By: Sofia Dajer
Colleen Hoover is one of the most popular authors among young girls. The famous American novelist is known for writing romance and young adult fiction series. Many know about her work because of the popular novel It Ends With Us (2016). However, in my opinion, there are many more that deserve the same or even more recognition. This article will rate some of the novels that I have read from her.
1. It Ends With Us (2016): 9/10
This one was the first book that I read from Colleen Hoover, and it definitely was worth the read. I have to admit that I was influenced by the amount of TikTok’s that have talked about how good it was. It is a story that just makes you attached to the book, and believe me, I am not like that. It tells the story of Lily Bloom, and her doomed romance with Ryle Kincaid, while going over her traumatic past of her growing up in an abusive household, getting into an abusive relationship, and getting away from it. This book will make you cry, hope for love, and fall in love with every character. Even though I can say that it is a great book, I did not give it a 10 because of the next books that I read from her.
2. It Starts With Us (2022): 7/10
As it is the sequel from It Ends With Us, I guess I was expecting much more. I was so amazed by the first one that I thought this one was going to be on its same level or on a superior one. This novel explores the story of Lily Bloom and her first love Atlas Corrigan, while continuing her other relationship with Ryle. It is written from two different perspectives, giving the reader the ability of connecting more personally to each character. It was not bad, I was just disappointed. But it was still pretty good, you will still feel this classic romance that everybody wishes to experience, but I guess that the drama from the first one was what made everybody feel so hooked to the story.
3. Ugly Love (2014): 10/10
From all of the romance novels that I have ever read, I guess this one could be the best one. It tells the story of Tate Collins and Miles Archer and their constant reminder of them being just friends but with a big attraction towards each other. The novel shows how their relationship evolves from friends to being more than that, but by exploring all the sides that love has, and the main one is that it can be ugly. In the beginning, it may start slow but it was definitely worth it. It is a novel that just leaves you positively frustrated because you just want the happy ending for the characters to occur at once, but the detailed and well-managed events makes the whole experience worth the while. I was so sad when I ended this book because of how fast I read it. I truly wish for a sequel to come out.
4. Verity (2018): 10/10
This one is definitely a fight between which one is better with Ugly Love (2014). When I bought this novel I did not expect what it actually was. I was expecting another classic romance novel (those typical ones that I love). However, this novel was much more than that, it combined romance with mystery and thrill, two genres that I never thought it could be so well mixed together. It told the story of Lowen Ashleigh, a writer that was in financial ruin and got a job that she could not reject. She had to continue the series of Verity Crawford who suffered from a car accident and ended up very injured unable to finish them. I could not stop reading as to how every chapter was better than the previous one, and it definitely had one of the best plot twists that I have ever read.
From my experience, I can say that Colleen Hoover does deserve all the hype that she gets, as to how every book leaves a positive impact on its readers. I can conclude that her best novels are Ugly Love and Verity, but it all depends on what type of writing you prefer, however, neither one will ever disappoint you. I wish to read much more, and who knows maybe I can share an updated review about them!