spanish class.

About Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover (born 1979 in Sulphur Springs, Texas) is an American author of romance and new-adult fiction known for emotionally charged plots and dramatic twists. After self-publishing her debut, Slammed, in 2012, she became one of the best-selling novelists in the United States, with hits including It Ends with Us and Verity, and was named to Time's 100 most influential people in 2023.

More about the author →

About the book

"Too Late" is a new-adult romantic thriller by Colleen Hoover that follows Sloan, a college student trapped in a controlling, abusive relationship with Asa Jackson, a violent drug dealer. Sloan stays with Asa largely because he finances the care of her disabled younger brother, and she has quietly resolved to leave once she finishes school. Her plan is upended when she meets Carter, an undercover DEA agent posing as a student in her Spanish class who is working to build a case against Asa, and the two fall for each other as his mission and her survival collide.

The novel centers on themes of surviving abusive relationships, self-worth, and love as a source of courage. Hoover leans into the tension between Sloan's sense that she has "no other choice" and the possibility of escape that Carter represents, tracing how coercion and obligation can hold a person in place. Because it deals frankly with domestic and sexual abuse, drug use, and violence, the book is aimed squarely at mature readers and carries explicit content warnings.

First written and released chapter by chapter on Wattpad in 2016, "Too Late" long circulated as one of Hoover's rawer, darker early works before Grand Central Publishing issued a revised print "Definitive Edition" in 2023, which debuted as a #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller. Its journey from a serialized online story to a chart-topping physical release reflects the outsized, social-media-driven readership that made Hoover one of the best-selling novelists in the United States.

Key characters

  • SloanCollege student trapped in an abusive relationship who stays to fund her brother's care
  • Asa JacksonObsessive, abusive drug dealer who controls Sloan
  • CarterUndercover DEA agent posing as a student who falls for Sloan

Book details

First published
2016
Length
400 pages
Reading time
5 hours
Goodreads rating
4.03 (571k ratings)

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