the rise and fall of Colleen Hoover 💭🫖📖 

since a few people commented regarding what i said at the end of the video about remarks that CoHo’s husband made on her characters, just wanted to clarify: a writer does not necessarily need to have the same values and morals as the characters they write about, just in this case i meant that for Colleen it might be helpful to listen to her husband simply because her male leads tend to be walking red flags/abhorrent people, and that’s not always ideal, especially if u are trying to present them as love interests, people that we should root for. of course i do not think that every author that writes in, for example, a thriller/horror genre is crazy in the head and wants to go kill people in cold blood 😆😆 besides, what would reading even be without villains and morally grey characters ?😂 so this sentiment applies strictly to CoHo :) hope i was able to get my point across ❤

My biggest flex is I’ve never read a Colleen Hoover book

Young girls seriously deserve so much better than CoHo. I get that the whole point of her popularity is that her stuff is easy to read but like… they’re all *so* antifeminist. Young girls deserve light literature that isn’t full of girl hate, passive women with no personality who do nothing but cry, and violent manipulative men

I think it’s a good thing that the “hate” is so vocal … because her books shouldn’t be romance for young women. It should at best be categorised as dark romance or thrillers. The people who love CoHo’s books need to hear the criticism. I don’t want any of these young women who love these books to get trapped in a cycle of abuse because this is what they think love is ☹️

A SOCIAL WORKER self published a student-teacher romance? My formerly-of-family-services mother is rolling in her grave. Hoover considering E.L. James to be her mentor seriously makes so much sense. The resentment they have towards other women is seeping out of their pores, so I'm sure they have plenty in common. I feel like people calling it misogynistic to criticize their work because "women like it" maybe haven't familiarized themselves with the material. We're talking about some of the most misogynistic texts ever penned by women. I won't have this everything bagel slander, how dare.

The McDonald's comparison would only work if they advertised themselves as health food or vegan. CH claims to write romance but it's usually drama or even horror.

my heart breaks whenever i see 13 year olds standing in the romance section fangirling over colleen hoover books knowing they aren’t even aware what’s romanticized in the books shouldn’t be something to admire

"Led the younger generation into reading" is kind of the problem for me personally. These books are often read by 12 year olds when these books in actual fact they should be in the adult romance category. Porn is rated 18 so why are the same standards not being applied to her books. And similarly if these books were only read by adults the glorification of abuse wouldn't be an issue but because children in their formative years are reading it, it does become an issue. And that's on Colleen and her marketing team. The marketing for It Ends With Us is also and issue as its market as a romance and thus could trigger unsuspecting readers who mightve experienced similar events in their real life. So I'm sorry but to me she and her books have cause harm and thus I do feel that people have a right to criticize that. Thank you for the great video and I hope your channel grows fast.

My friend read November 9 in 2018 and was raving and ranting about how amazing it was. I asked her about it and she sat their excitedly explaining it to me. She continued to slow down the more she spoke though, processing the actual plot points, until she just stood there staring at me. She eventually finished explaining the plot to me, and we both voiced our discomfort with her stories to others, but a lot of people scolded us. I never thought people would turn on Hoover, but it's nice to know most people are thinking critically about the content they choose to absorb.

I only read some of her books because they were free on Kindle Unlimited. The barest minimum of a story and some of the worst characters masquerading as romance when in reality they are toxic as hell. Never again.

2 minutes in, I hear she was a social worker ? Meaning she probably used what she heard at work for her books ? Oh my god.

As someone who's been a booktube enjoyer since 2013 , the "hate" for colleen hoover has been there from the start. I'd even argue most people didn't like her in the early days so this idea that people are just now starting to dislike her because she's popular isn't necessarily true. once i found out what slammed was about when i was 14 i was put off from her books forever

I’ve always disliked her, I dislike how half of her romances are just toxic romances being passed as normal or men being creepy and it being “ok” in her books😭

I just have to remember. If she can get published so can I. If she can get published so can I. If she can get published so can I.

As a 16 year old girl, I've read It ends with us, Ugly love and Verity purely out of curiosity. And all I can say is I could barley differentiate the female main characters and the love interests were sooo boring. Her books heavily rely on trauma and smut because there's barley any depth to the characters apart from a traumatic backstory. It's definitely concerning that such a large percentage of teen girls think these books are the epitome of romance.

I had no idea she was a social worker. That makes her books even ickier

From my experience stories that are "suddenly" getting a lot of criticism to the point where people call it a trends... yeah they've always been criticized. Fans/stans would just harass critiques into being quiet. I know another author, Rachel Smythe, who wrote Lore Olympus, has also lately gotten more and more criticism regarding her work. I know that for a while people who criticized her work would get harassed to hell and back by her stans, so people stopped being as vocal about their critiques until the problems in the story got too big to ignore.

