Literature / Ugly Love

Ugly Love is a 2014 romance novel by Colleen Hoover.

Tate Collins is a young nursing student who has just moved in with her brother, airline pilot Corbin, to finish her studies. On the day she moves in, she encounters and helps a drunken stranger outside the apartment. She subsequently learns the stranger is Miles Archer, her brother's friend and fellow pilot who lives just a few doors down.

Tate quickly finds herself attracted to Miles and he seems to feel the same, but he keeps holding her at arm's length until he finally makes a proposal: they have a purely sex-based, no-strings-attached relationship. His only rules are that Tate never ask him about his past and never expect a future from him. Desperate to be close to Miles, Tate accepts the arrangement, but as time passes her feelings only grow stronger and she becomes increasingly hurt by his refusal to let her in.

Miles' stubborn refusal to let himself get too close to Tate is rooted in past tragedy and heartbreak, but could Tate prove to be his second chance at love? Or will he finally push her away for good?

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Contains examples of the following tropes:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Corbin's co-worker Dillon isn't remotely subtle about his attraction to Tate, and in a creepy way at that; from the moment they meet he's following her around, undressing her with his eyes, trying to flirt with her and touching her without her consent. Tate finds his arrogance and forwardness off-putting, topped off by the fact he's clearly married as he doesn't even bother removing his wedding ring. She tells him bluntly "I much prefer a guy with a little more modesty and a little less wife", though it does little to deter him until Miles intervenes.
• All Take and No Give: Miles and Tate's relationship is this for much of the novel, with Miles as the taker and Tate as the giver. Miles wants nothing from the relationship but sex and shuts down any of Tate's attempts to form a deeper bond with him. Tate initially enjoys sex with Miles, but it stops being fun for her because she craves emotional intimacy from him and gets fed up dealing with his mood swings. Tate feels it's her own fault because Miles made it clear from the get-go he was only interested in sex, though neither of them breaks it off even when Tate confesses to Miles she's falling in love with him and his rejection hurts her.
• Auto Erotica:
  • In Chapter 17, Miles and Tate have sex in Tate's car, unable to wait to get back to her apartment (where they have sex again).
  • Near the end of the book, Miles and Tate have sex inside his airplane, though the scene qualifies more as a variation on this than the Mile-High Club as the plane is landed and otherwise unoccupied at the time.
• Babies Ever After: The epilogue reveals that Tate and Miles have a baby girl two years into their marriage, while it was earlier revealed that Rachel had a daughter with her husband Brad.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Near the end of the book, Tate finally ends her relationship with Miles and moves away, saying she can't put up with Miles hurting her time after time anymore. After being called out by their friends and Tate's brother, and doing some soul searching, Miles tracks down Tate to apologise and explain his tragic past to her, also confessing his love for her. Tate decides to take him back.
• Crisis of Faith: In a flashback chapter, Miles tells Rachel he stopped believing in God after his mother died, because he didn't understand how God could exist and let a person as good as his mother suffer a slow, painful death from cancer. However, he adds that Rachel made him a believer again because in his opinion, how could God not exist when someone as beautiful as Rachel came into his life?
• Dark and Troubled Past: It's repeatedly alluded that Miles has a troubled and traumatic past involving his ex-girlfriend Rachel, which is why he's averse to forming a relationship with Tate or opening up emotionally. In Tate's POV chapters he's vague at best about what happened, while the chapters from his perspective (set six years ago) delve into more detail.
• Death of a Child: Miles and Rachel's son Clayton died just two days after he was born, after his parents got into a car accident while bringing him home from the hospital.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Miles' mother Carol sounds like she was a loving mother and an overall good person based on Miles' recollection; she unfortunately died when Miles was 18. Miles' father does love his son, but he's a lot more self-absorbed and doesn't always consider Miles' feelings and needs, not to mention being a pretty bad communicator; consequently, their relationship is far more strained.
• Drowning My Sorrows: The first time Tate meets Miles, he's extremely drunk and starts sobbing and repeatedly saying "I'm sorry, Rachel". It's later revealed that it had been his son's sixth birthday - or would've been if he'd lived - and that the death of their son led to Rachel breaking up with him, so he got drunk to cope.
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: Miles avoided having any romantic relationships - and didn't have sex either- for six years and insists that he and Tate keep their relationship purely physical because his relationship with his first serious girlfriend, Rachel, ended extremely badly, and he never wants to go through that pain again.
