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Why does nobody like Colleen hoover or her books?
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Aleeza
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Jun 27, 2023 05:47PM
Genuine curiosity as to why y'all don't like her books. :)
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I haven't read her stuff, but she's had some questionable things happen in her personal life that came to light in regards to one of her kids so that's why I don't care to read her books. People do say that a lot of her books romanticize domestic abuse though.
I have one 4 pages in broke down. I am a teenager who is a survivor of SA, DV, Mental abuse. I am still battling with two of those. She romanticizes that. Also me being in the LGBTQ as a FTM, bisexual and polyamorous from what I heard she is homophobic, transphobic. May I add a racist. Another thing she stood by her son who raped a girl and cut off all communications with her. Colleen Hoover did. As someone who has been SA we can not always speak out.
I actually love her books! I know she gets a lot of hate for her personal life and the topics in which she writes about, but I really like her books.
My only problem with her is that she relies on SA and DV to carry her mediocre plot (I'm brutally honest, I know).
I’d also like to add to my comment by saying that people say she’s homophobic and is against LGBTQ+ but she has written books with characters who are gay so it doesn’t really add up.
one: who says that? there is a FB page with over 200k dedicated fansshe has over 2mill fans on IG
it's just the haters have a noxious loud voices
two: anyone who says she is romanticising DA doesn't have an ounce of literary understanding! her book is literary about a woman who choose to get out of a DA marriage. she choose her life and her daughter's . Coho shows that DA are sometimes good ppl but have big issues and even when we love them and want to help them, it is no excuse to tolerate the A and stay with them (isn't that what many women do?)
3: the minute you start "I heard" and "ppl are saying" that her son is this and that, you are immediately a bad person bec you put yourself in hearsay and defamation
are you a lawyer? were you on the case? where is the girl now? maybe she just wanted her 1 min of fame? ppl are just haters
4: do not ever judge any book or author before trying their books. it's your opinion that matters, not others.
5: if you look closely, you'll find that those spreading the hate are big accounts who either had low views and wanted the engagement or did not get paid to promote her books!
personally, I rwd all her books. some are good, some I didn't like, some I loved, some I dnfed. this is called personal opinion not others
I personally liked the books, if we are to judge by "It ends with us", I learned a lot about what goes through a mind of a DA victim, and writing about it is not the same as romanticizing it. Lilly got out.
I love her books<3 I dunno why people hate her so much
Her writing style isn't my favorite. When I read her books I feel like it's targeted towards a younger audience and I can't seem to finish any of them??? idk just my opinion
Imma do something for you all. Imma read one of her books and give my honest review. You don't see how this impacts people who have been it.
Victoria wrote: "Her writing style isn't my favorite. When I read her books I feel like it's targeted towards a younger audience and I can't seem to finish any of them??? idk just my opinion"Actually no 99% of her shit is rape smut
Dang I was gonna explain my reasoning but all the coho bots are taking this one to heart haha
Honestly - she is like most other authors to me... I like some of her books, and I dislike other ones. I tend to keep my eyes closed to people's personal lives by choice. I honestly don't care what they have going on in their personal lives. Call it what you will.They are easy reads and can make for good pallet cleansers. I loved Ugly Love, Verity, and Layla.
J wrote: "Dang I was gonna explain my reasoning but all the coho bots are taking this one to heart haha"Please do I wanna hear
Storm The Tiny Hooman wrote: "Victoria wrote: "Her writing style isn't my favorite. When I read her books I feel like it's targeted towards a younger audience and I can't seem to finish any of them??? idk just my opinion"Actu..."
I've read Hopeless series, maybe that's why? I can't remember reading anything crazy like that
Victoria wrote: "Storm The Tiny Hooman wrote: "Victoria wrote: "Her writing style isn't my favorite. When I read her books I feel like it's targeted towards a younger audience and I can't seem to finish any of them..."One of her books the majority of it was Rape. The plot was rape
Storm The Tiny Hooman wrote: "Victoria wrote: "Storm The Tiny Hooman wrote: "Victoria wrote: "Her writing style isn't my favorite. When I read her books I feel like it's targeted towards a younger audience and I can't seem to f..."which book is that??
