Few writers have moved from self-published first-timer to global bestseller as fast as Colleen Hoover, who sold more than 20 million books in under a decade, turned BookTok into a marketing engine, and made It Ends With Us a cultural flashpoint for reasons both celebratory and critical (USA Today (national newspaper)). This guide separates the confirmed facts from the noise: what she wrote, the order to read it in, and why the backlash keeps growing.
New York Times bestsellers: 20+ · Total books published: 24 · First self-published book: Slammed (2012) · Net worth (estimated): $20 million · Most famous book: It Ends With Us · Film adaptation: It Ends With Us (2024)
Quick snapshot
- Slammed was self-published in January 2012, and the Slammed series is the usual entry point to Hoover’s work (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- It Ends With Us was published in 2016 as a novel about domestic violence inside a romance (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- The film adaptation arrived in 2024, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)). (True North Brief (reader guide))
- How much the 2022 backlash and the 2024 film dispute will affect Hoover’s long-term sales is still an open question. (Marie Claire UK (women’s lifestyle magazine))
- Whether critics are responding to the books themselves or to the off-screen drama is hard to disentangle in current coverage (Marie Claire UK (women’s lifestyle magazine)).
- Blake Lively’s allegations against Baldoni remain contested in legal filings, with Baldoni denying the claims and filing his own legal actions (Marie Claire UK (celebrity news)).
- 2012: Slammed is self-published and becomes a bestseller within months (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- 2016: It Ends With Us is published (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- 2020–2021: BookTok pushes Verity and It Ends With Us to the top of the charts (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- December 2024: Lively files a complaint against Baldoni; his reported countersuit is dismissed in June 2025 (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- Hoover’s next book, Woman Down, follows It Starts With Us, the companion to It Ends With Us (USA Today (national newspaper)).
- New readers now enter the catalogue at a different point: many discover Hoover through the film before reading any of her books.
Seven numbers tell the short version of Hoover’s career: one self-published debut, a handful of series, and a bestselling title that turned into a movie.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Colleen Hoover (née Fennell) |
| Born | December 11, 1979 |
| Number of books | 24 (as of 2024) |
| First book | Slammed (2012) (True North Brief (reader guide)) |
| Most sold book | It Ends With Us (over 4 million copies) (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)) |
| Net worth (estimated) | $20 million |
| Genres | Romance, young adult, dark romance |
What is the deal with Colleen Hoover?
Who is Colleen Hoover?
- American author born December 11, 1979, in Texas.
- Self-published her first novel, Slammed, in January 2012 (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- Has published 24 books as of 2024 and claims more than 20 New York Times bestsellers (USA Today (national newspaper)).
- Writes primarily romance and young adult fiction, with a side into dark romance and thrillers such as Verity.
Hoover was a complete unknown when Slammed went up for sale. Months later it hit the New York Times list (True North Brief (reader guide)), and the audience she built around that first novel carried her through the next decade.
The scale of that career is hard to overstate: her books have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide (USA Today (national newspaper)).
How did she become a bestselling author?
- Self-publishing: Slammed proved there was a market for her voice without a traditional publisher (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- BookTok surge: in 2020–2021, readers on TikTok turned Verity and It Ends With Us into perennial bestsellers (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- Adaptation boost: the 2024 It Ends With Us film pushed the title into the general culture (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
The path looks accidental, but it followed a pattern: a strong self-published debut, a fast follow-up, and then a platform that rewarded emotional story beats. BookTok did not create Hoover; it amplified the audience she had already built.
What genre does she write?
- Romance: It Ends With Us, Ugly Love, November 9, Confess.
- Young adult: the Slammed and Hopeless series.
- Dark romance and thriller-adjacent: Verity.
- Mature standalones: Reminders of Him and the rest of her non-series novels (True North Brief (reader guide)).
The common thread is emotional intensity: grief, betrayal, survival, and second chances frame most of her books. That consistency explains both the devotion and the criticism — readers never mistake a Hoover book for a light beach read.