Colleen Hoover and her work is one of my big motivations for making the romantic relationship in my own novel as different from hers as possible. It's such a fallacy to believe that a love story is automatically boring or vanilla if it's not insanely toxic, because there's plenty of other more interesting ways to add drama, tension, and stakes. You can absolutely write two deeply flawed, damaged, dysfunctional individuals falling in love without making them abusive and codependent, or engaging in a horrifically imbalanced, unethical power dynamic.

Her books (and others like it) should be categorize as toxic love

16:08 - I HOPE there arent any 15 year olds reading a book about a woman staying with her abuser and thinking it's cute and romantic. For Colleen's sake, mainly because I don't know how i would be able to sleep at night knowing something i put out could result in a 15 year old staying in an abusive relationship

I like what Alice Oseman does when it comes to triggering content in her books, and I think other authors can learn from her. Alice puts a list of resources for places to get help if they're going through something similar to what the characters are going through and warns readers before the story begins. For example, in her book "Solitare" she has an author's note in the beginning explaining how the book depicts things like depression and suicidal ideation, and in the back she has a list of resources for people experiencing similar issues. Any book with triggering content that she writes has those helpful notes. I don't know if her earlier books had those notes because I've only read the more recent versions, but the latest versions of them do. Also unlike Colleen, Alice writes about these issues in an accurate, as well as non-glorifying and humanizing sort of way.

she was a SOCIAL WORKER?! girl looked into the abyss and became the monster staring back

I get so weirded out when people say "it's like fanfiction" because we clearly have different ideas of what fanfiction is like. people who say that are clearly thinking of fanfiction as "sold to one direction" type stories which is not the most popular kind of fanfiction or the most common? I've read a lot of fanfiction over the years: incredible masterpieces that I think and talk about a lot, a lot of great works, some... not so great works, but I wouldn't say that fanfiction is inherently easy or not about prose (that depends heavily on the source material I'd say) tho I agree that a lot of fanfiction is easy to read, some of the most impactful writing to me, not only story wise but also, if not moreso, in terms of sentence structure, formatting and punctuation has been fanfiction. I learned how much of an impression those things can leave, how they can be used to amplify emotions or tell you something about a character from fanfiction. I also absolutely disagree with your point of it being "not at all deep" because a lot of fanfiction is political, a lot of fanfiction is philosophical, it's often dealing with issues from the real world. tho who knows maybe you and I are just moving in very different fanfiction circles...

“Everything I’ve learned about this book has been against my will.” LOL! Great video!

I was sooo mad, because "it ends with us" was marketet to me as a romance, I was sooooo mad when Ryle (THAT NAME ffs!!!) started hitting her. I kept reading anyway, but threw the book across the room like 200 pages in, the bad writing and that plot I didn't expect paired with an insufferable main character were getting the better of me. Little did I know that I actually had November 9 already on my shelf. Read 20 pages and threw it in the bin. I never throw books in the bin (I usually donate book I end up not liking) but no one should be exposed to that bulls***.

I’m so happy the og Colleen Hoover hater Mr. Caleb Joseph is finally being validated, like his 16 year old self was really fighting for his life

The thing I really don’t like is the fact that people will read one of her books, clearly see that the characters are in an abusive relationship, and make it out to be like it was only a really sad break up between two characters. That was my experience when I was recommended It Ends With Us. It’s obviously so much more, and I appreciate her for bringing abusive relationships to light, but I really wish people would *say* that’s what her book was about. Not a sad break up. But the one small thing (well, it’s a big thing to me) that makes me despise her books is a single line from Ugly Love. “We laughed at our son’s big balls.” Now, I don’t know about you all, but I wouldn’t ever look at my baby boy and have that be one of the first things I say about him, let alone even think it. I genuinely want to know what made her think that was okay to write. He may have been a fictional baby, but he’s still a child no matter what. Even if it’s just there for laughter, no. If you don’t say that, you shouldn’t write it! It shouldn’t even be joked about.

"you see, colleen, a lot of people will actually disagree" hahahaha i love it🤣🤣

Why would anyone put her books in a prison library? Those people already are convicted for crimes, you don't have to teach them to be abusers and creeps on top of that.

