We did it, folks! We’ve finally learned the cast of the film adaptation of It Ends With Us, and the reviews are… mixed, honestly. With all the hubbub about Colleen Hoover’s works, it’s no surprise that people have strong feelings over her most famous book getting adapted. Maybe you’ve read Hoover’s backlog already. Maybe you’re just getting started, and have found your new favorite author. Maybe you’re looking for BookTok to recommend something new. Wherever you’re at, I’ve got a new list of books to pick up when you’re not chowing down on Without Merit, or Maybe Not, or Finding Cinderella, or… well, you get the idea.
I’ve picked 10 Hoover titles and paired them with 10 other novels (plus 3 honorable mentions) that’ll give you the tears and intensity the CoHorts have come to expect!
If You Liked It Ends With Us, you’ll love Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff!
Both show the perils of a marriage gone awry. Both follow a woman trying to find herself through the madness. Lauren Groff’s writing sparkles with as much heat and wit as It Ends With Us, but following a couple after decades of marriage, rather than at the start.
If You Liked Verity, you’ll love Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler!
Verity reads like a modern day Rebecca, and you’ll feel the same sense of tension diving into Sweetbitter. With a heavy focus on the arts and a complicated love story, these two are the perfect reads for a rainy day.
If You Liked Ugly Love, you’ll love Woman in the Shadows by Ann Bannon!
While Woman in the Shadows focuses on an intense lesbian relationship, they’re very similar in the themes of past hurt affecting your current relationship. You might not push for these couples to end up together, but at the least you’re pushing for them to get the help they deserve as they work through their traumas!
If You Liked Reminders of Him, you’ll love Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn!
Whether it’s romance, self-discovery, or mother-daughter relationships that you loved in Reminders, Patsy brings all that and more in a dual POV book following a Jamaican woman’s immigration to the US to find her lost love, and the daughter she left behind.
If You Liked Hopeless, you’ll love Dreamland by Sara Dessen!
Dreamland and Hopeless both provide the YA perspective on abuse and toxicity. Both are an incredible portrayal of youth and how easy it can be to get lost in your own emotions at that age, without the authors talking down to their audience.
If You Liked Too Late, you’ll love Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge!
Cruel Beauty is a fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but the themes of captivity, torture, and who to trust run deep through both of these fantastically dark novels.
If You Liked November 9, you’ll love Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino!
Both dealing with putting your life into your art, you’ll love Swear on This Life if you loved the vulnerability of authors and their muses that runs throughout November 9. While November 9 focuses on a current relationship, Swear on This Life shows what happens when your past comes back to haunt both you and the NYT bestsellers list.
If You Liked Maybe Someday, you’ll love These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
I love to read a book where the intensity comes from passion for art, and these two titles can agree on that synopsis! Whether you’re following Sydney or Paul, these young adults find that passion can turn sour quickly in these two fantastic books.
If You Liked Slammed, you’ll love The Pact by Jodi Picoult
“Young adults trying to find their place in this world” is hardly a new topic for a novel to be about. However, in Slammed and The Pact, we see how serious a teen’s life can be and how the secrets they keep, even for love, can turn their lives upside down and tear their families apart.
If You Liked Layla, you’ll love Vladimir by Julia Jay Jonas!
A morally gray character who knows they’re in the wrong? Sacrificing decency for the sake of passion? A questionable love story that turns dark? All these things are featured in Layla and are brought back with a new fire in Vladimir, which follows a woman professor who engages in a relationship with a much younger student.
Honorable Mentions:
Poetry: Crush by Richard Siken
Richard Siken has developed a writing style that makes you feel as if you’re burning alive. Brimming with intensity and pain, Siken discusses love in all its ups and downs through this fabulous poetry collection including some of his most famous works.
Plays: Stop Kiss by Diana Son
Son’s play follows Sarah and Callie, two women who meet when Callie is asked by a mutual friend to watch Sarah’s cat. Told in a nonlinear fashion, it shows how their bond is shaken by a violent crime committed against one of them.
Nonfiction: In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
One of the best-selling memoirs of the decade (so far,) Machado describes in intimate and terrifying detail what it feels like to be in an abusive relationship. Told in a series of essays all describing the Dream House (the home she lived in with her abuser,) she lays bare the discomfort and self-doubt that go along with being abused, and the slow road to recovery once you’ve escaped. The first escape, anyway.
And there we have it! Thirteen titles you can use to tide you over till the next sequel, threequel, or prequel is announced. And if, after all the tears, you need something lighter, feel free to check out our flow chart to find your next romance: Year Round Beach Reads | BookPeople Of Moscow