14 Books Like It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Looking for more books like It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover? Look no further than these 14 amazing reads!

You might be familiar with It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, even if you haven’t read it yet: it was hugely popular on Booktok, becoming one of the biggest literary successes of the platform.

The story follows Lily, a young woman on the cusp of starting her own business, and Ryle, a neurosurgeon she quickly falls in love with.

It’s a challenging novel. Far from a straightforward love story, It Ends With Us explores a toxic and abusive relationship, and the characters make some baffling decisions at times.

It’s a completely unputdownable read, the kind you won’t want to stop reading, even way past your bedtime.

If you’ve recently finished It Ends With Us and are longing for something similar, try one of these books next.

This is a collection of stories about realistic, complex characters, love, optimism, friendship, and self-discovery. These are heartbreaking, funny, and beautiful stories that fans of Hoover’s work will love.

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14 Books Like It Ends With Us

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Starting with a super popular entry, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was huge on Booktok a while back, and for good reason.

Upcoming journalist Monique is shocked when old-school Hollywood megastar Evelyn Hugo requests her, specifically, to do a rare interview.

What unfolds is the story of Evelyn’s star-studded, glamorous life: she has incredible highs and unbelievable lows, and she’s ready to tell Monique everything.

READ MORE: Books Like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Seven Husbands shares some similar themes to It Ends With Us.

It’s the story of a complicated romance, seven times over: it includes characters behaving unpredictably, even outright terribly, and explores what happens when women trapped in abusive, toxic situations finally hit their limit.

It’s heartbreaking and inspiring in equal measure.

Buy The Seven Husbands: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Another story packed with twists and turns, We Were Liars is an intense, short read, perfect for a poolside afternoon or two.

It follows the Sinclair family – outwardly perfect, beautiful, and incredibly rich – and their catalogue of dark secrets, slowly unfolding as the main character, Cadence, deals with the aftermath of a life-changing injury.

As Cadence starts to remember what really happened, the Sinclair’s veneer of perfection begins to unravel.

Fans of Hoover’s emotionally charged but effortlessly readable writing style will enjoy We Were Liars, although the latter is more experimental in its prose.

Both books share the theme of uncovering: of poking behind outward appearances in order to discover the truth, however ugly that truth might be.

Buy We Were Liars: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Another smash-hit bestseller, Where The Crawdads Sing is a beautiful, haunting story. Kya is an outcast; she lives in the marshes, alone, abandoned by her family and becoming almost as wild as the landscape around her.

Kya’s longing for interaction and love leads her to start interacting with the locals, with dramatic and emotional results.

READ MORE: Books Like Where the Crawdads Sing

Fans of It Ends With Us will notice familiar themes of toxic relationships and how the longing for connection can sometimes lead us to dark places.

It’s a heartwrenching story with some incredibly low points, and while the writing style is quite different from Hoover’s, both books are very readable, and both make ideal choices for book clubs.

Buy Where the Crawdads Sing: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

When We Were Infinite by Kelly Loy Gilbert

This is, at times, a difficult read. When We Were Infinite is the story of Beth and her close-knit friendship group in the aftermath of a terrible act of violence.

The characters are complex, flawed, and relatable; Beth, in particular, has to deal with complex feelings about her family, now shaken up by this unexpected event with her friends.

It’s a story about flawed human beings, but it’s also a story about friendship – how friends can be a source of conflict but also a real anchor when family or romantic relationships are painful.

Beth’s friendships are reminiscent of the friendship between Lily and Allysa in It Ends With Us, and both stories are compulsively readable. Both share plenty of heartache, but also some empowerment, too.

Buy When We Were Infinite: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Queenie is the story of a Jamaican British woman having something of an identity crisis. She compares herself harshly to her white colleagues, she’s going through a difficult relationship breakdown, and her family life is complicated, too.

Queenie has to go on a journey to find out exactly who she is, independent of everyone else’s opinions and thoughts on who she should be.

READ MORE: Best Modern Books of All Time

Fans of Hoover’s work will find these themes of identity and self-discovery familiar. Queenie goes on a deep voyage of self-discovery and comes out of it feeling empowered and more sure of herself than ever before: if you liked Lily’s ultimate growth in It Ends With Us, you’ll enjoy this story, too.

Buy Queenie: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

Macy Sorensen is familiar with heartbreak. Alternating timelines between her teenage years and her adult life, this is a love story between two people separated by time and unfortunate circumstances.

Macy and her friend, Elliot, are inseparable as teens, but nearly strangers as adults. When Elliot comes back into her life, Macy’s extremely ordered world begins to unravel.

This is a fiery, unstoppable love story, about the kind of love that engulfs everything else, and as a reader, you cannot help but get swept up in it, too.

Fans of Hoover’s work will find this familiar, and the sweet story between Elliot and Macy may feel reminiscent of Lily and Atlas’s love story, too.

Buy Love and Other Words: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

One Day by David Nicholls

A grand and beautiful story, One Day follows Emma and Dexter, starting from their graduation from university in the late ’80s.

Every year, on the 15th of July, the two reunite. The story provides a snapshot of two very different characters over the course of twenty years, and the end result is an unputdownable journey.