What is Colleen Hoover’s most famous book?
What is It Ends With Us about?
- Published in 2016, the novel places a love story inside a domestic violence narrative (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- Most criticism targets Ryle, the male lead, who critics argue is romanticized even as he is condemned (USA Today (national newspaper)).
- Hoover has said the story was inspired by her mother’s experience of domestic violence (Marie Claire UK (women’s lifestyle magazine)).
It Ends With Us is not a simple romance, and Hoover has never marketed it as one. But the gap between how the book is discussed on TikTok and what the pages actually do is where the controversy begins.
Why is It Ends With Us so popular?
- It spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- BookTok videos in 2020–2021 made it a discovery engine: readers finished the book, then made videos that brought in the next wave (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- The 2024 film, starring Blake Lively and directed by Justin Baldoni, turned the title into a mainstream event (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
That is three compounding loops: the book sells, the platform reacts, the adaptation arrives. Few novels get all three.
How many copies has It Ends With Us sold?
- Over 4 million copies, according to figures circulated around the film’s release (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- Since 2022, Hoover has donated 100% of the book’s profits to domestic violence charities (USA Today (national newspaper)).
The donation decision blurred the line between author and advocate. It also became part of the book’s meaning for readers who stayed loyal through the backlash.
In what order should I read Colleen Hoover’s books?
What is the order of the Slammed series?
- Start with Slammed, continue with Point of Retreat, and finish with This Girl (True North Brief (reader guide)).
What is the order of the Hopeless series?
- Hopeless, then Losing Hope, then Finding Cinderella (True North Brief (reader guide)).
How do standalone novels fit in?
- The Maybe Someday sequence — Maybe Someday, Maybe Not, Maybe Now — can be read independently (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- Ugly Love, November 9, Confess, and Reminders of Him are mature standalones with no shared characters (True North Brief (reader guide)).
Should I read Verity before It Ends With Us?
- Verity is a standalone thriller and requires no prior reading (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- Many fan reading lists place Verity after It Ends With Us because both explore dark emotional territory, but the order is a preference, not a rule.
What is the recommended reading order for all Colleen Hoover books?
- Most guides suggest the series order: Slammed → Hopeless → Maybe Someday → standalones (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- Completists can instead read by publication date, but they should expect her earliest self-published work to feel rougher than her later titles.
Three series and a shelf of standalones, one pattern: the interconnected series reward reading in order, while the standalones are designed to be picked up cold.
| Series or group | Books in order | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Slammed series | Slammed → Point of Retreat → This Girl | Hoover’s originals (True North Brief (reader guide)) |
| Hopeless series | Hopeless → Losing Hope → Finding Cinderella | The next emotional step (True North Brief (reader guide)) |
| Maybe Someday sequence | Maybe Someday → Maybe Not → Maybe Now | Music-centered; no required order (True North Brief (reader guide)) |
| Mature standalones | It Ends With Us, Verity, Ugly Love, November 9, Confess, Reminders of Him | Read in any order (True North Brief (reader guide)) |
The wrong order will not spoil anything, but it will mis-set expectations: start with Verity and you will expect every book to be a thriller; start with Slammed and you will see why Hoover’s fans fell for her emotional voice first.
The trade-off: series order gives the fastest emotional payoff, while publication order shows Hoover’s evolution as a writer. Both are valid — just do not judge her entire catalogue by one book.
The practical version: start at the beginning of a series, but treat the standalones as a mood-based menu rather than a checklist.
Why don’t people like Colleen Hoover anymore?
What is the controversy about It Ends With Us?
- Critics argue the novel can romanticize or glamorize abuse, particularly through the character Ryle (USA Today (national newspaper)).
- That reading is contested: some interpret the book as depicting the generational cycle of domestic violence, not endorsing it (Marie Claire UK (women’s lifestyle magazine)).
- Hoover says the book was inspired by her mother’s experience of domestic violence (Marie Claire UK (women’s lifestyle magazine)).
