Discover the best books similar to Colleen Hoover for the most emotionally gripping modern romance novels you won’t be able to put down.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover is a force of nature at this point. She’s currently the bestselling author on this blog too, and millions of readers worldwide can’t stop reading and talking about her books.
(She always holds a special place in my own heart because I was reading It Ends With Us on the beach when I got engaged.)
This ultimately leads to the question of what books to read if you like Colleen Hoover.
These romance books like Colleen Hoover will remind you of all your (and my) favorite Colleen Hoover books, like It Ends With Us and It Starts with Us, Verity, Ugly Love, Reminders Of Him, and November 9.
In curating these books similar to Colleen Hoover, I focused on books I have read that explore the following common themes:
- modern romance
- emotionally gripping
- and fast pace.
Below are the best books similar to Colleen Hoover, followed by details of all the books similar to Colleen Hoover that I personally recommend.
Top 3 Books Similar to Colleen Hoover
Best for fans of It Ends With Us
Best for fans of November 9
The most similar to Colleen Hoover’s books overall
Books Similar to Colleen Hoover
Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan
- A Goodreads “Top Romance Novel of All Time”
- A New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller
In Archer’s Voice, after Bree’s father tragically dies, she heads to a small town in Maine to forget her traumatic past. There, she meets Archer, an isolated man to whom she feels deeply connected, in part because of his similarities to her father.
Bree’s about as sweet and kind as a protagonist can get, but the town is filled with secrets and betrayals, and Archer, as well as his extremely painful past, is at the center of it. It’s only through him, and their love, that healing can occur.
It’s both steamy and a super emotional love story that tugs at your heart along the journey, just like a Colleen Hoover novel.
Beach Read by Emily Henry
New York Times bestseller
Beach Read was the first massively successful novel by the popular modern romance author, Emily Henry. It’s the story of two different writers: January, a bestselling romance writer who has stopped believing in love, and Augustus, an acclaimed literary fiction author.
As they spend three Summer months at neighboring beach houses, they challenge each other to beat their writer’s block by writing something different. Augustus will write something upbeat, and January will write a great American novel.
Meanwhile, they both also must cope with painful pasts and the fact that they are falling for each other. In these ways, it reminded me of Ugly Love.
After a few years since reading it, these characters and the storyline remain memorable to me, which is a mark of a good love story.
Related Posts: Best Emily Henry Books Ranked | Emily Henry Book List
Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis
Eight Perfect Hours is one of those books that’s more emotional than you expect it to be. It’s a snowy night when Noelle is on her way back from an old college event and she becomes stranded. Trapped nearby is Sam, who offers her help and ends up giving her the perfect eight hours together.
Later, they keep bumping into each other and it seems more than coincidental. In fact, there’s a lot more behind it all, similar to November 9.
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
- New York Times bestseller
- Named One of the Hottest Reads of Summer by Today, Parade, PopSugar, USA Today, SheReads, BuzzFeed, BookBub, Bustle, and more!
Every Summer After taps into the nostalgia of first love and second chance romance with characters you want to root for, in the vein of November 9.
It takes course over the Summer of six separate years in a small lake town, where teenagers Persephone and Sam fall in love. Then, one Thanksgiving tears them apart. Years later, Persephone returns to Barry’s Bay for the funeral of Sam’s mother, and she must face how she feels about him after all this time.
This romance novel balances a lot of things just right: friendship, love, angst, conflict, family, and more. I think you will love it as much as I did!
Related Post: Carley Fortune’s Books in Order | Every Summer After Review
The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
- Goodreads Choice Awards nominee – Best Romance, Best Debut
- O, The Oprah Magazine Best Romance Novels of the Year
- Audie Award Finalist
- USA Today bestseller
- Bookish Best Books of the Year
- SheReads Best Romances of the Year
- Women’s Health Best Romance Novels of the Year
- Good Housekeeping Best New Books for Summer
- PopSugar Best Books of Summer
- Publishers Weekly starred review
- Booklist starred review
- Booklist Top 10 Romance Debuts of the Year
In The Friend Zone, when Kristen meets and begins to fall for the best man at her best friend’s wedding, Josh, there are two problems — first, her relationship status is complicated, and second, she’s secretly about to undergo surgery that will leave her unable to have children.