One Day is a love story with a twist, funny as well as tear-jerking, and fans of Hoover’s work will enjoy the emotional rollercoaster.

It’s devastating and wonderful all at once, and it’s the kind of story that stays with you long after you’ve finished it.

Buy One Day: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

A heartbreaking and wonderful love story for the ages, Me Before You is the story of Louisa, newly employed as a carer for the handsome and wealthy Will Traynor, a man suffering with quadriplegia after an accident.

Louisa tries to convince Will that life is worth living, and in the process, gains a deep and beautiful bond that neither of them expected. Me Before You was wildly successful at the time, and was later adapted into a movie starring Emilia Clarke.

Me Before You is a tearjerker. The highs are romantic and beautiful, and the lows are completely devastating.

READ MORE: Me Before You Book Review

Moyes’s writing is compulsively readable, her characters are complex and relatable, and the story will make you feel just about every emotion under the sun.

If you’re seeking the emotional impact of It Ends With Us, you’ll enjoy this, too.

Buy Me Before You: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is the queen of the moral dilemma, and Small Great Things is another excellent example. In this novel, Ruth, a labour and delivery nurse, is charged with a crime for hesitating before performing CPR on a newborn.

But she only hesitates because she was specifically told not to care for the child, whose parents are white supremacists. What follows is the unfolding court case, tackling racism, privilege, and the justice system.

Picoult’s characters tend to be morally complex, and she has the ability to create empathy for people stuck in incredibly challenging circumstances, and this novel is no different.

It’s an emotional rollercoaster, a true page-turner, and a great choice for fans of It Ends With Us. (Side note: other great choices by Picoult include The Storyteller, A Spark Of Light, and Nineteen Minutes.)

Buy Small Great Things: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

You can probably guess from the title what the end result will be here; knowing this in advance doesn’t make the resulting heartache any easier!

They Both Die at the End has an impending sense of doom woven throughout. Mateo and Rufus both receive the message that they will die before the end of the day, and their chance meeting changes everything for both of them.

This is a heartbreaking and wonderful story, and a proper tear-jerker: be prepared for the ending, even if you know it’s coming in advance!

Fans of Hoover’s work will enjoy both the love story and the journey of self-discovery that Mateo and Rufus go through together on their last day of life.

Buy They Both Die at the End: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

A sensual story with warmth and humour, Seven Days in June follows erotica writer Eva and literary author Shane, two people with very different personalities.

They meet at a literary event, triggering gossip among their peers: only the truth is, Shane and Eva had a week-long love affair twenty years before, and haven’t been able to forget about it since then. It ends badly, and two decades later, Eva wants to resolve their relationship at last.

Eva and Shane are complicated and nuanced characters, with several big problems in life (including Eva’s terrible and life-changing migraines).

Fans of Hoover’s characters will enjoy this book, and they’ll love the completely swoon-worthy romance along the way. Sizzling and funny, this is a great poolside read!

Buy Seven Days in June: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Fans of Kristin Hannah’s work will understand that she is able to capture both the beauty and the solitude of nature, and this is perfectly expressed in The Great Alone.

In this incredible novel, the Allbright family, searching for a new beginning, move to Alaska, a process that will change them forever.

The harsh wilderness has a terrible impact on the already-haunted patriarch of the family, Ernt, and things become more complicated when daughter Leni begins to fall for a local boy.

READ MORE: Book Club Questions for The Great Alone

This is a love story that thrives despite the most incredibly difficult circumstances, an incredibly moving and wonderful tale of loyalty, persistence, and grit.

Hannah’s characters are deep, and it’s the kind of book that you literally can’t put down once you start it. Fans of Hoover’s love stories are bound to love this, too.

Buy The Great Alone: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

An American Marriage is a modern love story, following young couple Celestial and Roy. Their lives implode when Roy is wrongly imprisoned, leaving Celestial alone to work out her life without him, but things become more complicated when Celestial seeks comfort from her childhood best friend, Andre.

It’s a subtle and interesting story, far from a straightforward romance. It’s a grown-up look at love in complicated circumstances, and fans of Hoover’s work will appreciate this complexity.

While the story is very different from It Ends With Us, it contains the passion and raw humanity that Hoover’s readers enjoy.

READ MORE: An American Marriage Book Club Questions

Buy An American Marriage: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Moriarty’s book, Big Little Lies, was hugely popular, eventually becoming a successful HBO show starring Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman.

It follows three mothers – Jane, Madeline, and Celeste – as they each deal with their own haunting and complicated histories.

The three women bond over their shared difficulties, and this bond becomes even deeper when they realise they have more in common than they originally thought.

This story is quite different in terms of structure than It Ends With Us, but they do share similar themes. The characters are richly layered, the relationships are far from straightforward, and it explores abuse in a way that is sensitive and nuanced.

Sometimes the characters make decisions that seem inexplicable to outsiders, but understandable for those who have walked a similar path. Like It Ends With Us, Big Little Lies is the kind of book you won’t want to put down once you get started.

Buy Big Little Lies: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells

Hopefully, this list will help you to find your next read following It Ends With Us!

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