Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover was born in Sulphur Springs, Texas, in 1979, earned a social work degree at Texas A&M University–Commerce, and worked in social work and teaching before writing fiction. She began her first novel, Slammed, in November 2011 with no plan to publish it, then self-published it in January 2012 so that her mother, who had just received a Kindle, could read it. After a book blogger's five-star review lifted sales, Atria Books republished her early novels that August, Slammed and its sequel Point of Retreat reached the New York Times list, and she left social work to write full time.

She writes mainly romance and young adult fiction, and her best-known book takes on domestic abuse directly. It Ends with Us (2016) follows a florist whose relationship with a neurosurgeon turns abusive; Hoover drew on the domestic violence she witnessed growing up and has called it the hardest book she has written. BookTok attention in 2021 sent it to No. 1 on the Times list in January 2022, and the 2024 film grossed more than $350 million worldwide. Verity (2018) is a psychological thriller, and Reminders of Him (2022) became a 2026 film she co-wrote. Time named her one of its 100 most influential people in 2023.

Start with It Ends with Us. It is her best-known novel and shows her approach clearly: a contemporary romance that turns into a story about abuse. Know going in that domestic violence is at its center. Its 2022 sequel, It Starts with Us, continues Lily's story and belongs second.

Readers who want suspense rather than romance should pick Verity first, a psychological thriller about a writer hired to finish a bestselling series after an accident leaves its author unable to complete it. For her earlier young adult voice, go back to Slammed, the self-published debut that started her career.