I think the main issue in her books besides her writing is the fact that she markets them as Romance. If they weren’t it would be a different story

I read Ugly Love because I thought it couldn’t possibly be as bad as people were saying… it was even worse 😳

The fact that ZLibrary got taken down because of her… It’s on sight if I ever see her irl

I did a school project on the portrayal of DV in IEWU. My conclusion was: PROS: - it raises awareness, even better when it got such a wide and diverse audience - it shows how it's truly not easy as the victim to escape and helps other people understand women who stay a bit better - it shows it's not always a black/white topic as Ryle is somewhat not just an evil narcissist that drinks too much (i feel like in a lot of stories the abusers are so stereotypical, and while Ryle is still a badly fleshed out character and kind of a stereotype, it's a different stereotype than most abusers in media) - Lily doesn't end up with Ryle CONS: - while Coho tries to tell us Ryles trauma is NOT and NEVER an excuse for that sort of behavior, it fucking felt like one to me, personally - it is extremely fucking dangerous for a pregnant woman WEEKS AND DAYS before giving birth to stay ALONE WITH HER ABUSER IN AN APARTMENT? WHAT THE HECK? I feel like a "redemption arc" should have been WAAAAYYYY different, like for real. (Context: pregnant women are far more likely to suffer domestic violence, anyway, than when they're mot pregnant) - Do. Not. Give. A. Man. With. Violent. Outbursts. A. Fucking. Infant. I feel like it's fine for Lily to stay on a somewhat positive level with Ryle and for the kid to get to spend time with the bio dad, but not like this. There NEEDS to be a supervisor with them ALL THE TIME, because a child that will potentially spill and break things or doesn't stop crying in presence of a man who can't control his anger? NOPE NO THANK YOU - Ryles toxic traits aside from his obvious outburst he apparently "can't control" are never acknowledged, red flags are completely ignored or even romanticised - said outbursts he apparently has no control over (and that feel like a switch being turned) kind of destroy the message of the book for me and the idea of his character being "grey", since that implies he technically is a good person and boyfriend, if you know what I mean CONCLUSION: Not only does the book suck ass from a literary stand point, while technically rainsing awareness, it also sends a VERY dangerous idea of redemption and motifs behind abuse. Thank you for reading ahaha, really enjoyed the video!

I’d NEVER compare her to fanfic. I’ve read some poetic ass fanfic that’s made me SOB

Her books are disgusting and I wish she just wrote fan fic instead. Like so many great fan fic writers who have become published authors and then we have this lady who romanticizes abusive relationships and has a hard-core teen audience and even people around my age group(30’s), loving her stuff and and anytime we pass her books I just rage

I've never heard about z library but now I'm just thinking about how overpriced textbooks are and I'm once again fuming over it lmao

There has got to be better "junk food" romance books out there. Ones without trauma porn and don't make you feel so gross after. make alternative book list for ppl. "it gets people reading again" isn't a good argument. If someone only ate carrots you wouldn't say, "at least she's dieting." BTW, is it just me, or do most of her characters seem like awful people?

Not a great year to be named Colleen it seems… Lmao on a serious note though, I think that the fact that she started writing as a hobby makes a lot of sense when you look at the content of her novels. It’s slightly concerning that this is the literary standard for romance, and I find it ironic that her experience in social work and her lack of a literature degree explain the very shallow perception of trauma and novice writing style. Her books may be digestible for newbie readers, but the lack of substance in her writing exemplifies the priority of the publishing industry that has little to no care for quality and authenticity, similar to many things in society today.

Colleen Hoovers books are basically like fast food burgers (ex big mac): you know what to expect, you can interchange them without really noticing it and in the end you will get a stomach bug if you consume them too much.

I find it hard to give CoHo credit for fixing problems only after massive backlash from fans - like, yeah it's good that she stopped the publication of the Domestic Abuse Colouring Book but that's such a glaringly obvious Bad Idea that even though she called it off, in my mind she's still the dumbass who thought it's gonna be a hit and had to be told by the masses that no actually

I'm Gen Z and I had a wattpad phase around the same time that I read 3 of her books in 2015/2016 (I was 13/14) - I read all of the 3 books relating to Hopeless. Hopeless traumatized me (I started to distrust my father and other men even though my dad had never done anyhing to warrant this. That was my first time reading about a girl's experiance with being SA'd by her father, in some detail(I don't remember how much detail there was)). Moving forward, I decided to give Ugly Love (some said it was their favorite CoHo book) a chance in 2022 because of all the hype around her, and let me tell you, I don't remember the last time I've read a more dry and cookie cutter romance with a door-mat heroine, and the line about their son's big b@lls was like a cherry on top of my pile of frustration, anger, dissapointment and growing hate. I realized I have truly grown up and left my juvenile tastes back in my teen years I can't comprehend how an adult could be reading a lot of romance and think her books stand out/are better than others. I feel as if she deals with a lot of toxic relationships which might be someone's cup of tea, but shouldn't be read and idealized by teenage girls. Because I realize, just as I was getting into reading with the cookie cutter plot romance books when I was a teen, so are many young girls these days, but I'll partly disagree with the point of them not having read fanfics. I never read fanfics even though I read Watpadd, but I did find the cookie cutter romance to be a bit better written than wattpad though similarly digestable, so I just feel like a lot of them are going through something similar I went through when I was a young teenage girl - the first introduction into the romance genre. I just wish it was some other romance books with far less toxic relationships to look up to, or better yet - YA, there's so many good YA much more suitable for their age.

