Every summer needs a book that ruins you a little, the kind you finish red-eyed on a sun lounger while a stranger politely pretends not to notice. There is a particular pleasure in surrendering to a novel that demands nothing but your undivided heartbreak, and few writers have mastered that art quite like Colleen Hoover. Once a self-published author writing at her kitchen table in Texas, she has become a publishing phenomenon whose books outsell almost everything on the charts and whose plot twists spawn entire communities online, tearful video reviews and all. Her particular magic lies in the ambush, the way a tender romance can turn, mid-chapter, into something darker and truer than you bargained for. If you are looking for your next emotional undoing between beach days, here are five of her finest, ranked purely by the depth of the damage they leave behind.
It Ends With Us: the romance that turns into something far braver
Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us, from $ 7.99
The one that made her a household name, later a major film. Lily Bloom builds the flower shop of her dreams and falls for a charismatic neurosurgeon, until a figure from her past resurfaces and the story reveals itself to be something braver and far more painful than a romance. Hoover has spoken about drawing on her own mother’s experience, and that honesty gives the book its quiet devastating weight.
Verity: the thriller with a manuscript you shouldn’t read after dark
Colleen Hoover, Verity, $ 13.53
Her venture into thriller territory, and arguably her most gasp-inducing. A struggling writer is hired to finish the books of a bestselling author left incapacitated after an accident, only to stumble upon an unfinished manuscript that reads like a confession. What follows is deliciously sinister, the literary equivalent of a locked door you know you shouldn’t open. Keep the lights on.
Ugly Love: two timelines, one heartbreak that reframes everything
Colleen Hoover, Ugly Love, from $ 7.96
Told in two timelines that circle each other like dancers, this is the story of Tate and Miles, who agree to keep things simple and physical, and of course cannot. The past-tense chapters unspool a heartbreak that reframes everything, proving Hoover’s gift for structure as much as sentiment. A romance for anyone who has ever mistaken restraint for safety.
November 9: a couple who meet one day a year, and a twist that recolors it all
Colleen Hoover, November 9, $ 11.87
Fallon and Ben meet on the same day once a year, a premise Hoover borrows in spirit from the great cinematic love stories built on almosts and near-misses. Their annual reunions become a novel about storytelling itself, about who gets to write whose ending. Then comes the twist that recolors every page before it, the kind only she would dare.
Reminders of Him: a mother’s return, and the slow work of being forgiven
Colleen Hoover, Reminders of Him, $ 7.27
The most tender of the five. Kenna returns from prison hoping to reconnect with the daughter she has never truly known, and finds a town unwilling to forgive her. It is a story of second chances and the slow, stubborn work of redemption, and it may leave you the softest and most hopeful of all. Pack tissues, and perhaps sunglasses to hide behind.