I think Verity. I don't remember. I have one called Heart Bones and as I said up in my thing the stuff I deal with. The PTSD from SA. I am in a DA, and a MA type household and as a minor I am not able to get out. I was 4 pages in and broke down as it was taking a toll on me
Storm The Tiny Hooman wrote: "Victoria wrote: "Storm The Tiny Hooman wrote: "Victoria wrote: "Her writing style isn't my favorite. When I read her books I feel like it's targeted towards a younger audience and I can't seem to f..."It ends with us yeah
1) Very limited representation in all of her media, this includes a lack of poc especially in her writings, considering she has 20 something books and there's only one black character where their skin tone is recognised (she changed Ryle's (the bad guy from IEWU) actor in the movie to be a person of colour which seems a bit "i view poc as bad people" but we shall not comment....) and she doesn't seem to care about diversity, very much liking to stay in her isolated bubble. This is generally only harmful to the people being misrepresented/not represented at all but she even started attacking her own "bubble" as I'll call it.One of her shitty attempts at diversity is to have her character "Lily blossom bloom" (just let that name sink in) write letters to Ellen DeGeneres who isn't a great person to pick at lgbt representation coho
2) The representation of women in her media. She's literally known for her "strong" women. Then why did Lily cave and give Ryle sex after he begged her? why didn't she go to the police after the was assaulted? Why in November 9 are there lines like talking about physical assault to women in a sexy "my man cares about me" way*? Why was there an non consentfull sex scene that all she did was cut even though there were already thousands of copies sold? Why on earth was Fallon sexualised like that by her love interest? These women are seen as strong for the topics discussed (and I'm not dissing their strength to get through those topics) but the men always for some reason have an upper hand. Her writing is sexist and misogynistic and she really needs to get a grip.
*"I've never wanted to use physical force on a girl before..."
themarysue.com -> "YouTuber Whitney Atkinson tweeted a photo of a passage from one of Hoover’s books, November 9, in which a character actually considers the use of “physical force” to prevent his love interest from exiting a vehicle, as well as attempting to emotionally manipulate her into staying with him. Further screenshots show the character blocking a door to prevent his love interest from leaving, and forcibly taking her car keys to get her to stay. All of these are abusive actions that are meant to control the victim. "
3) Problematic tropes such as romanticization of: toxic masculinity, unhealthy co-dependent relationships and abusive and controlling behaviour. talked about a bit above but definitely can give more proof.
4) Her son sexually assaulted a girl who then reached out for help and was then blocked by colleen on instagram
5) EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER BOOKS IS MARKETED AS A ROMANCE. every single one. I've seen verity put in the romance section. Romance genre means happy ending. So many of her books do not have a happy ending. So many of them have terrible, shitty depictions of love. None of them can really be called romances, especially if the characters aren't together at the end. Which leads to her audience and how booktok is always always recommending her, especially to young people because she writes so bad. This is scary and needs to stop, someone is going to expect this abuse in their relationship and think it's fine because coho wrote it that way.
I don't have any proof for this last point but there are many speculation to her being anti abortion. The way Verity is and what Verity does at the beginning ((view spoiler)) and no mention of abortion after Lily fell pregnant both support mine and many others theory. I'm not saying Lily should've aborted, it's her body and her choice but surely it should've been discussed?
Here credit to my friend for the info
Storm The Tiny Hooman wrote: "Imma do something for you all. Imma read one of her books and give my honest review. You don't see how this impacts people who have been it."bae be careful <3
I'm catching up one sec
Storm The Tiny Hooman wrote: "1) Very limited representation in all of her media, this includes a lack of poc especially in her writings, considering she has 20 something books and there's only one black character where their s..."There's a lot of detail in these comments. I'm also a survivor of said acts, but I've never picked up a book by her. I have a few on my TBR list, however with as many comments as I've read so far, I'm quite unsure now.
