Reading order
Colleen Hoover Books in Order
Twenty-odd novels, four short series, and exactly one pair where the order is not optional.
Updated October 2026 · By Sawyer V.
The short version
One order is mandatory: It Ends with Us, then It Starts with Us. Everything else most readers mean by Colleen Hoover is a standalone. Start with It Ends with Us for the famous one, Verity for the thriller, or November 9 if you want the romance without the heavier subject matter.
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How we picked
Publication years come from the public catalog record for each book. For the shape of the catalog — how many novels, how many standalones, which titles form series — we used a published bibliography rather than counting ourselves, because the numbers move with every release and self-published early work is counted differently by different sources. The six below are the titles a new reader is actually choosing between, not a complete list, and we have not read all of them.
What we do on every list: read the publisher’s own description rather than a summary of it, check print length and first publication year against library catalog data (last refreshed October 17, 2026), confirm the book is still sold in the format we suggest, and write the match line before the blurb. What we do not do is claim to have read every book here cover to cover. The full method is published, and it is written so anyone can check it.
The one pair that has an order
It Ends with Us came out in 2016 and was written as a standalone. It Starts with Us followed six years later, after the first book found an enormous second audience, and it picks up directly where that one stops. Read in the other order it is simply a spoiler, because the sequel opens on the outcome of the first book's central decision.
That is the whole of the compulsory order. The rest of the catalog divides into four series and a larger number of standalones; published bibliographies put the series at Slammed, Hopeless, Maybe Someday and It Ends with Us. Only the last of those is the one most new readers mean, and the other three are early enough that they are usually discovered afterwards rather than first.
| Book | Order | Published |
|---|---|---|
| Ugly Love | Standalone | 2014 |
| November 9 | Standalone | 2015 |
| It Ends with Us | Read first | 2016 |
| Verity | Standalone | 2018 |
| Reminders of Him | Standalone | 2022 |
| It Starts with Us | Read second | 2022 |
Publication dates are the first edition year from the catalog record. Counts of her total output vary between sources depending on how the early self-published work is treated, so we give the shape of the catalog rather than a number presented as settled.
The short answer
Who each book is for, at a glance. Select a row for the full write-up.
| # | Book | Give this if | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  It Ends with UsColleen Hoover · 384 pagesStart here | they want the one everybody has read | |
| 2 |  It Starts with UsColleen Hoover · 352 pagesThe only required sequel | they have finished It Ends with Us and want the aftermath | |
| 3 |  VerityColleen Hoover · 343 pagesThe one for a thriller reader | they do not usually read romance | |
| 4 |  November 9Colleen Hoover · 320 pagesThe lightest of the six | they want the romance without the heavy subject | |
| 5 |  Ugly LoveColleen Hoover · 344 pagesThe early one people still name | they want her pre-fame writing at its best | |
| 6 |  Reminders of HimColleen Hoover · 400 pagesThe one for crying at | they want the emotional version rather than the twisty one |
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Six, the pair first
1. Start here
It Ends with Us
Colleen Hoover
Give this ifthey want the one everybody has read
A woman opens a flower shop in Boston, falls for a neurosurgeon, and finds her relationship repeating something she grew up watching. It is the book that made her the biggest-selling novelist of her moment, and the reason is that the central decision is a genuinely hard one.
One caveat: Domestic abuse is the subject rather than a plot point. It is handled seriously, and it is not a comfort read whatever the cover suggests.
- Print length
- 384 pages
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of October 17, 2026
2. The only required sequel
It Starts with Us
Colleen Hoover
Give this ifthey have finished It Ends with Us and want the aftermath
Picks up directly after the first book's decision, with Atlas back in the frame. It was written after the fact for the readers who wanted to know what happened next, and it reads like it — lighter, warmer, and much less demanding than the book it follows.
One caveat: Pointless on its own. Everything it does depends on knowing what came before.
- Print length
- 352 pages
- First published
- 2022
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of October 17, 2026
3. The one for a thriller reader
Verity
Colleen Hoover
Give this ifthey do not usually read romance
A struggling writer is hired to finish a bestselling author's series and finds an unpublished manuscript in the house that reads as a confession. The one book of hers that works on somebody who would never pick up a love story, and the ending is still being argued about.
One caveat: Graphic in places, and the harm to children in the manuscript sections is the reason some readers put it down.
- Print length
- 343 pages
- First published
- 2018
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of October 17, 2026
4. The lightest of the six
November 9
Colleen Hoover
Give this ifthey want the romance without the heavy subject
Two people meet the day before one of them moves across the country and agree to meet on the same date every year for five years. The structure does the work — five chapters, five years — and it is the easiest of her books to hand to somebody unsure about the author.
One caveat: The premise only holds if you accept the rule the characters set. Readers who poke at it lose the book.
