Colleen Hoover, an American bestselling author, has written over 20 books which became widely popularized on TikTok, yet her books are commonly criticized for their content and marketing.
Much of Hoover’s fame can be attributed to the “BookTok” community on TikTok. Booktok is a group on TikTok filled with reading content creators who recommend typically young adult books to their followers, and has allowed various books to quickly gain popularity.
“It’s helped me connect with some of the books that I really like to read,” said sophomore Ella Vicknair. “I’ve found authors like Taylor Jenkins Reid and especially those books like [The] Seven Husbands [of Evelyn Hugo]. So many books that are my favorite books I have found through BookTok and I think that it’s a pretty awesome community and there are so many people that are willing to help and give recommendations.”
However, there is some push-back to BookTok’s influence. Junior Oliver DeMarea said, “I like anything that encourages reading but I’m sometimes concerned with the books specifically that BookTok is pushing and I think that people [should] read what they want to read but personally I wish that they would be uplifting other authors with different voices and maybe different messages.”
Furthermore, a very common criticism of Hoover’s books is that they glorify domestic violence.
Freshman Marlena Palos said that the abuse present in Hoover’s books has deterred her from reading them. DeMarea said, “I’m not a snob, but I would say that I don’t understand the point of reading something that glorifies domestic abuse and is frankly poorly written when instead there are plenty of good romance novels that portray that complexity of real life relationships.”
DeMarea added that “it’s OK to depict domestic abuse since that is a facet of reality, but, from my understanding, her books glorify and almost paint it as normal in a relationship, which I find to be problematic.”
It is important to note that Hoover grew up in a household in which her father was abusive to her mother before their divorce when she was a toddler.
Another major critique of her novels is the young age of the readers the books are marketed towards. Oftentimes, her books are read by preteens, who are typically not considered mature enough to understand or identify an issue with the relationships depicted in her novels.
“I definitely think her books should not be marketed towards younger kids whatsoever, but I do think that maturity — it differs based on the person,” Vicknair said.
Additionally, Vicknair said, “it’s gonna make [children] think that this is OK — like this is an OK thing to be around and I don’t love that.” Palos agrees with Vicknair that children being exposed to this “heavy topic” is a negative thing.
Though DeMarea agrees that this marketing can be dangerous, he also said Hoover might be onto something.
“Maybe looking at why have they caught on, why are they so popular among the youth because there might be something there that other authors are missing and they can take that aspect from her and maybe we could get novels that have the same attraction to the youth but do not have the problematic elements,” DeMarea said.
Due to the problematic nature of her books, some people have become opposed to reading them. Vicknair said, “I know she does have a fairly strong fanbase so I understand the appeal to some extent but it’s not something that I would personally read just because it doesn’t really align with the kind of stuff that I like to consume.”
DeMarea holds an even stronger standpoint: “I would rather people fill their head with nothing than fill their head with something problematic and frankly rather sexist and unhealthy.”
Hoover published her first novel — a novel originally intended to be a Christmas gift to her mother — at age 31 in 2012, and the book quickly became a bestseller, setting up her career as a young adult author. In 2022, Hoover sold 8.6 million print copies of her books, more than the bible in that year.
Since 2022, however, Hoover has not released any new novels. In these 3 years, Hoover’s largest success, “It Ends With Us,” was adapted into a film. Though this movie kept Hoover relevant despite her absence, opinions on the troublesome nature of her books reemerged, putting her under the heat once more.
After 4 years, Hoover has plans to release one titled “Woman Down” in early 2026.
“It’s a thriller, probably one of the darkest books I’ve written so far,” Hoover said in an interview with “Today.”