Is there by chance that she could be writing out of awareness maybe? and not just romanticizing it?
You made a very good comment, with plenty of information, but I stopped to wonder if there was more than one side to it instead of just narrow slippery-slope down the road to CNC.
Maybe CoHo experienced something in her life that made her write the way she does? I know that surviving things can lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms, or to end up thinking that that kind of abuse would be perceived as love.... But I'm just curious.
I survived 5 years of a narcissistic abuser, who, unfortunately, got away with some of the things listed in your comment, and a helluva lot more, and I was under Stockholm Syndrome. I still don't know how I got out. I've also survived unholy acts brought upon me, so I'm a little weary of books that potentially romanticize that kind of assault.
one of her books is what got me into reading. I just started reading this month and just started my 9th book! I think people love to hate what others hate. as long as they're reading, and enjoying it I say who cares
I loved "It Ends With Us" it was very well written (besides the ellen letters) and it really touched on the topic very well. Verity was okay, wasn't my favorite but I have read worse. Ugly Love is where my line was drawn. I had a hard time with that book and hated it very much. I am going to reread it since some people say it deserves another chance.
Valeria wrote: "I loved "It Ends With Us" it was very well written (besides the ellen letters) and it really touched on the topic very well. Verity was okay, wasn't my favorite but I have read worse. Ugly Love is..."
I haven't really read any of her other books but I do plan to keep reading her work. I think she does write fairly good.
I've only read Verity.I went with Verity because I heard it's one of her better ones and it's thriller (I don't like straight white romances and I dislike smut in a romance setting even more). Despite all the romance and smut, I thought the plot itself was decent.
Going off by her writing alone, it's not very good. It's juvenile and reads like fan-fiction. It's not complex, simplistic, doesn't make you think. Her characters irked me so much. It was straight up yucky and disgusting. The main character was horny for that Jeremy guy ALL THE DAMN TIME and I just... couldn't stand it. When I try to picture Jeremy I gag. The smut was unnecessarily out of pocket and embarrassing. And that bonus chapter in that special edition. WTF was going on in her mind? The main character has some deeply rooted issues and I can't help but picture Colleen herself as the MC (since her author photo is on the back of the book).
I think I'm not her target audience and just couldn't get behind the characters at all. (For context I'm Chinese, and LGBTQ). I rather be spending my time reading more impactful works and I won't be reading any more of her books.
I don’t like her writing + most of her plot is illogical considering it includes DV / SA / justification for cheating / and many other representations + there were many questionable scenes in her book like when Rhyle literally hanged a photo of Lily in his sister apartment when he only met Lily ONCE She also created a coloring book for IEWU that includes the scene of the stairs which Lily was pushed from
So in general there is something wrong with her books/characters/herself becuz if these are life representations then she shouldn’t have put them as Romance/Fiction as it can trigger many people and many can interpret that she sexualizes DV/SA/Cheating/PTSD
Wow this comment thread is loaded! I personally haven’t read any of her books. I keep putting it on my tbr and taking it off but with you lovely people supplying so much information. I think I’ll be able to soon make a decision whether to read or not. ;-) thank you all!
i havent read all her books, but ive read ugly love, verity, nov 9th, reminders of him, iewu, all your perfects and layla. every single one of them has incredibly sexist and degrading themes. ill never forget in the original november 9th, there's a scene that was taken out prior to the republishing of the book that depicts him sexually assaulting her whilst she was drunk. the legit dialogue is ‘stop’ and he gets horny because she says that.... i think he literally says "im trying; ask me again" reading that as a young girl was so damaging. i also find it hilarious that when she was criticised for being homophobic, she wrote ellen into IEWU and called it queer rep😭 like bffr
Personally I love her booksI’ve heard stuff about her and her writing but some of her works are really awesome
I love her books. Her books got me back into reading after being in a reading slum for years.
