Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover (born December 11, 1979) is an American author who primarily writes novels in the romance and young adult fiction genres. She is best known for her 2016 romance novel ''It Ends with Us.'' Many of her works were self-published before being picked up by a publishing house. Hoover sold about 20 million books as of October 2022.

Early and personal life

Hoover was born on December 11, 1979, in Sulphur Springs, Texas, to Vannoy Fite and Eddie Fennell. She grew up in Saltillo, Texas, and graduated from Saltillo High School in 1998. She married Heath Hoover in 2000, and they have three sons. Hoover graduated from Texas A&M-Commerce with a degree in social work. She worked various social work and teaching jobs until starting her career as an author.

Career

In November 2011, Hoover began writing her debut novel, ''Slammed'', with no intention of getting published. She was inspired by a lyric, "decide what to be and go be it", from an Avett Brothers song, "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise," and incorporated Avett Brothers lyrics throughout the story. Hoover self-published ''Slammed'' in January 2012. Hoover states that she published the novel so her mother, who had just gotten an Amazon Kindle, could read it. A sequel, ''Point of Retreat,'' was published in February 2012. After a few months, ''Slammed'' was reviewed and given 5 stars by book blogger Maryse Black, after which sales rapidly took off for Hoover's first two books. ''Slammed'' and ''Point of Retreat'' reached #8 and #18, respectively, on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list in August of that year. Atria Books picked up the novels and republished them on August 10, 2012. A third book in the series, ''This Girl'', was published in April 2013. After the success of ''Slammed'', Hoover quit her job in the social work field to become a full-time writer.

Hoover's novel ''Hopeless'' was self-published in December 2012. It follows a girl who was home-schooled all her life before going to public high school, reached #1 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list on January 20, and remained there for three weeks. It was the first self-published novel to ever top the list. A companion novel, ''Losing Hope'', was published that July.

''Finding Cinderella'' is a free novella that Hoover published in 2014. It features several of the same characters as in ''Hopeless'' and ''Losing Hope''. A paperback was released with several bonus features, such as a new epilogue and Hoover's own "Cinderella story". ''Maybe Someday'', published in March 2014, was the first novel of a small series about a boy and a girl who write music together and fall in love. Musician Griffin Peterson created a soundtrack to accompany the novel. Links in the e-book or a scannable QR code in the paperback led to a website where readers could listen to the music.

''Never Never'', a 2015 collaboration with Tarryn Fisher, was originally split into three parts and sold as three separate books, then later republished as one complete book.

Hoover's novel ''It Ends with Us'' was published in 2016. Hoover described it as "the hardest book I've ever written." The novel concerns domestic violence and, according to Hoover, was written to advocate for domestic violence victims. The story was inspired by Hoover's experience as a child growing up in a household with domestic violence which carried through her adult life. The book's main character, Lily, experiences domestic violence at a young age witnessing her father's abuse towards her mother on top of experiencing it firsthand, then ends up in a violent relationship as an adult.
In 2021, Hoover experienced a surge in popularity due to attention from the #BookTok community on TikTok. As a result, in January 2022 ''It Ends with Us'' was #1 on ''The New York Times'' best sellers list. As of 2019, the novel had sold over a million copies worldwide and been translated into over twenty languages.

A sequel to ''It Ends with Us'' titled ''It Starts with Us'' was published on October 18, 2022, and published by Atria Books. Simon & Schuster released the details of the extensive marketing campaign for the novel, which became the publisher’s most pre-ordered book of all time.

In October 2022, Simon & Schuster UK acquired two standalone novels by Hoover, to be published in 2024 and 2026.

As of October 2022, Hoover has sold more than 20 million books. Reflecting on Hoover's success in 2022 in particular, Alexandra Alter of ''The New York Times'' wrote, "To say she’s currently the best-selling novelist in the United States, to even compare her to other successful authors who have landed several books on the best seller lists, fails to capture the size and loyalty of her audience."

Awards and achievements

''New York Times'' Best Sellers

In 2022, Hoover held six of the top ten spots on the ''New York Times'' paperback fiction best seller list.

*''Slammed'' (#8)
*''Point of Retreat ''(#18)
*''This Girl'' (#9)
*''Hopeless'' (#1)
*''Losing Hope ''(#6)
*''Maybe Someday'' (#3)
*''Ugly Love'' (#4)
*''Confess'' (#4)
*''November 9'' (#9)
*''It Ends with Us'' (#1)
*''Verity'' (#2)

Works

Books

* ''Slammed'' (2012)
* ''Point of Retreat'' (2012)
* ''This Girl'' (2013)
* ''Hopeless'' (2013)
* ''Losing Hope'' (2013)
* ''Finding Cinderella'' (2014) novella
* ''Maybe Someday'' (2014)
* ''Maybe Not'' (2014) novella
* ''Ugly Love'' (2014)
* ''Never Never'' (2015) three part novella series with Tarryn Fisher
* ''Confess'' (2015)
* ''November 9'' (2015)
* ''Too Late'' (2016)
* ''It Ends with Us'' (2016)
* ''Without Merit'' (2017)
* ''All Your Perfects'' (2018)
* ''Verity'' (2018)
* ''Maybe Now'' (2018)
* ''Finding Perfect'' (2019) novella
* ''Regretting You'' (2019)
* ''Heart Bones'' (2020)
* ''Layla'' (2020)
* ''Reminders of Him'' (2022)
* ''It Starts with Us'' (2022)

Source:

Short stories

* "A Father's Kiss" from ''The Kiss (An Anthology of Love and Other Close Encounters)''
* "Saint" from ''One More Step (An Anthology)''
* "The Dress" from ''Two More Days (An Anthology)''

See also

* New adult fiction

References

External links

Colleen Hoover's Official Wattpad Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoover, Colleen
1979 births
Living people
American women novelists
American young adult novelists
People from Sulphur Springs, Texas
Novelists from Texas
Texas A&M University–Commerce alumni
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American women writers
Women writers of young adult literature
American romantic fiction novelists
Women romantic fiction writers