• First Love: Rachel was Miles' first serious girlfriend and despite them being high school seniors who had only known each other a few months, Miles fell deeply in love with her and was convinced they'd be together for the rest of their lives; this includes them deciding to move in together during college and choosing to raise the baby resulting from an unplanned pregnancy. Unfortunately, the relationship ended in tragedy and Miles still hasn't gotten over it six years later.
• Flirty Stepsiblings: Miles and Rachel began an intimate relationship despite being stepsiblings; in their defence they'd already been attracted to each other before they became stepsiblings, as neither of them knew their parents were romantically involved until after they met. They were also 18 at this point, so they weren't raised together as siblings. However, they still knew their relationship would be seen as taboo and so initially kept it a secret. Their parents weren't too happy when they found out, especially because Rachel got pregnant, though they eventually accepted it after Rachel gave birth to her and Miles' son. Unfortunately, Rachel and Miles' relationship fell apart not long after and took their parents' marriage with them, though due to reasons unrelated to them being stepsiblings.
• Fourth-Date Marriage: Miles asks Tate to marry him about six months after they first met and four-ish months after they began properly dating as opposed to just hooking up.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Corbin, Miles and Ian admit they "can't stand" Dillon because he's a smug jerk who cheats on his wife and has a reputation as a sex pest - to the point Corbin warns his sister not to be alone with him - but they still continue to invite him to hang out with them while slagging him off behind his back. While they state they didn't know how obnoxious Dillon was the first few times they asked him to hang out, for some reason they keep him around even after they realised what he was like.
• Friends with Benefits: Miles tells Tate he's attracted to her, but he doesn't want to deal with the complications of a proper relationship, proposing they have a sexual relationship with no emotions involved. Tate agrees to this, but she finds herself developing deeper feelings for Miles and wants more, with Miles' aversion to emotional intimacy complicating things.
• Generation Xerox: Tate mentions that all the men in her family going back several generations have been pilots, including her grandfather, her father and her brother.
• Grief-Induced Split:
  • As Miles and his girlfriend Rachel were driving home from hospital with their newborn son Clayton, their car crashed into a lake and Clayton drowned. Rachel was furious with Miles for saving her over their son. They attempted to salvage their relationship but Rachel eventually left Miles, leaving him a note explaining that everytime she looked at Miles it reminded her of Clayton and she couldn't bear the pain anymore.
  • The death of Clayton led to his grandparents splitting up too (Miles and Rachel were stepsiblings), as Rachel's mother divorced Miles' father and moved back to Phoenix with her daughter to support her, with Rachel saying it was too hard for her stay after Clayton died.
• Happily Ever After: The novel ends with Miles finally opening up to Tate about his past and telling her he loves her; they eventually get married and have a kid, with Miles overcoming his fear of love and family after what he lost and Tate's patience being rewarded. It's also revealed Rachel has found love again with a man named Brad, who is now her husband.
• Held Gaze: Defied; Tate notes that Miles never maintains eye contact with her when they have sex. When she asks him why, he states that extended eye contact creates emotional intimacy and he doesn't want her getting the wrong idea about their relationship.
• Hypocrite:
  • Miles snaps at Dillon for trying to seduce Tate because she's Corbin's sister, saying it's disrespectful to their friendship (as opposed to Dillon already being married and his advances towards Tate being unwanted). Miles himself has no problem having frequent hook-ups with Tate behind Corbin's back and telling Corbin when he's caught that he has no interest in Tate beyond sex.
  • Corbin is embarassed and disgusted to hear his sister has been having sex, only for Tate to point out he frequently hooks up with lots of women and she never judges him.
• I Can Change My Beloved: Tate secretly hopes that if she's patient and persistent enough, she can get Miles to open up emotionally and treat her as more than just a booty call, despite Miles insisting that he can't and won't give her anything more. In the end this pays off, as Miles finally opens up to Tate about his tragic past and tells her he wants a real relationship.
• Lonely Bachelor Pad: Miles has been single for six years and Tate notes that his apartment is pretty bland and sparsely-furnished; there are few personal touches such as plants, decorations, or photos, and he doesn't even have curtains on the windows. One sign that Miles is starting to warm up to Tate is that he finally buys curtains.