Since Josh wants a large family, she keeps him at an arms-length distance with an agreement to remain “friends with benefits,” similar to Ugly Love. But, this becomes harder and harder the deeper she, and even her dog, fall for him, while he acts as the ideal boyfriend to her.
When tragedy strikes, they must cope with how they really feel given their new reality. It’s an emotional one, for sure!
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Instant #1 New York Times bestseller
The Great Alone is a book about a complicated family, love, and survival set in a harsh climate. While young Leni’s family grapples with the PTSD of Leni’s father, Ernt, a POW in Vietnam, Leni befriends a local boy.
As the long and brutal winter approaches, and thereafter, Leni’s friendship blossoms into more, but her love story becomes a battlefield against nature in a series of very dramatic and consequential events, like many of Colleen Hoover’s novels.
The Great Alone has stayed with me since I first read it, and I still often think about it. It’s simply a beautiful story about love and fighting for survival both figuratively and literally in the wilderness, which can be both beautiful and devastating.
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Instant New York Times bestseller
How to Walk Away is a story of love lost and gained in the face of trauma, which is, essentially, at the core of so many of Colleen Hoover’s books. Center’s books also feel similarly fast-paced.
Margaret’s dream life is just within her grasp when an accident leaves her in the hospital facing uncertainty about her health and her love life.
It’s her physical therapist, Ian, who sees her for her best when she feels she’s at her worst, and provides hope for her future that she never could have expected.
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
- New York Times bestseller
- GMA Book Club pick
In Five Years starts on a very monumental day in Dannie’s life, but when she has a dream/premonition about her life five years in the future, it’s surprisingly different than her “five-year plan.” She’s in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and next to a very different man.
It’s a really emotionally gripping, yet fast-paced story of love and so much more for fans of Colleen Hoover.
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
- International bestseller
- Reese’s Book Club pick
- Popular with readers of The Literary Lifestyle
The Last Mrs. Parrish is best for fans of Verity, as it’s a romantic thriller with one male lead, two female leads, and lots of diabolical behavior.
An unhappy woman hatches a devious plan to step into the life of a rich, married woman, but really that’s just the beginning of this shocking, popular thriller.
Like Verity, it really delivered for me on all fronts, and I generally hear all positive reviews of it from others. I loved it!
Related Post: Guide to The Last Mrs. Parrish
The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
- Reese’s Book Club pick
- Popular with readers of The Literary Lifestyle
The Light We Lost remains the only book to date that made me sob. Lucy and Gabe met as college students on 9/11 in New York and decide they want their lives to mean something. A year later, when they meet again, it seems to be fate.
But when Gabe becomes a photojournalist and is assigned to work in the Middle East, Lucy decides to remain in New York to pursue her career. Although Lucy and Gabe become continents apart, they are never totally out of each other’s hearts.
Thereafter is a decade of love, loss, life, and everything in between — from dreams to jealousies and betrayals. The Light We Lost will make you feel an array of complex emotions for these characters as they journey into adulthood together and apart, and it will be one book you cannot put down.
I recommend this book if you are in the mood for a tearjerker!
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
Love and Other Words comes from the popular romance author duo whose books are quite similar overall to Colleen Hoover’s. They’re generally spicy, modern, and memorable! And this one especially felt like a Colleen Hoover book to me, with all of the steaminess and emotions you readers crave.
Macy is a pediatrics resident planning her wedding to an older, financially secure man, when she runs into her first love, Elliott.
Previously, Elliot was her best friend, then he became a support system for her after the loss of her mother. But, then he broke her heart the same night on which he declared his love.
Now, they must work to overcome the past if there’s any chance of a future, and it’s one emotional journey.
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Me Before You is the most heartbreaking kind of love story. A small-town girl, Louisa, takes a job for a larger-than-life man who is wheelchair-bound after a tragic accident.