as someone who’s never read any hoover books i enjoy whole this trahsing these type of books trend tbh. the videos are quite fun and educating at the same time. and i think its esp important for younger audience cuz even i did discover sm new writers (esp ppl of color&queer) who actually writes good stuff without glorifying abuse or anything. i don’t think those videos are JUST abt her books they talk abt toxic masculinity, glorifying abuse, whole this anti abortion-like conservative vibe etc. i mean i wouldn’t care if her fanbase was like middle-aged white moms or smt but theres a lot of young girls so im glad this became a trend!! loved ur eye makeup btw 💗

If I see a young family member reading her books, I will take time to sit down with them and explain some of the harmful tropes the books present. I frame the book as more horror than romance so it allows them to process it as a bad relationship and not romance to aim for. These books really shouldn't be sold to under 16's at the very least, they don't have enough experience to understand.

YT recommendations really did a good job when your channel popped up for me! :)) This video really summed up my personal feelings about CoHoe (lol) books. I’ve only read Verity so far since it was marketed as more of a thriller than her usual works, but I’m not planning on consuming any other books of hers for the exact reasons you mentioned in this video. Ppl need to start thinking more deeply about the books they read before they automatically recommend them to thousands of others on the internet. ://

I just remember that I read just a few chapters of one book as a teenager and then never touched any of her books again

Saying CoHo books are like fanfiction does fanfiction such a huge disservice. Some of the best stories I've ever read were fanfiction.

I feel like the CoHo hate train is gonna be seen as the 20s Twilight hate in a few years, which is absolute bullshit. Did some people genuinelt hate Twilight because young girls consumed it? Yes. Did most people hate it because of it's poor writing, terrible plot & characters, & the problematic shit it encouraged young girls to do 'in the name of love'? Also yes! CoHo really is no different. She ain't a 'girl boss', she's a 40 something year old woman romantacising abusive & toxic relationships & selling them to young girls

My only disagreement is diversity. As a black woman I don’t need an author writing characters they don’t know anything about. I don’t mind ready a book or looking at a show especially period books because I know what the sorry was there. Most of the time yt authors write us it’s not accurate anyway. It’s up to us to wrote our stories. Especially in certain small towns and seaside town I just don’t expect it.

if she was a social worker before and these books are what she considers desirable romances? i wonder how many girls or women needed her help as a social worker and she just saw nothing wrong with their situation and prolly ended up admiring it

CoHo should really mark her books as "horror" rather than "dark romance trauma smut" LMAO

What I don't get is who let CoHo get popular again? Her books were infamous quite a few years ago and they're criticized a lot for the abusive relationships she wrote in them. Why is she in the circulation again???

people do love the simple writing and quick reading, and i honestly believe that is why they are so incredibly popular, and the controversy only made it more popular, similar to the big break of fifty shades. if someone new with the same simple writing but a genuinely good story came out with some twisty romances or dramas _with_ romance in it, we might be able to edge people off of coho and onto someone who won’t turn young people’s romantic expectations to mush. i think the discourse on her novels is healthy and intriguing though, as an english student. what can this teach us about women-centered novels, romance novels, writing about abuse & SA, etc. but i want to make the point: i just read my fav childhood book again for the first time in 15 years, a middle grade thriller novel, and it had easy writing but a much deeper and more compelling story and character exploration than any of coho’s books or characters lol… just sayinggg