• Love at First Sight: In the first flashback chapter, Miles falls head over heels for Rachel the moment he lays eyes on her, waxing lyrical for paragraphs about how she's the most beautiful girl he's ever seen; he texts his friend Ian that she's "going to have my babies", is already referring to her as "mine" and decides within days of knowing her that she's the love of his life.
• Love Hurts: Miles tries to avoid falling in love like the plague because the first and last time he fell in love, he got his heart demolished and he never wants to experience being so vulnerable and connected to another person again to avoid the pain. When he does start developing feelings for Tate and she makes it clear she's falling in love with him, Miles tries to shut her out and push away his feelings, which makes Tate pretty miserable too. He eventually overcomes this and fully reciprocates Tate's love.
• Love Martyr: Tate agrees to have an emotionally-unsatisfying friends-with-benefits relationship with Miles just so she can be close to him, while hoping he might eventually change his mind. She stoically puts up with him giving her mixed messages, his mood swings and brooding, and him essentially using her for sex with little regard for her feelings because she's so desperately in love with him. She states that she knows the relationship is unhealthy and that if it were one of her friends in her position, she'd tell them to leave, but she can't bring herself to follow her own advice. It's to the point that after Miles accidentally calls her by his ex's name in the middle of sex, she just tells him to finish and says she doesn't even care if he hurts her by being too rough, while trying not to show him how devastated she feels.
• Master of the Mixed Message: Miles gives some very confusing signals to Tate throughout their relationship; he insists he's not interested in an actual romance, just sex, but when they hang out together he flirts and banters with her like they're a couple - with Miles only shutting it down if Tate does it back - and he also does things like taking her up to the apartment complex's swimming pool for a romantic late-night swim. He gets jealous and possessive when he believes she's hooking up with another man, with Tate even pointing out he has no right be angry about it if their relationship truly means nothing beyond sex. He also tells her he could never love her and she shouldn't expect anything more from him...yet also says that if he was capable of love he'd love her and he wishes he could reciprocate.
• May December Friendship: 23-year-old Tate forms a friendship with Cap, the elderly porter at her apartment complex. She often goes to him for comfort and advice; he lets her vent and hands out wisdom based on his decades of life experience.
• Middle Name Basis: Tate's first name is Elizabeth but she always goes by her middle name of Tate.
• Missing Mom: Miles' mother Carol died of cancer six years ago, shortly before he met his ex-girlfriend Rachel. His grief for his mother compounded his trauma when his son died and Rachel left him.
• Mistaken for Gay: Corbin assumed his friend Miles was gay because he hadn't had a girlfriend in the six years he'd known him, with Corbin and Tate's father assuming the same when Corbin brings it up at Thanksgiving until Miles sets them straight.
• My Own Private "I Do": Lisa and Mr Archer announced abruptly to their children that they'd not only decided to get married months after moving in together, but that they'd already had the wedding in secret. Miles was so angered by this he intentionally blurted out that Rachel was pregnant and he was the father, revealing that he and his stepsister had been having sex for months and intend to be a family.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Corbin is extremely protective of his younger sister Tate; she mentions he's never liked any of her boyfriends and is even leery of her friends. When she jokes on one occasion that no man she brings home will ever be good enough in his eyes, Corbin replies that this is the point. Consequently, Miles and Tate keep their hook-ups a secret from Corbin. When Corbin finds out, he's not impressed his best friend kept this from him and even less impressed that Miles doesn't even love his sister. Tate later tells Corbin her relationships are none of his business. In the end, Corbin accepts it after Miles confesses to Tate he's ready to love her.
• "Near and Dear" Baby Naming:
  • Rachel and Miles named their son Clayton after their favourite teacher, Miss Clayton.
  • Miles learns Rachel now has a daughter, Claire, who she named after her grandmother; it's mentioned that if Clayton had been a girl they would've chosen the name Claire.
• One Head Taller: Early on, Tate observes that if Miles kissed her she'd have to tilt her head to reach his lips because of the height difference.
• Outliving One's Offspring: It's revealed that Miles and his ex-girlfriend Rachel had a baby son, Clayton, who tragically drowned when he was just two days old. This led to them breaking up, as Rachel couldn't bear to be reminded of their son and was angry at Miles for failing to save him, while Miles blamed himself for the accident. The reason Miles was hungover the day Tate first met him was because it would've been Clayton's sixth birthday.
