I’m about 1/3 of the way through the book and I’m truly flabbergasted why this book is highly popular. The language is so juvenile and uncreative. I’ve rolled my eyes so many times I’m starting to just look out the back of my head. I’ve had multiple people recommend her books and I just don’t get it. Admittedly I’m not usually a romance reader, but it feels like even for the genre it’s particularly bad. Even the sex scenes are weakly written. To me, it feels how a teen boy imagines what sex is like for adults, without ever having sex.
I don’t know maybe I’m being harsh… but I think this is one I’m just going to have to give up on.
by honeymustard_dog
48 Comments
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Her books are read by people who never read, if it makes sense. That’s why they seem impressive to these folks
DNFed it about halfway through. I kept waiting to care about one single character in that book. Still not sure why she’s so popular.
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Colleen Hoover is the perfect author for people to get into, or back into, reading. Her books are easy, quick, and interesting! I can understand why avid readers don’t love her, but I think her books are perfect for entertaining weekend reads.
The fact that so many are raving about her makes me immediately think she can’t be good.
I literally bought Verity just so that I can see what the fuss is about. I intend to study her formula so that I can crank out subpar content and become filthy rich off it.
No shame in my game.
She writes like a 12 year old on Wattpad. Just horrendous. I have no idea why she’s popular
Completely agree. I picked it up to see what all the hype was about and was blown away by how terrible it was. The whole bit about her becoming instant best friends with a rich person who wants to do menial work because she’s bored was just so stupid.
People always talked about IEWU being terrible but I beg all of you to read November 9 for something so atrociously written, you’ll be thinking IEWU should have won a Pulitzer.
wait until you read ugly love. that book is the worst book i’ve ever read and it makes it ends with us look like tolstoy
Colleen Hooever is inspirational in the sense that I read part of Verity, and then put it down halfway and decided: if this dross is the new hotness, then maybe I should buck up and finally try and get published.
I couldn’t get over all the “Dear Ellen,” nonsense that added nothing to the story. This book is horrible. I only made it the first 2 or 3 chapters.
I found myself in a bit of a reading slump and have actually read quite a few of her books as I find them quite easy and they’ve actually gotten me out of my slump, for that I’m thankful. But my god, they are woeful. Every book seems to have a line that she decides to repeat throughout. I can’t remember if it was “it ends with us” or another book but I wanted to start a tally when she kept saying “my hand went to my mouth”, “he rose his hand to his mouth” etc. Drives me insane.
I just read Ugly Love because people kept saying how good it is. It’s dreadful. I’m pretty sure a 14 year old wrote it.
One of the worst books I’ve read in a while.
In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if a book is well written because it is all relative. If someone likes it, then it is good for their reading ability and taste. What is important is that they read and then more they read, hopefully, the higher their level of sophistication will develop.
oh wow i didn’t know it was that bad
I thought it was awful. So cliché. And it completely oversimplifies abusive relationships. There is no depth here.
There are a lot of romance writers who write way, way better than Colleen Hoover. Also I wouldn’t describe her books as romances really since most of them are toxic misery fests without a happy ending.
The marketing is disgusting too – it’s absolutely not a romance book. It’s a book about DV. Ugh.
The problem with CoHo is that her writing is average and her stories are worse.
Average writing with a good plot makes a good book. (Literally any romance author)
Bad writing with a great plot makes a bad, but still enjoyable book. (M. Sinclair and plenty other paranormal romance authors)
But CoHos plots suck. Badly. Bad writing with worse plots makes for an all around shitty book.
It’s everything about her books. From the characters (Lily Blossom Bloom and her steampunk flower shop), her relationships (Atlas, who basically counted the seconds until Lily was past the age of consent to fuck her), The shitty composition and pop references (letters to Ellen at inconvenient times), etc.
Her complete lack of understanding on how abusive relationships work is what really put me off. I’ve heard that either she or her mother went through an abusive relationship, but she still really should have done her research before writing a book.
There was 0 effort put into the relationship between Lily and Ryle. Where was the manipulation? I know abusive relationships look different with everyone, but there’s always manipulation. It’s why people stay. The guilt tripping was hardly there, and the abuse itself was so surface level that it was almost laughable.
To compare it to a book that’s also very popular, My Dark Vanessa, it’s completely lacking. In My Dark Vanessa we can see through the perspective of the victim, just like in IEWU, but the difference is that you can actually understand why she stays and why she doesn’t believe she’s being abused. The manipulation is plain to see, but the readers can still empathise with the victim and see why she can’t see it.
I’m not great at explaining this shit, but yeah. I don’t like that book and don’t get the hype.
I hated Verity. It was an affront to my intelligence. Read Demon Copperhead or listen on audio . It’s excellent. So is The Extraordinary Life if Sam Hell
I spent the whole book, waiting for her allure to make sense. It did not. I think people like her sex scenes, but I didn’t get the hype.
After reading this post I checked out “It Begins With Us” because it was available. Three chapters in and the hero waits to speak with a 12 year old about his love life, rather than talk to other adult males?
Edit: His Italian restaurant’s name is “Corrigan”?
There are far too many good books to waste time on sloppy ones. I do need to know the endings though, so Wikipedia is my solution.
