I’ve got to be honest, this was something long overdue. It feels like these days, everyone and their mom has read at least one Colleen Hoover book, and I’m not an avid hater of her books. I’m not. But i’m also not really a stan either. I guess I fall somewhere in between?
I don’t know the best way to describe it––I haven’t read all of her books, but from the ones I have read, there have been aspects that I’ve loved, and aspects that I’ve hated. So, let’s get into it.
I guess that it’s only fair I start with the cult favorite, It Ends With Us. I genuinely liked this book––I really did, and I think the main reason is because of how close the story is to Colleen Hoover’s personal life; I think that you can really tell how much she cared about this story, after reading the author’s note and I think she did an absolutely excellent job of addressing the question, why is it so difficult to leave an abusive relationship?
That being said, I do have one issue with the book, and that is the inclusion of Atlas. I’m not sure if my issue is more on the fault of the readers, as opposed to Colleen Hoover, but I think that the inclusion of Atlas in the story, detrimentally harmed the overall message. Rather than It Ends With Us being Lily’s story, it suddenly became Lily and Atlas’s story. This book was not a romance book, yet it is so often mis-marketed as one, that Lily’s story is overshadowed by her relationship with Atlas.
I don’t think that every book needs a romantic love interest––and I say this, as someone who loves romance. This book was Lily’s story, not a romance novel.
Now I’ve got to be honest, It Ends With Us was the only Colleen Hoover book, I genuinely enjoyed. I despised Verity, in my opinion, a thriller for people who don’t read thrillers, and I hated Ugly Love even more, but Reminders of Him, surprisingly wasn’t that bad.
The premise was unlike anything I’ve ever read before, and I genuinely liked Kenna’s character. I really enjoyed the overall themes of forgiveness, remorse, and what constitutes a bad person. The only reason I didn’t love the book…was Ledger. Again, I think that this was a book that didn’t need a love interest. I think the story itself could have greatly benefited with the elimination of one.
Not only was Ledger a boring and unlikable character, I feel like it was too much to include him, as well as the letters with Scotty. Not only did I prefer Scotty for Kenna, I think that the exploration of grief would have been so much stronger, without Ledger.
Reminders of Him, had a lot that it wanted to do, and not enough space to do it.
I think that my feelings on Colleen Hoover, overall, are very mixed. There are certain aspects of her books I love––the general themes, and female characters, being some. But there are other aspects I genuinely can’t stand, such as the unnecessary inclusion of male love interests.
I don’t think I ever really will pick up another Colleen Hoover book again, because unless something drastically changes, she is most likely not an author for me.
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