• Parent with New Paramour: Miles wasn't too impressed by his father's new relationship with Lisa; he moved her and her daughter in just months after Miles' mother died and the timing of their relationship led Miles to realise his father was likely having an affair. Miles' dad tried to make them all play happy families, such as referring to Lisa's daughter as Miles' "new sister" and Lisa going along with it; not only were Miles and Rachel teenagers with no previous relationship, they also developed romantic feelings for each other, so they weren't thrilled at being treated as siblings. Miles' relationship with his father and stepmother got even more tense after Lisa and Mr Archer learned Miles had gotten Rachel pregnant, though things seemed to be improving by the time Rachel gave birth. Unfortunately, the family fell apart completely in the aftermath of the baby's death.
• Poor Communication Kills: Tate and Miles could probably have resolved their relationship issues a lot faster and with fewer tears if were both more open and honest with each other from the start. Tate doesn't tell Miles that's she's not completely happy with just being his booty call and wants to have a deeper relationship, instead just going along with it and hoping he'll magically change his mind. Miles doesn't tell Tate that he doesn't feel emotionally ready for a relationship for reasons he's not comfortable discussing in-depth (given she's basically a stranger to him) and doesn't give her a heads-up if he's having a bad day or feels triggered, instead forcing her to play the emotional version of Russian Roulette. Mutual misery and misunderstandings ensue.
• Remarried to the Mistress: Miles is convinced that his father had already begun dating his new girlfriend Lisa while his wife Carol was dying of cancer; he would often go on business trips to Phoenix, where Lisa and her daughter Rachel lived, and Lisa and Rachel moved in with Miles and his dad mere months after Miles' mother passed away. However, Miles softened his stance when his father explained he and Carol had separated prior to her getting ill and that's the only reason they postponed a divorce.
• Sadistic Choice: When their car accidentally crashed in a lake, Miles was able to get free, but Rachel and their baby were trapped. Miles chose to get Rachel out first, but consequently he couldn't rescue their baby in time and he drowned. Miles feels extremely guilty for this, while in her grief Rachel initially blamed Miles, saying he should've saved the baby instead of her.
• Satellite Love Interest: Despite being one of the story's main protagonists, Tate doesn't get much of a role or characterisation outside of her romantic interest in Miles; her character revolves almost exclusively around their relationship and the story is really more about Miles dealing with his tragic past, with even the chapters from Tate's perspective being focused mostly on exploring and advancing Miles' character.
• Second Love:
  • Miles discovers that in the six years since they broke up, Rachel has found love again with her now-husband Brad and they even have a daughter, Claire. Seeing that Rachel has managed to move on and find happiness in spite of her heartbreaking past gives Miles hope he can find closure and happiness too.
  • Tate becomes this for Miles, once he's finally able to move on from his past relationship with Rachel; he tells her loves her and wants a proper relationship with her, much to her happiness. They eventually marry and have a baby together. 
• Secret Relationship:
  • Miles and Rachel kept their romance a secret because their parents were already in a relationship with each other, technically making them stepsiblings, and they knew some people - especially their parents - may not approve. They were forced to come clean after Rachel accidentally got pregnant, though they did wait until she was quite far along to spill the beans.
  • Due to Corbin's extreme protectiveness of Tate, Miles and Tate keep their hook-ups secret from him and their mutual friends to avoid a scene.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Miles can be aloof and distant, and is often rude and irritable towards Tate, though she can tell it's because he's hurting deep inside. It's gradually revealed that Miles' attitude is rooted in traumatic losses he went through six years ago, which he's never addressed.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Miles is described as being much taller than Tate, dark-haired and incredibly good-looking.
• Teen Pregnancy: Rachel was 18 and months away from graduating high school when she got pregnant with Miles' child; he was also 18. Despite the challenges that came with this - and the added complication of them being stepsiblings - they decided to keep the baby and do their best to raise him together while attending college. Sadly, they never got the chance to be parents together as their baby died days after his birth.
• Wrong-Name Outburst: Late in the novel, Miles calls Tate "Rachel" - she being his ex-girlfriend who he's still hung up on - in the middle of sex. He tries to say he wasn't thinking about Rachel, but Tate lies that it's fine and insists they finish. Tate does end their relationship soon after, though.

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