As a writer, the thing that most bothers me about CoHo isn't the content she produces, but how she produces it. A lot of what Colleen describes in the first part of the vid suggests her writing stems from maladaptive daydreaming (often referred to as the "flow-state" by writers). Experiencing a maladaptive daydream feels like being pulled out of your body and placed inside a movie you can pause, rewind, and fast forward at will. Most people experience maladaptive daydreams right before bed or when stressing about an event or social interaction (this can be "catastrophising", reheasing/ mapping out potential conversations, and ruminating on or replaying situations over and over in one's head). The people who've been pulled to write from early childhood almkst always use maladaptive daydreaming as a form of self soothing. Like, for me and a lot of other writers, writing is literally recording 1 to 1 a movie scene as it plays out inside my head. Its something I wantonly jump into and is guided solely by my interests. Like, the maladaptive daydreams I fall into (and write down) are about adult women smooching adult man-creatures, people with disabilities existing, 1800s Europe, and neat survival situations. Literally, all my books have spiralled from random, "what if" fantasies triggered by anything and everything. -What if a person gets trapped inside a magical object and forgets who they were? (inspired by a comic book cover flashed on screen during an hours long youtube video) -What if the sudden presence of a noble's bastard daughter wakes a mind-reading vampire contractually due her blood, but the vamp doesnt want it? (was thinking about how Dracula was inspired) -What if a sleep paralysis demon fell in love with its host? (inspired by either a horror movie advertisement or video essay about a horror movie) Like, I grew up reading teacher-student "romance" and liking it, but as an adult, with an adult's perspective, I don't think I'd ever daydream about it outside maybe a horror scene and even then it'd be super uncomfortable. Like on top of that, the amount of time she spent choreographing abuse (in stories based off real people and events) in her head, makes me uncomfortable. I feel the same way about Galbadon and the Outlander series. Like, if that's the story playing in your head, what are you getting out of it?

now, how do you feel about Colleen? 😅

As a US citizen, I've always disliked Colleen Hoover and the way she spews conservative rhetoric under the guise of "romance." Mean or not, I dislike her on a human level. She's not a girl's girl, she's not your BFF. She would probably happily vote womens rights away all in the name of pick me. That's just my own opinion, but her books say it all and it grosses me out that she's so popular. She's made a killing off of the backs of mainly women, but I genuinely think she doesn't like other women.

I can‘t stop imagine prisoners reading her books 🥹

I have a friend whose been hating on colleen since 2015! She read Ugly love and my god did I hear her complain about it, until I read it, and yeah! what a mess! she gave november 9 a chance but the hate just grew.

Also give Caleb Joseph a watch, he was my first introduction to Colleen Hoover and he was trashing her 5 years ago, when he was still a teen himself! :D

For a woman romaticising abusive men all that hate is well deserved and she even made it a trend for other writers to follow

just because you loved her books last year does not mean you can’t not love her books this year. it just means you’ve read more of her books.

On the topic of Colleen, I feel like the deflections of criticism are also a big issue. Half of the defenses are either; 1. Its dark romances, 2. Its a reflection of reality, and 3. Misogyny and nothing more. For the first part it just feels like a lie. None of her books are actually listed as dark romance, this is supposed to be entertaining and titilating to the reader for non-toxic reasons and clearly that's one of the main underlying issues. For the second I think its pretty stupid, because it seems really odd to demonize this behavior in reality, but when it touches a book this is just fine. Not to mention that every guy and girl acts the same. In IEWU the man is outwardly abusive and evil, but in every other book where the guy is similar to him its absolutely fine. I will never understand the disconnect between the two when they're so close. For the third, it absolutely feels like anti-intellectual deflection. While I won't doubt misogyny a factor, there are many valid criticisms that need to be pointed out and just shouting "SEXIST!!" helps no one. As a matter of fact, with my view of the community in general the opinions of men are often disregarded if they are out of the norm that women often agree with, so it really becomes less valid with this in mind unless you want to claim some detractors have internalized misogyny as women.

I don’t wanna act superior but I’ve never read a Colleen Hoover book and I found even the general concepts of her books problematic from the beginning so I feel like I can flex a little. Edit: I also watch a lot of reviews for her books so I always understood more than just the basic premise. I can’t name one thing I found charming about ANY of the books I’ve seen reviewed which I think is telling lol.

I thought u had like 100k follows at least or something I hope u get more recognition!!!

i never understood the rise and fall of colleen, id see her books everywhere but i was just never interested in them, i appreciate this video as it gives me more context on the situation! thank you so much for posting this :)

I count my lucky stars that at least in central Europe where I live, I can count the amount of times I've seen a Colleen Hoover book on one hand. Small mercies.

I really like your analysis of CH and her fans, not bashing them but raising concerns and fair understanding of the themes found in her works. Thank you Raya! Many of my students (college) have raved about her books and especially telling me that it get them back into reading during 2020. CH books its more of 'New Adult' Romance genre.

