Without Merit by Colleen Hoover is a novel about a teenage girl named Merit, and her anything but normal family. Merit's life is full of surprises and secrets that she feels she has to hide from everyone around her. Her twin sister Honor and brother Utah, appear as the perfect older siblings and her little half-brother Moby consumes all the attention; which leaves Merit. Merit is able to fly under the radar and go unnoticed for most of her life. This lack of attention feeds Merit's desire to collect trophies. Any time something inconvenient takes place in Merit's life she purchases a trophy. During a trip to an antique store to purchase yet another trophy, Merit met Sagan and there was instant sparks, until Merit learned that Sagan thought she was her twin sister Honor and that he was completely unavailable. This interaction with Sagan led Merit to retreat deeper into herself and become silent, watching her family from a distance. Because Merit was always quiet and distant, she went unnoticed, until she learned a secret that no trophy could fix. Merit was fed up with lies and holding everyone's secrets. Merit decided that her only option was to shatter the happy family illusion that she has never been a part of. Merit, chose to write a letter to everyone in her family revealing all of the secrets she has been holding. While writing the letter her emotions were everywhere and she came to the conclusion that life would be better WITHOUT MERIT, so she consumed a large amount of alcohol and 28 pills that she had stolen from her mother and then delivered the letters to each person in her home. Once the secrets were revealed and Merit was safe, she learned that she had shattered all there was left of her family. She was forced to deal with the consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves. Throughout the book, the difficult situations stand out for the Voss family, but there are also times when they come together and look like a true happy family.