His situation has made him all sorts of unappealing, but Louisa grows to care for him and, when she comes to learn of a secret he holds, she intends to show him that life is still worth living.
You’re practically guaranteed to cry.
My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
My Oxford Year is a heartbreaking love story, well told. For many years, it was one of my top book recommendations because everyone seems to love it.
American Ella Durran has dreamed of studying at Oxford and, at age 24, she has finally achieved her dream with a Rhodes Scholarship. The catch is that she was also offered a coveted position on an American presidential campaign, which she will work on remotely, then return to America at the end of her Oxford year to work in person.
When Ella learns that her English literature course will be taught by a snarky local, Jamie Davenport, she expects the worst. But they have a connection that begins as a casual fling and develops more after Ella learns that Jamie has a life-changing secret.
Ella must face an impossible decision: either to follow her political dreams after her Oxford year or to remain by Jamie’s side turn her back on the man she’s falling in love with to follow her political dreams or be there for him during life’s trials and tribulations. These are exactly the types of major life questions Colleen Hoover presents in her books too.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
- Now an Emmy-nominated HULU series
- New York Times bestseller
- One of the ten best novels of the decade by Entertainment Weekly
- One of the ten best books of the year by People, Slate, The New York Public Library, Harvard Crimson
- One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Vogue, Esquire, Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire, Vox, The Paris Review, Good Housekeeping, Town & Country
Normal People is one of my favorite love stories centered on an extremely emotional “cat and mouse” kind of relationship you’ll never forget. It begins when Connell and Marianne are high school students. Marianne is unpopular, so Connell keeps their relationship a secret, and this secret caused him to make hurtful decisions that push them apart.
When Connell and Marianne start college, Marianne is the popular one and Connell is a recluse. As college progresses, Connell and Marianne drift in and out of each other’s lives and, for better or worse, change the course of each other’s lives.
Normal People tackles themes of class, youth, worth/shame, abuse, and mental health. It also embraces the highest of highs and the lowest of lows that can be so characteristic of young love.
One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Named a “Best Book of Summer” by Cosmopolitan, InStyle, Redbook, Us Weekly, PopSugar, Buzzfeed, Bustle, Brit+Co, and Parade
One True Loves is a romance novel that presents a really unique relationship circumstance: What happens if the loving husband you thought was dead returns, and you are engaged to someone else?
Emma married her high school sweetheart, Jessie, and her newlywed life was blissful until their first anniversary when he went missing at sea and was presumed dead.
As she grieves the loss, she returns home and starts over, eventually getting a second chance at true love by falling for an old friend, Sam.
Then, Jessie returns and she must confront both her past and present all at once.
It’s a quick and engaging read that romance book lovers will eat up, especially given its unique plotline and the monumental question Emma faces.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
- New York Times bestseller
- Winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award
The Poet X is a good book for fans of Colleen Hoover’s Slammed. Xiomara feels unheard in her Harlem neighborhood since becoming a teen. So, she pours her heart onto the pages of a notebook and recites the words.
Her Mami pressures her to obey the laws of the church, but she refuses to be silent when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club. It totally delivers, as all of Acevedo’s books do.
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
In Safe Haven, which was adapted into a popular movie, Katie arrives in a small North Carolina town and raises questions when she tries to avoid making personal connections there. She ends up befriending Alex, a widowed store owner with two children, and Jo, a single neighbor.
As she starts becoming attached and falling in love, she remains haunted by her past and the secrets she holds. Ultimately, she must decide what risks are worth taking in her quest for safety.
Without giving away too much, it reminds me in different ways of many Colleen Hoover books, including It Ends With Us and Reminders Of Him.
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
- Instant New York Times bestseller
- Named a Best Book by USA Today, Harper’s Bazaar, Oprah Daily, PopSugar, Shondaland, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, Kirkus, Marie Claire, New York Public Library, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, PureWow, CBS News, People, BuzzFeed, Reader’s Digest
- Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by CNN, Essence, Travel + Leisure, She Reads, Scary Mommy
- Named a Best Romance Book of 2021 by The Washington Post
- Reese’s Book Club pick
In Seven Days in June, Eva is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer who is feeling pressed from all sides, and Shane is a reclusive, award‑winning novelist. When they meet, sparks fly.