I understand that people aren't all the same, and that people are not going to think the exact same as I do, but I genuinely get so sad when someone's response to growing up in an abusive and sexist environment is to end up normalising abuse and perpetuating the same sexist standards that were forced upon them. I know there will always be a market for ~toxic romance~ but it genuinely makes me depressed how it's 2024 and we're still telling teenage girls and women it's okay to stay with your fella if he does awful things to you bc nobody's perfect and he's your sweet little pookie poo who only occasionally throws your phone at the wall 🥰. It just makes me feel sick. I don't like reading shit like that because it reminds me of the constant sexual harassment and intimidation that I went through as the sort of "hazing ritual" that every woman, unfortunately, seems to have to go through to get to adulthood, a lot of it at middle school, and now my cousin's daughter (who was born when I attended this shitty middle school) is now attending said shitty middle school herself and, well, she doesn't seem to be getting the same treatment I did but she does have a baby incel constantly following her around and condescendingly telling her off while wagging his finger at her, which the school does nothing about because ofc it doesn't (boys mother has been brought in and she doesn't want to know, basically) I've read stories from trashy "woman's own" type magazines that were published in the 1960s, and they were literally exactly the same as this sort of crap. Makes you depressed when things just seem to repeat over and over again

I’m sorry but no, writing “to entertain” does not vindicate Hoover the way she thinks it does. If she only writes to entertain, why are complex and heavy topics such a selling point and sharp focus of every single one of her books? Why does she think abusive relationships are entertaining? As for her husband thinking her characters’ morals are her morals, I can’t blame him. If one character thinks one thing, that’s a character trait. If every single character in her books thinks and acts the same, that is the view of the author and you cannot change my mind. I think it’s also a side effect of the objective lack of work she puts into character building. She doesn’t build characters, in my opinion. She creates Sims 4 cutouts to slap trauma porn onto without thought of the implications and ramifications of that trauma. There are no material differences between her characters in any of her books, just superficial differences. So, what else are we supposed to assume in terms of her own morality when all her characters think and act the exact same? It’s especially bad because every single one of her characters seems to hate other women, think infidelity is okay and think abusive men are sexy and romantic? I don’t consider IEWU an exception because Ryle doesn’t face any real consequences in the end, she makes excuses for his abuse (blackouts, really? 🙄) and the abuse itself is used as a shocking twist and a plot device to get Lily and Atlas back together. Plus, Atlas basically groomed Lily in my opinion, which apparently isn’t abusive (no surprise there, considering Slammed). I also think she wouldn’t get nearly as much flack if she wasn’t this level of successful. Her work is lazy, harmful and immature, but nobody would care as much if she didn’t outsell the Bible in 2022. She’s hugely successful despite, or maybe even because of, a lack of real effort and care put into her work. It’s beyond frustrating, especially concerning the youth of her readership and the dynamics of her character cutouts.

My best friend read Hope Forever (not sure if this is the english title or the german one lol) and told me I had to read it because it's so good. So I got it and started to read it and didn't even read 50% of the book and I just knew what would happen, so I sat my friend down told her she had to be honest to me and I told her what I was thinking what would happen in the book and I was right. We were around 18 back then I think. I'm not exactly sure. We're now 32. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you need a book that won't hit you with those big surprises and you enjoy a book exactly knowing what will happen, but the fact that the readers claimed they didn't see the plot twists coming and they were so good...put me off. Maybe because I was a fanfic reader back then, I knew it all coming was the reason I didn't have fun - but also a big part of it were the characters. I didn't like them. So the not surprising plot twists didn't hit me right in the feels, like the same story would, if it was a good written fanfiction lol Since then, I never touched a CH book again and I will never read one. The dnf'd one was enough for 3 life times.

Colleen Hoover, like her mentor Ms. Leonard, is a "fanfiction primer" of a writer. Someone to be read by people who want to get into reading better fan fiction written by dyslexic 13 year olds writing in their third language but aren't ready for that level of complexity in literature. As someone who used Z-Library to download out of print or hard to find gardening and political textbooks with hopes of using it to improve local organising (such as community kitchens/gardens/free food and education programs) - I find her bring down Z-Library to be particularly sickening as well as a greater net negative for humanity than merely her mislabelled trash commonly miscategorized as "books". I take vindictive joy in watching any video essay recapping her work, her ethics as a boy mom/grandparent/DA apologist, with the derision and sneering contempt that is a tenth of what it deserves. Thirdly as a survivor of domestic abuse and an attempt on my life by a former intimate partner while I am pleased such a dangerously lax woman is no longer in such an important role as social work I do think it'd actually be for the public good were she bound over by the court to keep the peace and having all her access to internet or writing implements taken away except under strict supervision of multiple therapists.

When too many people hype up a book in the same way It Ends With Us was, I err on the side of caution. In my experience, it will always be a let down.

I had to witness my mother’s marriage with my father decay because he was a covert narcissist who finally showed his true colours. Why someone would romanticise and desire to be in a relationship with someone who has narcissistic and abusive tendencies that tear apart families, leave people permanently traumatised, and never able to have proper closure will never cease to befuddle me.