I finished the book and then threw the book away. And this was before it became this massive hit on tik tok. I refuse to read any of her other books
I feel Colleen Hoover’s audience is less adult and more young adult. Her books remind me of something I would read in high school which is not necessarily bad at all, just different. My sister who doesn’t usually read books loves Colleen Hoover though so she must have something people grip on too! I guess it’s just the audience.
Honestly, who cares if people read Hoovers novels. I am thrilled more people are reading! There are different levels of books for all different types of readers. These books are perfect for mindless fun reads at the beach, before bed, whatever.
If someone is enjoying the book, that’s all that matters.
This same argument applies for Adam Sandler movies…
Good storyteller, bad writer.
I’ve read four of her books, and I didn’t hate them, but they were definitely poorly written.
Colleen Hoover is what I would recommend to my friends who love reality tv and have never read before / have said they can’t concentrate enough to read a book … its entertaining, but not necessarily good writing… once they wrap their heads around the idea that they CAN finish a book, once they change their perspective on reading and how fun it can be, then I recommend actual good books lol
edit to add: no shade to reality tv watchers, i love it too
Just coming by to hop on the bandwagon and chime in that I absolutely hated this book!
This is how the Twilight series got me. Everyone was raving about how good it was! I couldn’t go a day without being asked if I’d read them yet. I went out, bought all 4 books. I’m not a quitter so I read them all before giving them away, but goddamn…those were some fucking terrible books.
Because of tik tok, shit gets hyped up and people are, like, totally oBsESsEd, omg.
Did you see posts about some books being hard to read because of new words?
It’s praised exactly because it’s simple I think. You’re just on a higher level of reading.
It reads like a teenager posting on wattpad. That said, if you’re looking to read something you don’t need to turn your brain on for, CoHo is the way to go
Made it 20% in before DNFing it. My husband is a doctor a couple of years out of residency so I’ve done the college-med school-residency thing and let me tell you, that dumb main character would have had to graduate college at like 14 to be finishing his neurosurgery residency at what, 30? It takes FOREVER to complete that residency. Also the whole “could he just leave his scrubs on when we have sex” thing is just weird. Those things are so dirty. Haha.
Anyways, the poorly written story and the clearly unresearched residency plot holes really did me in. I don’t need to read anything else she makes. 🤷🏼♀️
Saw a tweet the other day that said Colleen Hoover is writing books for people who didn’t read growing up and are going through their unhinged Wattpad fanfic phase now instead of in 2010 like the rest of us lol
I used to think the reason I’m not a successful writer is because I suck at writing, I haven’t dedicated much time to learning the craft, and I’ve never gone through the process of rejection / feedback / criticism in order to hone my writing to a higher standard. But now I understand that this has nothing to do with it. As it turns out, I’ll never be a successful writer because I don’t have a TikTok account.
I haven’t any interest in that book and your review confirmed what I already suspected. Remember how everyone was reading Shades of Grey. I had no problem with SOGs subject matter but the format and writing style were so clumsy and sophomoric I couldn’t get past the first 50 pages. Honestly, I have seen hardcore pornography that was better written. And yet it has sequels. And film adaptations!
I suspect books like SoG and IEwU attract a larger audience because it’s embraced by the “occasional” reader who isn’t concerned with things like continuity, structure, vocabulary, and logic. They just know the book is everywhere and they are afraid of being left behind so they jump in. And ironically, they now feel pretty proud of themselves, because they assume popularity and hype are indicators of meaningful literature. This could be the reason they are only “occasional” readers . They don’t know any better.
I read it to see what all the fuss was about, and it was… fine? It took a while to get going, but it was an easy and quick read and I liked the way it explored intergenerational trauma and abuse.
That being said, I’m not the target audience for her stuff and I have no desire to read the sequel or any of her other books.
I see my students reading books though, and that makes me very happy. I’m for absolutely anything that gets kids reading by choice and for fun.
I liked it 🤷♀️ I read 2 books per week and I read a lot of romance. It seemed less cheesy than a ton of books I’ve read. It wasn’t perfect, and CoHo has a signature formula of having a Big Twist, and then a Different Big Twist at the end, then abruptly ending the book.
If you’re not into it about halfway through then I would say DNF
This book is for adults who have never picked up a book in their early lives.
Never read Colleen Hoover but I feel the same about Sally Rooney. Her books read like Wattpad fanfictions to me and I don’t understand the appeal at all.
I think it’s ok to dislike her books, or any book or film or thing etc. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinions on whatever they want. I do not understand though the bashing of other people who may like what you don’t like. Demeaning them or calling them unintelligent or lonely or infantile. I’d rather hang out with a Hoover fan than the people in this thread who feel better about themselves because they don’t like a book? I read It Ends With Us and it was actually very similar to my own romantic/abusive relationship. I didn’t feel like a “teen boy” wrote it. I felt like someone who understood what it’s like loving someone who hurts you did. 💜
I read up to the point she said she was a florist and her name is Lily Blossom Bloom lmao
Lmao the self righteous gate keeping in this thread is really obnoxious. Listen, I don’t like CoHo either, just not a fan. But saying that anyone who enjoys her books isn’t a REAL reader is just stupid. There is no reason to be condescending towards those folks, especially when you have zero knowledge of what else is on their book shelves.
The protagonist’s name is Lilly Bloom…and she is a florist.
And the book only gets worse.