Read-alikes
Books Like It Ends With Us
Emotional love stories with hard choices at their center, and content notes where they matter.
Updated September 2026 · By Sawyer V.
The short version
It Ends With Us readers want an emotional love story with a hard choice at its center. Reminders of Him is more Colleen Hoover, Me Before You and The Fault in Our Stars are the great tearjerkers, and Every Summer After and Love and Other Words are second-chance romances. Heat and hard topics are noted where they apply.
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How we picked
Each pick names which element it matches: the heartbreak, the second chance or the difficult subject. Because It Ends With Us is about domestic abuse, we note content where it matters. We have not read all eight.
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 September 11, 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 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 |  Reminders of HimColleen Hoover · 400 pagesMore Colleen Hoover | they want the same author | |
| 2 |  Me Before YouJojo Moyes · 492 pagesThe tearjerker | they want to cry | |
| 3 |  The Fault in Our StarsJohn Green · 317 pagesThe young-adult tearjerker | they want to cry and laugh in the same chapter | |
| 4 |  Every Summer AfterCarley Fortune · 320 pagesThe second chance | they love a first love returning | |
| 5 |  Love and Other WordsChristina Lauren · 304 pagesThe long history | they want the past and present told together | |
| 6 |  Happy PlaceEmily Henry · 400 pagesHeartbreak with humor | they want to laugh and ache at once | |
| 7 |  Say You'll Remember MeAbby Jimenez · 352 pagesThe newest | they want something recent and emotional | |
| 8 |  Things We Never Got OverLucy Score · 530 pagesThe small-town romance | they want warmth and a grumpy hero |
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Eight emotional love stories
1. More Colleen Hoover
Reminders of Him
Colleen Hoover
Give this ifthey want the same author
A young mother released from prison returns to the town where she lost everything, hoping to reunite with the daughter she has never met. Hoover's same mix of heartbreak and hope.
One caveat: Grief and addiction.
- Print length
- 400 pages
- First published
- 2022
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
2. The tearjerker
Me Before You
Jojo Moyes
Give this ifthey want to cry
A small-town young woman takes a job caring for a wealthy man paralyzed in an accident, and neither of them is ready for what follows. Funny, romantic and devastating.
One caveat: Centers on assisted death, and its handling of disability has been widely criticized.
- Print length
- 492 pages
- First published
- 2012
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
3. The young-adult tearjerker
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
Give this ifthey want to cry and laugh in the same chapter
Two teenagers who meet at a cancer support group fall in love, and set out to meet the reclusive author of their favorite novel. Funny, clever and heartbreaking, and just as good for adult readers.
One caveat: Terminal illness throughout.
- Print length
- 317 pages
- First published
- 2010
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
4. The second chance
Every Summer After
Carley Fortune
Give this ifthey love a first love returning
A woman returns to the lake town where she spent every teenage summer, and to the boy next door whose heart she broke. Nostalgic and emotional, told across the summers and the present.
One caveat: Open door.
- Print length
- 320 pages
- First published
- 2022
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
5. The long history
Love and Other Words
Christina Lauren
Give this ifthey want the past and present told together
A woman runs into her teenage first love a decade after a devastating split, and the story moves between then and now. Tender, with a reveal that explains the break.
- Print length
- 304 pages
- First published
- 2018
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
6. Heartbreak with humor
Happy Place
Emily Henry
Give this ifthey want to laugh and ache at once
A couple who secretly broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their friends' annual vacation. Funny on the surface and aching underneath.
- Print length
- 400 pages
- First published
- 2023
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
7. The newest
Say You'll Remember Me
Abby Jimenez
Give this ifthey want something recent and emotional
Abby Jimenez's 2025 romance, full of the family obligations and hard choices her readers come for. Warm and tearful in equal measure.
- Print length
- 352 pages
- First published
- 2025
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
8. The small-town romance
Things We Never Got Over
Lucy Score
Give this ifthey want warmth and a grumpy hero
A runaway bride stranded in a small Virginia town with her niece clashes with the town's grumpy barber. Funny, steamy and big-hearted.
One caveat: Open door.
- Print length
- 530 pages
- First published
- 2022
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
What readers loved
It Ends With Us is loved for its emotional intensity: a love story that turns into something else, and a woman who has to make an impossible choice. Readers usually want another book that makes them feel that much.
- The same author: Reminders of Him.
- The tears: Me Before You or The Fault in Our Stars.
- The second chance: Every Summer After or Love and Other Words.
If the subject is close to home
Domestic abuse is the book's real subject, and a reader may recognize their own situation in it. In the US, the National Domestic Violence Hotline offers free, confidential support by phone, text and chat.
For lighter reading, romantic comedies and romance for beginners have gentler picks. Emotional romance readers often read several books a month, which is exactly who the subscription panel on this page is for.
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
Treating the abusive relationship as romantic
It Ends With Us is about recognizing and leaving an abusive relationship, and Colleen Hoover has written about her own family's experience of it. Some marketing has presented it as a light romance, which it is not. Give it, and these, with that in mind.
Questions people ask
What should I read after It Ends With Us?
Reminders of Him for more Colleen Hoover, or Me Before You for another love story that will make you cry.
Is there a sequel to It Ends With Us?
Yes. It Starts With Us continues the story.
What books are like Colleen Hoover's?
Every Summer After and Love and Other Words have the same emotional pull, with a second-chance romance at their center.
Is It Ends With Us a romance?
It is shelved as romance, but it is about leaving an abusive relationship. Readers expecting a light love story should know that first.
Sources
- Open Library Search API — First publication year, median print length and cover art for every book on this page. Queried 8 September 2026.
- Kindle Unlimited signup page — The only authoritative source for current Kindle Unlimited pricing and catalog terms.
- Audible Premium Plus membership page — The only authoritative source for current Audible plans, prices and terms.
- The National Domestic Violence Hotline — Free, confidential support in the US by phone, text and chat.
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