Your video is so well made! I loved it and I hope that my subscription is one of the first of many many more to come ❤

Teenagers: love Twilight books which features toxic relationships Then in 20s:love 50 Shades books which features toxic relationships Now in their 30s: love Colleen Hoover books which features toxic relationships Who is going to write the next group of toxic relationship books as millennials get into their 40s? Seems like a great money maker

I think there were some booktubers who did criticise her books way before her tiktok fame. Then, they moved on. But Tiktok blew her up and she was suddenly upheld as the pinnacle of writing by booktok exaggerated praises and reactions, and you can't escape her, even as a non-regular reader. Which definitely lead to book reviewers from other platforms being critical of her books more and more. Then, the overall hates and criticisms cycle back to tiktok. I really think Tiktok is both a blessing and a curse for her. I've never really gotten into her books, but I do agree about every points you said of her books being easy, accessible and everything bagel as well as a substitute for for fanfictions. My teenaged years (who am I kidding, I'm still an avid fanfiction reader) were spent reading fanfictions and somehow her books remain me of those "So bad you can't stop reading" fanfictions. So, I've never felt the desire to spend money on those books. Like why should I when I have free access to so many of the same thing created by fans online. And well, I wasn't a wattpad kid; more of an Ao3 kid so I guess it's a given that I will be a bit picky even if her writing is 'fanfiction-esque'.

important for the scandal regarding coho's son - apparently she responded to the scandal on her facebook (perhaps a private facebook? i don't exactly recall) where she didn't deny or confirm anything her son did, but DID deny ever seeing the victim's messages about it... which was proven to be a blatant lie because there are screenshots of the messages marked as read (also the claim that coho blocked the victim, which, why would she do that if she hadn't even seen the messages?) given that she deliberately lied about the situation makes me doubt her son's innocence 😬 and no, she isn't responsible for her son's actions, but she is responsible for her response to her son's actions... and her response wasn't great. also unrelated but im 80% positive that she's prolife.

Your commentary is both inciteful and really funny. I'm writing a newsletter (shared with other fellow authors as a group) about the reading and writing community and its apparent obsession with "abuse-based material". May I cite this video as a research source? It was very helpful to understand the whole Hoover drama which makes up one of the sections.

I think the other thing that people don't really take into account is that the rise of TikTok has given a lot of people a platform to talk about books where they didn't have one previously - I read CoHo's first few books back when they first came out, but I wasn't a book blogger or a booktuber, and no one in my IRL social circle had read them, so I didn't have anyone to talk to about them, and didn't see anyone else talking about them either

My theory on this is that it's never actually about the books. Whether they're actually good or not is irrelevant. What matters most is the trend. It's this house of cards that's always going to fall down eventually. Chasing the trend is what social media actually does, and does well. Someone you follow and respect says they like something, then you HAVE to like it too. It spreads like freaking wildfire, and soon everyone has to like it to be in on the trend. Then, once reality sets in and people start actually reading the thing they've told everyone they like, they realize they don't actually like it. Then they have to tear it down and destroy it, because they can't just admit, 'Hey, I was chasing the trend and said I liked something I didn't actually like or even read.' And how they tear someone down in order to not have to ever admit it this is they find something in that person's past, or even making something up, to use as ammunition to hide behind. Social media was constructed to be able to do this. It will never end. That's why chasing the trend is always the wrong move. Every time.

i honestly don't hate her, she is not that professional writer i think she has that simple and fast paced writing not with some high style of writing, so yeah i don't like her soo much nether do i don't like, cuz verity was a really different book written by her and i am truly amazed by it!!

"I had the pleasure-....No, I didn't." my favorite part! 😂 I never read her books cause I don't really go into strictly "romance" plots, I prefer the romance to be side/subplot, and then I saw some reviews about them online and I KNEW I wasn't gonna touch them ever. I did end up watching tone or two of those videos you showed that analysed the plot and stuff out of sheer curiosity at the fact that more people are getting vocal about their dislike for her writing.

I'm not on booktok and I don't usually read romance novels. I watched a few hate-reads but at some point everyone and their mother was doing it and while the books may be bad, they're not entertainingly bad enough to engage with them this much imo. but I was happy to watch your video adressing all of this! (also...I've definitely read a hundred fanfics with better prose than her books)

Her books are so problematic, Jesus, I read Ugly love and it's awful.

It's so odd that in one book the abuse and toxicity is actually represented as bad but the other male leads are... pretty similar AND they're supposed to be good, hot people who the readers root for? Ugh. Also, the take that she writers to entertain, not educate would be okay but she often writers about incredibly heavy themes and does not handle them well. I think it is irresponsible to add all that stuff and be like "teehee it's for entertainment!" I really enjoyed your video!

for anyone who might be interested, zlibrary came back!!

omg you deserve more subscribers. this video is so well put together!

your video is cute!! I hope you get more recognition

Um no. The hot guys in her books are the abusive boyfriends.