These three positions exist simultaneously. It Ends With Us is, depending on who you ask, a survivor’s testimony, a dangerous romance, or a commercial book that failed to fully control its own message. The lack of consensus is the controversy.
What criticisms are leveled at her writing style?
- Some readers object to how mental health and sensitive topics appear across her novels (USA Today (national newspaper)).
- Even sympathetic readers note that Hoover writes for maximum emotional effect — a trait that works brilliantly in a thriller like Verity and becomes harder to defend in a book about abuse.
How did BookTok backlash emerge?
- In 2022, a TikTok trend criticized Hoover for romanticizing toxic relationships (USA Today (national newspaper)).
- The backlash did not dent sales; by 2024, the It Ends With Us legal fight between Lively and Baldoni had merged with the literary criticism in most coverage (Marie Claire UK (women’s lifestyle magazine)).
What did Colleen Hoover say about the criticism?
- She has acknowledged the concerns and, since 2022, has donated 100% of It Ends With Us profits to domestic violence charities (USA Today (national newspaper)).
- In a November interview, she called the legal drama “unfortunate and disappointing” (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- During the dispute, she reportedly removed photos of Lively and Baldoni from her Instagram before later returning to the platform (USA Today (national newspaper)).
The same book that built Hoover’s reputation is the one that most threatens it — because the criticism is not about bad writing, but about what her writing does with abuse.
What this means: the controversy is unlikely to fade even after the legal cases end. The book now carries its criticism in every reissue, every film still, and every new reader’s first search.
The consequence: Hoover’s next release will be assessed not only as a book, but as a statement about how she handles the domestic-violence themes she has made famous.
What is Colleen Hoover’s ‘Slammed’ about?
What is the plot of Slammed?
- Slammed follows a young woman named Layken who falls for her neighbor Will after a family tragedy.
- The book mixes romance with poetry slams — Layken and Will’s relationship unfolds against spoken-word performances.
- It was Hoover’s first novel, self-published in January 2012 (True North Brief (reader guide)).
Who are the main characters?
- Layken and Will are the central couple (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- Point of Retreat and This Girl continue their story, making Slammed the gateway to a trilogy (True North Brief (reader guide)).
Why did Slammed become a bestseller?
- It hit the New York Times bestseller list months after self-publication (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- The poetry-slam framing gave it a hook that stood out in the romance market, and word-of-mouth did the rest.
Slammed is where Hoover’s signature move starts: put a sympathetic narrator through grief, add an intense connection, and let the emotional release carry the book. She has refined that move for a decade, but the pattern began here.
The implication: Slammed is worth reading less as her “first effort” and more as the key to every book that followed.
How to start reading Colleen Hoover’s books
- Start with the Slammed series: Slammed, Point of Retreat, This Girl (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- Move to the Hopeless series: Hopeless, Losing Hope, Finding Cinderella (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- Read the Maybe Someday sequence when you want a lighter, music-driven tone (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- Then pick the standalones that match your mood — Verity for a thriller, Ugly Love or November 9 for pure romance (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- Save It Ends With Us until you have mental space for it; it is the most famous and the heaviest (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- If you want to be current after the film, follow it with the companion, It Starts With Us, and watch for her next book, Woman Down (USA Today (national newspaper)).
The order matters less than the trigger awareness. Hoover’s biggest books — It Ends With Us, Verity — are exactly the ones most likely to need a content check before you start.
The trade-off: follow the reading order above and you will understand Hoover at her best before you meet her at her most controversial. Skip ahead and you will get the cultural conversation first, but with less context for why her fans stayed.
Timeline: from Slammed to the film drama
- — Slammed is self-published; it hits the New York Times bestseller list months later (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- — It Ends With Us is published (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- — Verity is published and becomes a #1 bestseller on multiple lists (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- — BookTok drives massive sales; Verity and It Ends With Us top the charts (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- — Criticism over romanticizing abuse goes viral; Hoover starts donating all It Ends With Us profits to domestic violence charities (USA Today (national newspaper)).
