Hazel Hayes

The debut novel from YouTube sensation Hazel Hayes is a break-up story told in reverse, from the depths of grief to the heights of new love

Out of Love

“Hazel Hayes writes with such honesty and casual confidence and flowing dialogue, you feel you are overhearing it rather than reading it. The writing sparkles with wit and a poignant emotional reality. I love it.”—Matt Haig, bestselling author of The Midnight Library “A smart, touching, time-bending romance. Funny and affecting.”—David Nicholls, bestselling author of One Day and Sweet Sorrow For anyone who has loved and lost, and lived to tell the tale, this gorgeously written debut is a love story told in reverse, a modern novel with the heart of a classic: truthful, tragic, and ultimately full of hope. Out of Love begins at the end. A couple call it quits after nearly five years, and while holding a box of her ex-boyfriend’s belongings, the young woman wonders: How could they have spent so long together? When did they fall out of love? Were there good times before the bad? These are the questions we obsess over when a relationship ends, even when obsessing can do no good. But instead of moving forward through the emotional fallout of a break-up, Out of Love moves backward in time, weaving together an already unraveled tapestry, from tragic ending to magical first kiss. Each chapter jumps further into the past, mining their history for the days and details that might help us understand love; how it happens and why it sometimes falls apart. Readers of Normal People; Goodbye, Vitamin; and One Day will adore this bittersweet romance, a sparkling debut that you won’t want to miss.

A Novel

hayley

"Hazel Hayes writes with such honesty and casual confidence and flowing dialogue, you feel you are overhearing it rather than reading it. The writing sparkles with wit and a poignant emotional reality. I love it."--Matt Haig, bestselling author of The Midnight Library "A smart, touching, time-bending romance. Funny and affecting."--David Nicholls, bestselling author of One Day and Sweet Sorrow For anyone who has loved and lost, and lived to tell the tale, this gorgeously written debut is a love story told in reverse, a modern novel with the heart of a classic: truthful, tragic, and ultimately full of hope. Out of Love begins at the end. A couple call it quits after nearly five years, and while holding a box of her ex-boyfriend's belongings, the young woman wonders: How could they have spent so long together? When did they fall out of love? Were there good times before the bad? These are the questions we obsess over when a relationship ends, even when obsessing can do no good. But instead of moving forward through the emotional fallout of a break-up, Out of Love moves backward in time, weaving together an already unraveled tapestry, from tragic ending to magical first kiss. Each chapter jumps further into the past, mining their history for the days and details that might help us understand love; how it happens and why it sometimes falls apart. Readers of Normal People; Goodbye, Vitamin; and One Day will adore this bittersweet romance, a sparkling debut that you won't want to miss.

Sintia

mariah

hilda ☆

if you watch 500 days of summer together and by the end of it they think summer was the problem RUN!!!!

Addie 🌻

I can’t stop thinking about this book so I’m going to up the rating! It’s only fair lol

Jess Griffin

aisha

teeters between 3.5 and a 4 for me because god when it’s great it’s really great but it’s a bit of a shame that i’m reading for the writing and not for the characters at times, you know?

This was a surprising and interesting read. I loved the writing and the story. Even though I didn't like some parts of the book, I think it's worth your time. This one is honest, deep and definitely not a usual romance book.

This book is so well written. I felt every single emotion that was described (and very detailed might I add). No matter how much I wanted to hate Theo, I just couldn’t. Because you’re reliving the whole relationship, it almost felt like I was in it myself and used to be desperately in love with him. I cried twice🥲 It’s very easy to read, time just flies by once you get started. 

Wow. The writing of this book was so beautiful I felt like a teenager discovering tumblr quotes in 2013 all over again. Each time I stumbled across a metaphor I was left rereading it and wanted it framed on my bedroom wall. The concept of this book was also amazing, I have never read a book written in reverse before and I was unsure about how it would read, but it just worked in this book. Had this been written as a typical love story I think I would have found it predictable and just okay, but the writing style made it that bit more enjoyable for me that pushed it to an above average book about love. The only thing that i didn’t LOVE was how long the chapters were, but that’s just a personal preference. I did find the long chapters made it drag on a bit in places and a little hard to get stuck into at first, but I’m so happy I persevered as it might be one of my favourite reads so far this year. 

Jordan balding 

Whitney Pickle

I thought it was good. It's interesting viewing a relationship that you know is doomed from the start.