- Print length
- 320 pages
- First published
- 2015
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of October 17, 2026
5. The early one people still name
Ugly Love
Colleen Hoover
Give this ifthey want her pre-fame writing at its best
A no-questions arrangement between two people who should know better, told in alternating present chapters and past ones that explain why one of them is like this. The dual-timeline structure is the thing she does best and this is where she worked it out.
One caveat: Grief and a death in the backstory, and the relationship is deliberately unhealthy for much of the book.
- Print length
- 344 pages
- First published
- 2014
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of October 17, 2026
6. The one for crying at
Reminders of Him
Colleen Hoover
Give this ifthey want the emotional version rather than the twisty one
A woman comes out of prison and tries to get access to the daughter she has never met, against a family that has every reason to refuse. The least plot-driven of the six and the one readers most often describe as the hardest to put down.
One caveat: Relentlessly sad in the first half. There is no comic relief anywhere in it.
- Print length
- 400 pages
- First published
- 2022
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of October 17, 2026
Which to start with, by reader
- They have heard of her and want the famous one. It Ends with Us — but know what the subject is before you give it as a present.
- They never read romance. Verity. It is a thriller that happens to have a relationship in it, and it converts people.
- They want something lighter. November 9. The least heavy of the well-known ones by a distance.
- They want to cry. Reminders of Him, and it is not close.
- They have read the famous ones. Ugly Love, which is where the dual-timeline structure she is known for was built.
When the shelf runs out
Readers who come to her through It Ends with Us usually want one of two different things next, and giving them the wrong one is why so many recommendations miss. Some want the emotional weight; some want the twist. Books like It Ends with Us splits them that way.
If it was Verity that landed, the shelf next door is the domestic thriller, and books like Gone Girl is where the modern form of it starts. If it was the romance, contemporary romance for beginners and rom-coms are the gentler neighbors.
Two ways to read this list for less
If several books here appeal, a subscription usually beats buying them one at a time — but only for the right kind of reader. Here is who each one actually suits.
Audible Premium Plus
For anyone whose hands are busy
Driving, walking, cooking, cleaning. It converts hours that were never available for reading, which is a bigger effect than any discount. Books bought with a credit stay yours after you cancel — titles from the included catalog do not, and confusing the two is the most common complaint about the service.
See Audible plans and current pricingHow Audible actually works — credits, gifting and what happens when you cancel.
Kindle Unlimited
For fast readers who browse
It pays off from about three ebooks a month, in the genres the catalog covers well — romance, romantasy, cozy mystery, thriller, progression fantasy. It does not pay off if you are waiting on a specific new hardcover, because those are usually not included. Everything is borrowed, not owned.
See Kindle Unlimited terms and pricingIs Kindle Unlimited worth it? — the arithmetic, done on your own reading.
#ad — how we are funded. We print no subscription prices anywhere on this site, because they change and a stale figure sends you to a checkout expecting something that is not there. And if you read in silence in a chair, neither of these is for you — buy the book, or borrow it from your library.
What we would skip
Starting with the early series
Her catalog includes four series, and three of them are early work that predates the books that made her famous. New readers who decide to be thorough and begin at the beginning meet a writer still learning the form, conclude she is not for them, and never reach the books they were actually looking for. Nothing in the famous titles requires the early ones. Start where the shelf is strongest, and go backwards afterwards if you want to see how she got there.
Questions people ask
Do Colleen Hoover's books need to be read in order?
Only one pair: It Ends with Us must be read before It Starts with Us. Everything else that most readers mean by Colleen Hoover is a standalone, and the three early series are self-contained.
Which Colleen Hoover book should I read first?
It Ends with Us if you want the famous one, Verity if you do not usually read romance, or November 9 if you want the romance without the heavier subject matter.
Is It Starts with Us worth reading on its own?
No. It opens on the outcome of the previous book's central decision, so reading it first spoils the one people actually recommend, and reading it alone removes most of what it is for.
How many books has Colleen Hoover written?
Published bibliographies put it in the low twenties of novels, split between four short series and a larger number of standalones. Counts vary between sources because the early self-published work is treated differently, so we give the shape rather than a figure stated as final.
Is Verity a romance?
It is a thriller with a relationship in it. That is why it is the one most often recommended to readers who say they dislike romance, and why it is also the one with the most graphic content.
Which Colleen Hoover book is the safest gift?
November 9. Her two best-known books deal with domestic abuse and with harm to children respectively, which makes them poor choices for somebody whose circumstances you do not know.
Sources
- Open Library Search API — First publication year, median print length and cover art for every book on this page. Queried 8 September 2026.
- Audible Premium Plus membership page — The only authoritative source for current Audible plans, prices and terms.
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