But, no one knows that fifteen years earlier, they were teenagers who spent one week madly in love. As they pretend not to know each other, they can’t deny their chemistry and longing.
Over the next seven days, they reconnect and face their pasts in this “second chance” romance with so many book elements fans of Colleen Hoover love.
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
In The Summer I Turned Pretty, Belly believes everything magical happens each Summer, which she spends at the Cousins Beach home of her mother’s best friend, Susannah.
Belly’s always had a crush on Susannah’s son, Conrad, and a friendship with her other son, Jeremiah. But this year, Belly and her brother, Steven, return to the beach home in her sweet sixteenth year of life, and Belly has bloomed into a butterfly in the eyes of both Conrad and Jeremiah.
As you may have guessed, a love triangle is looming, but there’s even more drama in store, as it becomes clear that Susannah is very sick.
It’s an emotional story of young love that reminds me most of November 9. I can just about guarantee you’ll be hooked and want to read the entire book series.
Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering
Now an original series on Hulu
Tell Me Lies is a book I like to recommend to fans of the It Ends With Us series because it shows the hold a toxic relationship can have on a woman and how hard it can be to leave.
Lucy is grappling with the death of her father and the betrayal of her mother when she begins college far away. There, she’s entranced by the charming, yet complicated, Stephen. He knows just how to keep her hooked, all while burying a secret deep so as not to ruin his carefully plotted future.
Stephen fluctuates from hot to cold and, while somewhere deep down Lucy knows something’s not quite right, she can’t tear herself away from his lure.
It’s just as addictive as it sounds!
Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score
New York Times bestseller
Things We Never Got Over begins a three-book series about a woman named Naomi who ran away from her wedding and to her estranged twin in small-town Virginia, a place that’s rough and tough in an old-fashioned way.
Unfortunately, there, she’s left alone without anything but a niece to take care of. The local barber, Knox, prefers solitude but decides to help her out — in more ways than one.
If you like the steamy nature of Colleen Hoover’s books, you very well may like this TikTok favorite. It’s extremely spicy and has the same raw and real feel to it. I will say it’s more humorous, which makes for a nice balance. For me personally, the explicit content was a bit much, but because so many thousands upon thousands of readers love it for this exact reason, you may love it too, if you are in the mood for a very open-door romance book.
Related Posts: Things We Never Got Over Review | Things We Left Behind Review | Things We Hide From the Light Review
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
- #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon
- More than fifteen million copies sold worldwide
- A Business Insider “Defining Book of the Decade“
- Reese’s Book Club pick
Where the Crawdads Sing is just as popular as Colleen Hoover’s most popular books, so romance readers often flock to both.
It’s a coming-of-age story of a woman raised in a marsh, including both a mystery and a love story that faces a lot of real-life challenges, as Colleen Hoover’s couples do. If you haven’t read it yet, you may be the only one!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you loved It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, then you should read Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering and Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. All of these books involve dark and complicated romantic relationships and are emotionally gripping.
If you liked Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover, then you should read Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan, Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks, and Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score. All of these books involve romantic relationships that occur while attempting to start over and escape a complicated past.
If you like Colleen Hoover’s books, then you should read gripping modern romance novels by authors like Abby Jimenez, Emily Henry, Carley Fortune, Rebecca Serle, Katherine Center, and Jojo Moyes.
Conclusion
Those are all the best books similar to Colleen Hoover. To recap and help you decide what to read first or next, my top three picks are: Tell Me Lies (best for fans of It Ends With Us), Every Summer After (best for fans of November 9
Related Colleen Hoover Posts
If you loved these books similar to Colleen Hoover, you’ll love these posts:
- Best Colleen Hoover Books
- Full List of Colleen Hoover’s Books in Order
- Guide to All Colleen Hoover Book Series
- Books Like Verity by Colleen Hoover
- Authors Like Colleen Hoover