Charlotte 

'I fell in love with this book. The writing was good enough to make me forget I had a phone, put it that way' Aisling Bea A novel for anyone who has loved and lost, and lived to tell the tale. As a young woman packs up her ex-boyfriend’s belongings and prepares to see him one last time, she wonders where it all went wrong, and whether it was ever right to begin with. Burdened with a broken heart, she asks herself the age-old question . . . is love really worth it? Out of Love is a bittersweet romance told in reverse. Beginning at the end of a relationship, each chapter takes us further back in time, weaving together an already unravelled tapestry, from tragic break-up to magical first kiss. In this dazzling debut Hazel Hayes performs a post-mortem on love, tenderly but unapologetically exploring every angle, from the heights of joy to the depths of grief, and all the madness and mundanity in between. This is a modern story with the heart of a classic: truthful, tragic and ultimately full of hope.

Tatiana Centeno

Thea MacDonald

** spoiler alert **
           "Crazy is the place between what they tell you and what you know is true"

I absolutely loved the structure of this novel. It was so refreshing, honest and heart-breaking to end at the beginning, full of so much hope. This is a modern classic that looks at the human condition as we fumble through life trying to be happy and deal with the issues that we carry, stemming from our past. I love the way it teaches you to cherish all the 'Theo's' that have come and gone in life and that every relationship is a lesson learnt. 

The author was asked why she went from Horror to Romance with Out of Love and her response was "There is nothing more horrific than love" and I really felt that. 

Hats off.

Lauren 

Why did this have to break me, I want to re read but in reverse order, but I feel like I’ll be no less SAD

Rebecca Browne

It just seemed to focus too much on the bad things that happened in the relationship and was very heavily focused on Theo's mother when she's not the one in the relationship.

Tegan Anderson

Hazel Hayes is someone I’ve followed online for years and is someone who I love and support with my entire heart. She’s an experienced and incredibly gifted storyteller. When she announced she was publishing a book, I thought I’d buy it so show some support, probably read a few pages, then move on. But I bought it, read a few pages, then suddenly it was many hours later and I was a chapter from the end with it clutched against my chest and a few tears on my cheeks.

This is the first book I’ve read where it starts from the end. You know the relationship is doomed from the start and moving back in time to the moment they meant just fills you with hope and excitement for something you know isn’t going to work out. I was sitting there devouring the pages, wondering what led to the inevitable breakup, wondering where their issues originated from, wondering which things affected their ending. 

This book is driven by the protagonist, and it’s hard for me to write about when we never learn her name. I loved her pride of her home country and Irish culture and her family and her friends. The story revolves around them as much as it revolves around the breakdown of the relationship. The pain she felt towards moving away from home was something I could relate to and almost hurt more than anything else in the book.

Emphasis on almost. The entire book is heart-breaking. It’s very heavy emotionally, seeing the deterioration of a relationship and a couple falling out of love, and I was oddly emotional at times. Not because I could relate to falling out of love, but because it reminded me so much of the end of a friendship that I hadn’t healed from, and it was striking too close to home. It’s the kind of book I’ll come back to when I eventually experience my first real heartbreak and I feel as if it’s the one that’ll put the pieces back together again.

'Summer Skin' is my favourite and, in my opinion, the best chapter in the book. For me, it's a safe space - a welcome break amongst anxious chapters - and the complete opposite of the other chapters in terms of mood and themes. It feels literally warm. It still manages to capture the reality of the surrounding anxiety and captures a moment in time that can relate greatly to people experimenting with their sexuality.

this book was beautiful and heartbreaking. it really shows how mental health can affect relationships and people changing throughout them. the acknowledgments was adorable. I’d like to believe, if the circumstances were different, Theo and the mc would still be together. the writing was amazing and so different. each chapter goes a little deeper in the past until you reach the beginning of their relationship. my heart hurts for the mc and everything she went through.
I think this book really shows that therapy and not knowing what’s next or what’s wrong, is okay and normal. and trauma, however heartbreaking it may be, is always able to be overcome, or in some cases, it becomes a part of you.

also, I went through half the book before realizing the mc doesn’t have a name

James Garton Riach

This story simply serves as a reminder that we are all so fallible and that maybe you have no idea what most people are going through so just be kind everyone. 

Genuinely a wonderful story full a raw emotion that will go a long way in normalising therapy and asking for help. 

Loved it.

Sophia Geron

The concept of going from the end to the beginning of a relationship was what really caught my attention. I really enjoyed Hazel’s story of a couple falling out of love and how mental health can have an impact. There were also so many relatable moments that I loved.

Out of Love

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