Collateral: A Novel
Nov 2012 · Simon and Schuster
4.5star
25 reviewsreport
eBook
512
Pages
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About this eBook
From the New York Times bestselling author of Triangles comes an exquisitely told story about a young woman torn between passionate first love and the gripping realities of war.
Meet Ashley, a graduate student at San Diego State University. She was raised in northern California reading poetry and singing backupin her best friend’s band. The last thing she ever expected was to end up a military wife. But one night, she meets a handsome Marine named Cole. He doesn’t match the stereotype of the aggressive military man she’d always presumed to be true; he’s passionate and romantic, and he even writes poetry. Their relationship evolves into a deeply felt, sexually charged love affair that goes on for five years and survives four deployments. Cole desperately wants Ashley to marry him, but when she meets another man, a college professor, with similar professional pursuits and values, she begins to see what life might be like outside the shadow of war.
Written in Ellen Hopkins’s stunning poetic verse style, Collateral captures the hearts of the soldiers on the battlefield and the minds of the friends, family, and lovers they leave behind. While those at home may be far from the relentless, sand-choked skies of the Middle East and the crosshairs of a sniper rifle, they, too, sacrifice their lives and happiness for their country at war. And all must eventually ask themselves if the collateral damage it causes is worth the fight.
***
COLLATERAL
Loving Any Soldier
Is extremely hard. Loving a Marine who’s an aggressive frontline marksman
is almost impossible, especially when he’s deployed . . .
. . . Cole’s battalion has already deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. Draw-down be damned, Helmand Province and beyond
looks likely for his fourth go-round. You’d think it would get easier. But ask
me, three scratch-free homecomings make another less likely in the future.
Meet Ashley, a graduate student at San Diego State University. She was raised in northern California reading poetry and singing backupin her best friend’s band. The last thing she ever expected was to end up a military wife. But one night, she meets a handsome Marine named Cole. He doesn’t match the stereotype of the aggressive military man she’d always presumed to be true; he’s passionate and romantic, and he even writes poetry. Their relationship evolves into a deeply felt, sexually charged love affair that goes on for five years and survives four deployments. Cole desperately wants Ashley to marry him, but when she meets another man, a college professor, with similar professional pursuits and values, she begins to see what life might be like outside the shadow of war.
Written in Ellen Hopkins’s stunning poetic verse style, Collateral captures the hearts of the soldiers on the battlefield and the minds of the friends, family, and lovers they leave behind. While those at home may be far from the relentless, sand-choked skies of the Middle East and the crosshairs of a sniper rifle, they, too, sacrifice their lives and happiness for their country at war. And all must eventually ask themselves if the collateral damage it causes is worth the fight.
***
COLLATERAL
Loving Any Soldier
Is extremely hard. Loving a Marine who’s an aggressive frontline marksman
is almost impossible, especially when he’s deployed . . .
. . . Cole’s battalion has already deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. Draw-down be damned, Helmand Province and beyond
looks likely for his fourth go-round. You’d think it would get easier. But ask
me, three scratch-free homecomings make another less likely in the future.
Ratings and reviews
4.5
25 reviews
Jennifer Graziano
- Flag inappropriate
27 May 2025
Origin of the alphabet; number line, computer is the same place. There isn't a calendar without a programmer; different ones in society are for companies to supply basic utilities; motor vehicles, food clothes & shelter. Computer programs give the answers to outstanding questions; humans do not. They also drive all artificial moving objects; humans do not. One program designs all the building and a different one does cars; the program includes after they are built schedules for them and us. Cameras are a derivative of computer separate from video recorder for unreal pictures and photograph obstructing justice to disappear or vanish includes video tapes & DVD's.
Lynsie Kuehn
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24 March 2014
It almost felt as though Hopkins wrote this while looking through my own eyes, as I'm a CSAC (Certified Substance Abuse Counselor), my husband is a Sgt in the U.S M.C.. The author truly has a deep understanding of the many emotions that surround these real life, but often "taboo" accounts that her books are about. She is on point, whether she is writing about addiction or deployment, Hopkins has a way of breathing compassion into ALL of her writing!
2 people found this review helpful
Dasha H
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31 March 2016
I have always been a fan of Ellen Hopkins' style of writing and Collateral did not disappoint. It was a page turner from the beginning and a good read the entire way through. She has a way of pulling you in and making you empathize with the characters as though they are real life people, whether or not it's something you've even ever experienced.
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Ellen Hopkins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of numerous young adult novels, as well as the adult novels such as Triangles, Collateral, and Love Lies Beneath. She lives with her family in Carson City, Nevada, where she has founded Ventana Sierra, a nonprofit youth housing and resource initiative. Follow her on Twitter at @EllenHopkinsLit.
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