Though she tries to avoid him and ignore her feelings of attraction, its impossible. What’s worse is when she realizes that Sagan is living in the room right across the hall. Of all the luck! Merit, who has never been in love before, has to fall hard for her twin sister’s boyfriend. Any hope she has fizzles, however, when she finds out that Sagan is Honor’s boyfriend. The initial meeting leaves her feeling something she hasn’t ever felt before – happiness and excitement. Merit is out finding used trophies for her collection one day, when she meets Sagan. The Voss household, readers will find out, is anything but quiet. Therefore, he bought the church out from under Pastor Brian, forcing he and his dog to move out and leave Barnaby with peace and quiet – or so he thought. And the reason they are living in an old church all boils down to the fact that their atheist father, Barnaby, didn’t like the old Pastor’s Labrador retriever, Wolfgang, barking at all hours of the night. Perhaps the oddest thing about the Voss family is that they all live together in an old converted church, which they have named Dollar Voss, because it is split into four living quarters. Merit, Honor, and Utah take turns bringing her meals and checking on her. Here’s the real kicker: Merit’s mother, who is also a Victoria, lives in the basement and refuses to leave due to her social anxiety and general sickness following a struggle with cancer a few years prior. The only family member that Merit feels a connection with and wants to spend any time with is Moby, who is easy to love.

Their son, Moby, provides some rare moments of happiness to those around him, despite his mother monitoring his every move rather than allowing him to just be a curious four year old. Their rarely-present, laid back father lives with his second wife, Victoria, who was his younger mistress and the reason his first marriage failed.

Their brother, Utah, only a year older than the twins, appears as perfect and wholesome as they come, which drives Merit crazy.

In fact, they barely have anything to do with one another and are like polar opposites. Merit and her twin sister, Honor, do not share any special twin connections or abilities to read each other closely. Merit’s family of seven is quite possibly the most oddly dysfunctional family I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading about in a book. Merit, a 17 year old senior in high school, has quite the interesting life. Without Merit is due for publication on October 3, 2017.

Without merit colleen hoover review