- — Blake Lively files a complaint against Justin Baldoni alleging sexual harassment and retaliation (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- — Baldoni’s reported countersuit against Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and others is dismissed (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- Next up: Woman Down is announced as Hoover’s book after It Starts With Us (USA Today (national newspaper)).
Why this matters: every spike in Hoover’s career track followed a mass emotional reaction — first love, then a platform, then a scandal. The timeline suggests her next moves will be watched more closely than her next book’s plot.
What’s confirmed and what’s still unclear
Confirmed facts
- Slammed was self-published in January 2012 (True North Brief (reader guide)).
- It Ends With Us is a 2016 novel about domestic violence inside a romance (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- The film adaptation was released in 2024, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
- Hoover has said the book was inspired by her mother’s experience of domestic violence (Marie Claire UK (women’s lifestyle magazine)).
- Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni in December 2024 (TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)).
What’s unclear
- Whether the 2022 backlash is actually reducing Hoover’s readership or just changing the conversation around it.
- Whether critics are responding to the books themselves or to the film’s off-screen drama (Marie Claire UK (women’s lifestyle magazine)).
- Hoover’s real net worth — the $20 million figure is an estimate, not a released financial record.
- Whether future adaptations will move forward while the legal questions remain open.
- How Hoover will handle sensitive themes in post-controversy books.
The pattern: the confirmed facts keep the timeline stable, while the unclear items keep the public conversation open.
Voices in the debate
“Unfortunate and disappointing.”
— Colleen Hoover, on the legal fight around It Ends With Us, via TODAY.com (NBC lifestyle coverage)
“Critics argued the novel ‘can romanticize or glamorize abuse, particularly through its treatment of the character Ryle.’”
— Summary of critical reception, USA Today (national newspaper)
“Others read the novel as intended ‘to depict the generational cycle of domestic violence rather than endorse abuse.’”
— Alternative interpretation, Marie Claire UK (women’s lifestyle magazine)
Colleen Hoover’s story is a study in what happens when a self-published author finds a mass audience faster than the culture can process her. She built a reading empire on emotional intensity, watched it catch fire on BookTok, and then watched the same intensity become the basis for a very public reckoning. For a new reader, the choice is clear: read the books in order and bring context about the controversy to It Ends With Us, or skip the heaviest titles and start with the lighter standalones instead.
Frequently asked questions
How many books has Colleen Hoover written?
24 as of 2024, including the Slammed, Hopeless, and Maybe Someday series plus standalones such as It Ends With Us and Verity.
What is Colleen Hoover’s net worth?
Estimated at $20 million, a figure calculated from sales and media estimates, not from a public financial disclosure.
What is Colleen Hoover’s newest book?
Woman Down is her next release after It Starts With Us, according to USA Today’s reporting.
What is the Maybe Someday series order?
Maybe Someday, Maybe Not, and Maybe Now, per True North Brief’s reading-order guide.
Are Colleen Hoover books appropriate for teens?
It depends on the book. Titles like Slammed skew younger, but It Ends With Us and Verity deal with domestic violence, grief, and mature psychological themes; many readers recommend checking content notes first.
Will there be a movie based on Verity?
Not confirmed in current reporting. The only major film adaptation so far is It Ends With Us, released in 2024.
What does “Slammed” mean in the book title?
It refers to the poetry slams at the center of the story; the book mixes romance with spoken-word performances.
The short answers cover the practical questions; the long answer is that Hoover’s catalogue now carries a cultural argument that predates and outlasts any single book.
Related reading
- We Liars: A Guide to the Amazon Prime Series and Book — another interconnected fiction guide for readers who like family drama and reveals.
- Chuck Bass: Character Guide, Relationships, and Fan Questions — a character deep-dive for fans of messy, charismatic leads.
Both guides suit readers who like character-driven drama, tangled reveals, and the kind of emotional stakes Hoover is known for.
George Thompson is Senior Reporter at UrbanMixr.uk, covering breaking culture, lifestyle and general news stories across the UK.