If you’ve spent any time on “booktok,” “booktube,” or “bookstagram,” you have probably come across at least one of Colleen Hoover’s novels. More likely, you’ve probably heard of, or have even read some of her most popular novels in “It Ends With Us,” “Ugly Love,” “November 9,” “Verity,” and recently released “Reminders of Him.”
I like to call the internet’s love for her as “The Cult of Colleen Hoover.” An ever-growing network of women who empathize with her art, who find peace, love, and heartache in the words she puts onto paper. Some may call this love an “obsession,” but it’s one filled with recognition and resonation, with emotions stemming from the inner depths of our soul.
This obsession with Hoover’s novels is reminiscent of one of my favorite young adult authors, Sarah Dessen. Dessen writes what people would call a “beach read” — easy-to-read books set in the summer involving some sort of romance. A fairly simple structure, right?
Wrong.
There’s something Hoover and Dessen add to their novels that make them so much more compelling, more addicting and investing, that most authors in these genres do not.
All of Hoover’s books center around the main woman in the story. This character goes through some traumatic event, either in the past or as the story takes place; “Maybe Someday” centers around past and current infidelity, whereas “November 9” begins with a fire that hurt the main character when she was a child. They all include some major plot twists, which I will not give examples of to prevent spoilers. Lastly, they all delve into the past, typically in the form of letters.
Dessen does this as well but in a simpler way. Since her target demographic is younger than Hoover’s, Dessen doesn’t go too far into the trauma department. Sure, there’s the occasional divorce or dead family relative, but that never occurs during the novel, but rather only prior to the bulk of the narrative.
In my “Reminders of Him” review, I discussed Hoover’s use of letters to show the backbone of Kenna’s character, the events that happened to her in the past, and how they are impacting her future. This is a trend throughout all of Hoover’s novels. In “It Ends With Us,” Lilly wrote letters to Ellen Degeneres as a teenager, detailing her first love and her mother’s abusive marriage, both of which are critical to the plot in the present. “Verity” deviates slightly, as the letters are replaced with a manuscript written by the main antagonist.
However, “Verity” deviates a lot from Hoover’s norm, but she still entices readers by provoking emotions. When I read “Verity” for the first time, I was nauseous the whole time — it may not be the typical emotion when I read her books, but it’s still an emotion, and it still caused me a whole lot of pain.
Many other authors follow this structure, though, so why are they not as popular as Hoover or Dessen?
Emotional connection.
What draws me into these stories is the ability to fall in love with these characters, despite knowing I’ll be heartbroken by the end. Maybe that’s what brings me back every time. I feel every single ounce of emotion that the characters do. Any pain, happiness, heartbreak, or love they feel, I feel as well. It’s a cycle that I can’t seem to escape.
Now, we all know that when I do a Hoover book review, I bring in our Shameful Book Club co-founder to discuss her take. Thankfully, Grace provided many reviews for her favorite books by Miss Hoover. Therefore, here is Grace’s take on the Cult of Colleen Hoover:
Maybe Someday: “Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover is a work of art. I cannot even count the number of times I wanted to scream at this book. For what reason? I couldn’t tell you. It was lovely. It was so creative and I was so impressed with the plot itself.
As for Ridge and Sydney, my heart hurt for them the whole time I read this. “For her, I bend, for you, I break” was the moment I decided I was going to never recover. The ending was absolutely perfect and this whole read hurt in the best possible way. Read it. And then read Maybe Not. And then read Maybe Now.”
It Ends With Us
“It Ends With Us is by far one of the most eye-opening books I’ve ever read. The way Colleen Hoover writes in a way that makes us as readers fall in love with Ryle alongside Lily, just for Ryle to end up being the biggest shitbag ever is really genius on her part. The betrayal I felt was gut-wrenching. My heart has never dropped so many times during a read for the main character. This book puts the struggles of domestic abuse into light, and for people to simply label this book as a romance is misleading.
This is Lily’s story. Yes, I love Atlas and Lily together, however, this book is about Lily getting out of an abusive marriage first and foremost. Everyone should read this book. I am an It Ends With Us enthusiast before all else.”
November 9
“November 9 by Colleen Hoover will always hold a special place in my heart. The idea of this book is absolutely incredible. Love at first sight? Check. Funny banter? Check. The inevitable betrayal? Check. I cannot believe that Fallon and Ben had so much chemistry considering they literally only saw each other one day out of every year. Said chemistry only made it hurt even more when Miss Colleen hit us with that plot twist. Ouch. Thanks for that. Never fully recovered.
This book was just so fun. It was my second CoHo book and that was when I decided anything that Colleen Hoover writes, I will read.”
Verity
“Let me just say, if you think you know your Colleen Hoover, no you do not. What the fuck was in this? Where does she come up with these storylines? Are her own kids okay?
All jokes aside, wow. I have never been more baffled and disgusted with a book (not to confuse with a 1 star read, this book was indeed incredible). No hate to the narcissists out there, but Verity is genuinely the worst. I could never imagine doing or thinking the things she did and thought. Especially about her own kids. Team manuscript all the way. Colleen, please give me two spin-offs of Verity. One is based on the manuscript and one is based on the letter. Thank you for writing this. My mind will never be the same, but thank you nonetheless.”
A great author is someone who, no matter what they write, you can immediately tell it’s them. That’s the legacy Hoover has — no matter what she writes, no matter how far she deviates from the standard, it is so obviously her. Her storytelling, her writing, and her art are so emotional, so telling, and so accurate to the world we live in. I can’t thank her enough for the work she puts in, for the worlds she has created over the past ten years of her career. I think we owe it to social media for bringing Colleen Hoover to the forefront of adult literature. She deserves all the support she receives, and anyone that disagrees simply has no love in their heart.
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