Confess
Quotes from the Book
Love isn't always pretty. Sometimes you spend all your time hoping it'll eventually be something different. Something better. Then, before you know it, you're back to square one, and you lost your heart somewhere along the way.
God gives us the ugliness so we don’t take the beautiful things in life for granted.
When life gives you lemons, make sure you know whose eyes you need to squeeze them in.
Sometimes not speaking says more than all the words in the world.
I didn’t fall in love with you… I flew.
Ugly love becomes you. Consumes you. Makes you hate it all. Makes you realize that all the beautiful parts aren't even worth it. Without the beautiful, you'll never risk feeling the ugly. So you give it all up. You give it all up. You never want love again, no matter what kind it is, because no type of love will ever be worth living through the ugly love again.
It's the beautiful moments like this that make up for the ugly love
Some people they grow wiser as they grow older. Unfortunately, most people just grow older.
That’s how it is when a person develops an attraction toward someone. He’s nowhere, then suddenly he’s everywhere, whether you want him to be or not.
What rules?” “Well, for one, I’m not allowed to break your heart,” he says. “Second, I’m also not allowed to break your damn heart. And last, I’m not allowed to fucking break your damn heart.
The pain will always be there. So will the fear. But the pain and fear are no longer my life. They're only moments.
But the second she opened her eyes and looked at me, I knew. She was either going to be the death of me . . . or she was going to be the one who finally brought me back to life.
You're looking at me like you fell in love with me." "I didn't fall in love with you. I flew.
The smaller the house, the more a family is forced to love one another.
I know the thought of confronting your past terrifies you.It terrifies every man. But sometimes we don't do it ourselves. We do it for the people we love more than ourselves.
You make it so hard to breathe.
Whoever coined the phrase, I love you to death obviously never experienced the kind of love Tate and I share. If that were the case, the phrase would be I love you to life. Because that’s exactly what Tate did. She loved me back to life.
Love isn’t always pretty, Tate. Sometimes you spend all your time hoping it’ll eventually be something different. Something better. Then, before you know it, you’re back to square one, and you lost your heart somewhere along the way.
If I were capable of loving someone . . . it would be you.
I suppose if a man lived through the ugliest side of love, he might never want to experience it again.
The ugly parts of love can’t lift you up. They bring you D O W N. They hold you under. Drown you. You look up and think, I wish I was up there. But you’re not. Ugly love becomes you. Consumes you. Makes you hate it all. Makes you realize that all the beautiful parts aren’t even worth it. Without the beautiful, you’ll never risk feeling this. You’ll never risk feeling the ugly. So you give it up. You give it all up. You never want love again, no matter what kind it is, because no type of love will ever be worth living through the ugly love again. I’ll never let myself love anyone again, Rachel. Ever.
I’m terrified to lose him for good, so I sell myself short and take what I can from him, even though I know I deserve better.
Listen, Tate. I want your mess. I want your clothes on my bedroom floor. I want your toothbrush in my bathroom. I want your shoes in my closet. I want your mediocre leftovers in my fridge.
It may be a small piece at a time, but my past is yours now. All of it. Anything you want to know, I want to tell you. But only if you promise me I can also have your future.
There's nothing in the world that compares to the feel and smell of brand-new rain.
He’s everywhere. Everything is Miles. That’s how it is when a person develops an attraction toward someone. He’s nowhere, then suddenly he’s everywhere, whether you want him to be or not.
Sometimes not speaking says more than all the words in the world. Sometimes my silence is saying, I don't know how to speak to you. I don't know what you're thinking. Talk to me. Tell me everything you've ever said. All the words. Starting form the very first one.
He laughs with relief. “Yes.” The word yes is so much more beautiful coming from his mouth, laced with that voice. He could probably make any word beautiful. I try to think of a word I hate. I kind of hate the word ox. It’s an ugly word. Too short and clipped. I wonder if his voice could make me love that word. “Say the word ox.” His eyebrow rises, like he’s wondering if he heard me right. He thinks I’m weird. I don’t care. “Just say it,” I tell him. “Ox,” he says, with slight hesitation. I smile. I love the word ox. It’s my new favorite word.
I send the picture in a message to Ian that says, "She's gonna have all my babies.
Did you know?
- The novel is told in a dual timeline, with Tate's chapters set in the present and Miles's chapters set about six years in the past.
- It is a standalone contemporary romance set in San Francisco.
- The story centers on a friends-with-benefits arrangement governed by two rules: never ask about the past and never expect a future.
- It was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Romance in 2014.
About Colleen Hoover
About the book
"Ugly Love" is a standalone contemporary romance novel by Colleen Hoover, first published in 2014. It follows Tate Collins, a young nurse who moves to San Francisco and meets Miles Archer, an airline pilot and the best friend of her brother Corbin. The two agree to a no-strings arrangement bound by two rules — never ask about Miles's past and never expect a future — but their physical connection steadily deepens into something neither of them planned for.
The book is told through a dual timeline: Tate narrates the present, while Miles's chapters unfold roughly six years earlier, gradually revealing the trauma that made him swear off love. This alternating structure builds the central themes of grief, guarded emotion, and the tension between the boundaries people set and the feelings they cannot control. Hoover, known for pairing romance with heavy emotional subject matter, uses the split perspective to withhold and then release the story's core wound.
One of the titles that helped propel Hoover to bestseller status, "Ugly Love" became a fixture of the contemporary romance and "BookTok" phenomenon that later revived interest in her catalog. It remains among her most widely read standalone novels, praised and debated for its raw treatment of heartbreak, desire, and the messy space between casual and committed love.
Key characters
- Tate CollinsYoung nurse who moves to San Francisco and becomes involved with Miles
- Miles ArcherAirline pilot carrying hidden trauma who resists a real relationship
- CorbinTate's brother and Miles's best friend
- RachelFigure from Miles's past revealed in the flashback chapters
- CapOlder building attendant who offers Tate perspective
Book details
- First published
- 2014
- Length
- 330 pages
- Reading time
- 2 hours
- Author
- Colleen Hoover
- Genre
- Fiction
- Goodreads rating
- 3.98 (2.4M ratings) →
If you liked this, read…
- 1It Ends with UsAnother Colleen Hoover romance built around emotional trauma and difficult love
- 2November 9A Hoover standalone with an unconventional relationship structure and heavy emotional stakes
- 3Maybe SomedayA Hoover romance exploring attraction complicated by circumstance and restraint
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