The current best selling novelist in the United States, holding six of the top 10 spots on The New York Times paperback fiction best seller list, and selling 8.6 million print books in just this year, Colleen Hoover is taking over the reading community. Teenagers who never had any interest in reading are now often seen with a book in their hands after being introduced to Colleen Hoover’s books. She has sold more books this year than Dr. Seuss and the Bible! Why? Why are millions of people suddenly falling in love with these books?
In January of 2012, Hoover self-published her first novel Slammed. At the time, she was making nine dollars an hour as a social worker, living in a trailer with her husband, a truck driver. Without a publisher, an agent, or any kind of team, seven months later the novel hit The New York Times bestseller list. She made $50,000 from this book and decided to quit her job to write full time. Her books began trending on the app Tik Tok, which caused many people to purchase and read her books. Hoover’s book sales skyrocketed and she became one of the most successful authors ever known.
I can personally say that Colleen Hoover changed my views on reading. In the past, I would occasionally read books once and a while, but I would never consider myself a reader. Until I was given Hoover’s book It Ends With Us for Christmas in 2021, and everything changed. I fell in love with the book and Lily’s story. I continued to purchase more of her books and today, I have read six of her books and plan to read more. Reading her books inspired me to read different types of books and now I can finally call myself a reader. Colleen Hoover made me fall in love with reading and I will always say that It Ends With Us was the best Christmas gift I ever received.
I recently interviewed two Colleen Hoover fans, Makenna Beeson and Aaliyah Blinsky. Aaliyah is a senior at Lowellville who loves to read. She read her first Colleen Hoover book, It Ends With Us, last year. “She made me fall in love with romance books.” Aaliyah loves the way that Hoover writes and gives all of her characters backstories. She has read almost every single one of Colleen Hoover’s books, with her favorite being, Ugly Love. She plans to read more of her books in the future and is excited to begin reading the sequel to It Ends With Us, It Starts With Us.
Makenna Beeson, a sophomore at Lowellville, also loves reading in her free time. In March of 2022 she read It Ends With Us. Makenna thought she hated romance books, but Colleen Hoover made her love to read romance. “I like how captivating the story is and I like the plot and all the character development.” She has read three Colleen Hoover books and plans to read more. Her favorite Colleen Hoover book is Ugly Love.
Hoover has created reading fans even for those who don’t like to read. Aryana Romano is a sophomore at Lowellville, and before reading It Ends With Us in September, she did not enjoy reading at all. However, she gave the book a chance after hearing about its popularity, and Aryana fell in love with Hoover’s books. “She made me want to read more.” Aryana likes Hoover’s books because she thinks they are interesting. She has read two of her books and plans to read more.
Not everyone is a reader, but the right book can make you fall in love with reading. Colleen Hoover is the perfect example of that. If you want to become more of a reader, love a good romance, and have not read one of Colleen’s books, I suggest that you give them a try!