This novel tells the story of Lily Blossom Bloom (ironically, she owns a flower shop) and her romance with Ryle Kincaid. Lily Bloom has a history of growing up in an abusive home and falls into an abusive relationship herself. Personally, I agree that this is Colleen Hoover’s best book since the main character gets out of the abusive relationship (the only good thing out of this book). It Ends With Us deals with serious topics of domestic abuse and toxic relationships from Hoover’s own experience. Since it’s from a personal experience, I don’t want to comment too much on the story. And I think it is good when authors bring awareness to sensitive topics, but it feels like Colleen Hoover is only using it for entertainment purposes.

Another one of Hoover’s most popular books is Verity. Whereas she normally only writes romance novels, Verity is a thriller. I sure was thrilled, but probably not in the way it was intended. In Verity you follow Lowen, a struggling writer, who gets the opportunity to finish the manuscript of the injured Verity Crawford. To do this, Lowen moves into the house of Verity and her husband (which is a very normal thing to do apparently). This book’s storyline is rather more disturbing than thrilling. Whereas this book is supposed to be a spicy romance thriller, it feels more like cheap erotica book. None of the characters are likable and the books romanticizes cheating and lying, and the plot twist in the end is ridiculous. All-in-all it feels like lazy writing.

The final book I want to touch on is Ugly Love. When Tate meets airline pilot Miles, she knows it isn’t love at first sight but there is an attraction between the two of them. Tate’s story is told from her present point of view where she starts a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship with Miles. Miles’s story is told from his point of view, six years in the past. It worries me that some people call this book their favorite book.

Books don’t always have to be really intellectual or necessarily well-written to be enjoyable. It is perfectly fine to read something just for the romance and the escapism. However, Colleen Hoover books are not the ones you should pick for this. She romanticizes abusive relationships in her problematic love stories and sets harmful standards for her young audience. And she combines this with bad writing.