Colleen Hoover
Colleen Hoover is an American author of romance and new adult fiction who has become one of the most commercially successful and culturally influential novelists of the early twenty-first century. Known affectionately as “CoHo” by her devoted fanbase, she occupies a remarkable position in contemporary publishing: a self-published debut author turned global bestseller whose books were first popularized through grassroots social media enthusiasm before becoming household names.
Hoover was born and raised in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and worked in social work before self-publishing her debut novel, Slammed, in 2012. The book — a new adult romance with unusual emotional depth and a subplot involving slam poetry — was discovered by readers through word of mouth and attracted enough attention to land Hoover a traditional publishing deal. She has since published more than twenty novels, many of which have spent extended periods on the New York Times bestseller list.
The explosion of her readership in the early 2020s was driven primarily by BookTok — the book-focused corner of TikTok — where younger readers passionately championed her backlist. Books like Ugly Love (2014), Confess (2015), November 9 (2015), and It Ends with Us (2016) were rediscovered by a new generation of readers and shared across social platforms at extraordinary scale. It Ends with Us — a novel that addresses the complexities of domestic abuse with unusual emotional honesty within a romance framework — became particularly significant, generating intense conversation about the way fiction can illuminate difficult experiences while remaining narratively gripping.
Her 2022 novel Verity, a dark psychological thriller co-branded with Hoover’s romance following, demonstrated her range and appetite for genre experimentation. Its shocking plot and moral ambiguity attracted readers who might not typically pick up romance fiction and further expanded her already massive audience. By 2022, Hoover became the first author ever to have five books simultaneously on the New York Times bestseller list — a feat that reflected both the size of her readership and the breadth of her catalog.
Beyond her commercial success, Hoover has been a significant force in normalizing conversations about difficult subjects — including domestic violence, mental health, and grief — within a genre that is too often dismissed as escapist. Her work reflects a conviction that popular romance fiction can carry serious emotional and social weight without sacrificing the pleasure and hope that readers come to the genre to find. She has also founded the bookstore and community hub “The Bookworm Box” in Sulphur Springs, which donates proceeds to various charities — a reflection of a generosity toward readers and community that mirrors the warmth that pervades her fiction.