Colleen Hoover facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Colleen Hoover
Hoover in 2022
Born	Margaret Colleen Fennell (1979-12-11) December 11, 1979 (age 45) Sulphur Springs, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Author
Education	Texas A&M University, Commerce (BA)
Genre	Young adult fiction and new adult fiction
Notable works	It Ends with Us
Spouse	Heath Hoover ​ (m. 2000)​
Children	3
Signature

Colleen Hoover (born December 11, 1979) is a very popular American author. She writes many novels, especially in the romance and young adult genres. She is famous for her 2016 book, It Ends with Us.

Many of her books were first published by herself online. Later, big publishing companies picked them up. By October 2022, Colleen Hoover had sold about 20 million books! In 2023, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Early Life and Family

Colleen Hoover was born on December 11, 1979. Her birthplace was Sulphur Springs, Texas. She grew up in a town called Saltillo, Texas. She finished high school there in 1998.

In 2000, she married Heath Hoover. They have three sons together. Colleen went to Texas A&M-Commerce university. She earned a degree in social work. Before becoming a writer, she worked in social work and as a teacher.

Becoming a Bestselling Author

Colleen Hoover started writing her first book, Slammed, in November 2011. She didn't plan to publish it at first. She was inspired by a song by The Avett Brothers. She even used their song lyrics in her story.

She self-published Slammed in January 2012. She wanted her mother to be able to read it on her new e-reader. A second book, Point of Retreat, came out in February 2012. A few months later, a popular book blogger gave Slammed a great review. After that, sales for her first two books quickly grew.

In August 2012, Slammed and Point of Retreat made it onto the New York Times Best Seller list. A big publisher, Atria Books, then bought her books. They republished them in August 2012. A third book in the series, This Girl, was published in April 2013. After her books became so successful, Colleen Hoover left her job to write full-time.

More Popular Books

Colleen Hoover self-published her novel Hopeless in December 2012. This book is about a girl who was homeschooled. She then goes to a public high school for the first time. Hopeless became the #1 book on the New York Times Best Seller list in January 2013. It stayed there for three weeks. It was the first self-published novel to ever reach the top spot! A companion book, Losing Hope, came out that July.

Finding Cinderella is a free short story that Hoover released in 2014. It features characters from her Hopeless series. A printed version was later released with extra parts.

Maybe Someday was published in March 2014. It was the first book in a small series. It tells the story of a boy and a girl who write music together and fall in love. A musician named Griffin Peterson created songs to go with the novel. Readers could listen to the music online while reading the book.

Never Never was a book she wrote with another author, Tarryn Fisher. It was first sold as three separate short novels. Later, it was published as one complete book.

It Ends with Us and Its Success

Colleen Hoover's novel, It Ends with Us, was published in 2016. She has said it was the most challenging book she ever wrote. The story explores difficult family situations and relationships. Colleen Hoover wrote it to help people understand these challenges. The story was inspired by her own experiences growing up. The main character, Lily, goes through tough times in her family life.

By 2019, the novel had sold over a million copies worldwide. It has been translated into more than twenty languages.

In 2021, Colleen Hoover's popularity grew a lot. This was thanks to the BookTok community on TikTok. Because of this, It Ends with Us became #1 on The New York Times Best Sellers list again in January 2022. A movie based on It Ends with Us started being made in May 2023. It came out in August 2024. The movie did very well at the box office, earning over $250 million around the world.

A sequel to It Ends with Us, called It Starts with Us, was published on October 18, 2022. This book became the most pre-ordered book ever for its publisher, Simon & Schuster.

In October 2022, Simon & Schuster UK bought two more standalone novels from Hoover. These are planned to be published in 2024 and 2026.

By October 2022, Colleen Hoover had sold more than 20 million books. A writer for The New York Times said that her success was huge. She has a very large and loyal group of readers.

On January 21, 2025, Colleen Hoover deleted her Instagram account. Many people thought this was because of fan reactions to some news about the It Ends with Us movie.

Awards and Achievements

Colleen Hoover has won several awards for her books.

New York Times Best Sellers

In 2022, Colleen Hoover had six of the top ten spots on the New York Times paperback fiction bestseller list. This shows how popular her books are!

• Slammed (#8)
• Point of Retreat (#18)
• This Girl (#9)
• Hopeless (#1)
• Losing Hope (#6)
• Maybe Someday (#3)
• Ugly Love (#4)
• Confess (#4)
• November 9 (#9)
• It Ends with Us (#1)
• Verity (#2)

List of Works

Books

It Ends with Us Series

• It Ends with Us (2016)
• It Starts with Us (2022)

Slammed Series

• Slammed (2012)
• Point of Retreat (2012)
• This Girl (2013)

Hopeless Series

• Hopeless (2012)
• Losing Hope (2013)
• Finding Cinderella (short novel; 2013)
• Finding Perfect (short novel; 2019)

Maybe Someday Series

• Maybe Someday (2014)
• Maybe Not (short novel; 2014)
• Maybe Now (2018)

Standalone Novels

Short Stories

• "A Father's Kiss" from The Kiss (An Anthology of Love and Other Close Encounters)
• "Saint" from One More Step (An Anthology)
• "The Dress" from Two More Days (An Anthology)

See also

In Spanish: Colleen Hoover para niños

• New adult fiction