I don't hate Colleen. In my opinion, it's fine if she just goes on writing her mediocre tropey romance novels, and if she even publishes a few, thats great for her. The problem I have is when people idolize her books and uphold them as an outstanding example of feminist virtues when it is in reality nothing like that.

your explanation on why people like her books clarified a lot for me; a nice reminder that we should just let people enjoy their trash most of the time lmao especially if it’s in service of getting them to read more. reading shallow stuff is 1000x better than reading nothing

you lost me in the "lack of representation". I was going to sign up but if you think this is a valid criticism, leave it alone.

i've never heard of Colleen Hoover, but i still found this fascinating and appreciate you thoroughly explaining the positives and negatives. i will be avoiding these trash books, but it does remind me of the fan fics/trash i read as a teenager. maybe teens shouldn't be reading this type of material, but they will, and i hope it does encourage them to find many diverse, talented authors! i personally recommend David Sedaris. :)

I watch hauls so I know what is coming out. Typically it is only ARC hauls though. If I see something that captures my interest I will immediately add it to my Libby holds. I have an appreciation for the creators that show a lot of books because of how much I read. I finish a book roughly every two days, and without the recommendations I scroll through KU for awhile! I watch booktok because I am the only reader in my community and it helps me not feel alone. I guess I have never felt pressured to buy something. While I’d love to, I don’t want to spend money on something I will only read once and it’ll collect dust.

Back when i was in high school and it was the last couple of days. I remember i was in first period and i saw my English teacher empty out her bag and she took out three colleen hoover books i was shocked to see her read them.

Funny, I somehow had a vague memory of Maybe Someday on my library website when it was released back in highschool. I have no clue why this memory was so significant that I have it, but when I read the synopsis of it, I was like wtf is this? I checked out her other books, which did not inspire interest. From that, I had a feeling it was toxic, and a 50 Shades copy and Pastes? I forgot she existed. Booktok blew her up, and I have this one core memory of her books. LOL, random thoughts. Great Video.

Like...I get it, fantasy sometimes doesn't cross into reality. I hear lots of women talk about how they love men in fiction that are aggressively protective or "stake a claim" on them, but in reality they're afraid. Because there's no threat with a fake man, but in reality there's misogyny and actual harm that can destroy a person. But I really dont get it. Maybe it's because I haven't been in a relationship before or all that interested in one, or maybe autism (not at ALL saying autistic people can't ""love"", I'm saying for me specifically since I can't relate/gen), but I never was able to understand how tolerating abusive behavior from a fictional man is better than a real man. Hell, abuse from any person regardless of anything-yes fantasy and fiction can exist in its own world independent from ours, but our imagination and inspiration stems from our world. From reality, and our reality influences the kind of media we create and indulge in. To act as if media is always and explicitly separated from reality is such a baffling argument to me, because if that really was the case, then how come a book or movie or illustration can send someone to tears or burning rage? And that's the simplest argument against that. All in all, I really hate the people who try to invalidate or ignore valid criticism, and base reality on their unique perception of the world; sure, what you read and watch may not influence you that much, but it definitely will to a more imaginative person. They don't have to be younger, or neurodivergent, or depressed seeking an escape, anybody and everybody is capable of having their own fantasy world. Media isn't real, even when inspired or directly taken from real events, but the impact it can have on both creators and enjoyers is undeniable. Media is also far more powerful than anyone seems to realize, else wise, why would media be such an effective way to spread propaganda? Share a message for better or worse, or promote something? What we create has power-it is much harder to erase the impact of what we created than to make more.

Maybe a good series to read for your channel (if you haven’t already) is the „the inheritance games“ series. It honestly is one of my favourite book series (especially the 2nd and 4th book) it’s really worth the read!

I am in a remote town in Europe and feel cheated out of my BookTok table in my local (not so indie) bookstore

Not a fan of her stories at all but I think the people blaming her for romanticizing abuse and bad relationships are kinda ridiculous. It’s not her fault if people aren’t smart enough to know how to separate reality from fiction. I’ve been reading R-rated horror novels since I was in elementary school and it never made me want to hurt others, go on a killing spree or be a toxic abuser. That’s because I was taught from an early age how to separate reality from fiction. You can portray terrible things in stories without advocating for them in real life. You can read terrible things in books without pursuing them in real life. People need to start taking more accountability for their own actions and poor decisions instead of looking for easy scapegoats to blame them on.

My 13 year old sister is obsessed with her books... I get really worried about her getting her early romance references from these abusive relationships