I love love.

I believe that out there somewhere everyone has that one person meant for them, their better half, their best friend, their soulmate. Consider me a hopeless romantic, but I would rather spend hours upon hours reading about love than spending my time scrolling on my phone. If you know me, that is an absolute shocker!

A few years ago I read my first book about love. I knew my older brother had a baseball game coming up, so I decided to grab a book from Barnes & Noble and save it to read on the car ride there. I am very particular when it comes to picking out books because if it does not grab my attention within the first few pages, I’m done. It’s quite a process when I pick out books, not just for the fact that I pray I love it, but because oddly enough, I am a texture person, so if the pages feel gritty and not buttery smooth I will not read it. To answer any questions about the process, once I figure out which book I want, I stand there and feel one page from each book in that stack until I find one that feels just right… weird right? I consider it a character quirk.

Anyway, after some time scrolling through Tiktok for inspiration on the perfect book I came across hundreds of recommendations for It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. Normally I am a very slow reader: buy a book, read it, forget about it for a while then finish it… well, let me tell you I finished that entire 384-page book in one car ride and a baseball game. I instantly fell in love with it! Not just for the way the author had written each word so perfectly on each page or the way that the meaning behind the story was so powerful, but because of how it made me feel a part of it like I was connected to it. At this point, I was invested! I had read so many books before this one, but this one in particular opened a door to a whole new world of feeling as if I could not stop turning the pages. I had heard those expressions hundreds of times before but never truly related until that very moment.

Fast forward to now, I have read countless romance books and have expanded my horizons of authors and writing styles. After a lot of consideration, annotating, and careful mental notes, here is a list of my top five favorite romance books with a slight synopsis of each, stars I would give them out of five, and without spoilers!

5. “They Both Die At The End” by Adam Silvera is such an experience! I have heard about so many readers crying after they have read a book, but I had never truly felt that way until this book! Don’t let that steer you away from this book, you would be missing out on such a beautiful love story between two men as they learn that their time is limited and, as it says in the title, both die in the end. Even with the title telling you exactly how it ends, the story you embark upon when reading is what it is all about! The lesson I took away from this book is that life is precious, so do not just wait around for death but to treasure every moment.

4: “It Starts With Us” by Colleen Hoover, the sequel book to “It Ends With Us,” continues the story for Lily, showing her growth as a character. The Dart Mouth gave this synopsis, “Atlas and Lily attempt to rekindle the love they felt for each other as teenagers, but must deal with the repercussions their love may have now as adults. Hoover illustrates a beautiful, innocent love between Atlas and Lily. Atlas and Lily love each other like kids.” This beautiful continuation of the story gives the reader what some may have felt was missing from Lily’s story. Once again Colleen Hoover captures the readers with her writing style!

3: “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover, another book by her! Colleen Hoover’s writing style draws me from the very start! The way she writes “It Ends With Us” each chapter bounces from Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid’s point of view while continuing the story! Jennifer Deuell gives the descriptions of the book saying, “‘It Ends with Us’ is a book that follows a girl named Lily who has just moved and is ready to start her life after college. Lily then meets a guy named Ryle and she falls for him. As she develops feelings for Ryle, Atlas, her first love, reappears and challenges the relationship between Lily and Ryle.” This was my first ever Colleen Hoover Book! Once you read one, you will need to read them all! Lily and Ryle fall into the tropes of high school romance, friends to lovers, second chance romance, strong heroines, and wounded heroes. Lily is a very strong female character who by the end of the book will leave you feeling so attached! “It Ends With Us” is currently in production for the movie set to premiere on February 9th, 2024!

2: “Ugly Love“ by Colleen Hoover could fall close to first place on my list! Colleen Hoover is the most talked about author at the moment on BookTok, and her books will draw you in so fast and keep a good grip on you! A small blurb of “Ugly Love” is “When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up.” Almost the perfect setup for them that gets rocky when emotions and heartbreak come in. The Ugly Loves trope is the classic enemies to lovers. What could go wrong? I guess you’ll have to find out!

1: “The Unhoneymooners” by Christina Lauren is my all-time favorite romance book! A book I would and have recommended over and over. The author Christina Lauren is merely a pen name, and this book is actually co-authored by Christina Hobbs & Lauren Billings. For those of you who may consider reading “The Unhoneymooners,” Word Press gives a brief description of the book saying, “Olive has always been the unlucky twin, but her luck changes when her sister and brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding and are unable to go on their honeymoon. Olive decides to go on their free vacation with her brother-in-law’s brother, Ethan, who she’s hated at first sight.” This book will enrapture you from the very first sentence! A slow hatred turns into a realization that feelings may be involved.

I used to never understand people saying they had a favorite author… well, here I am with one! If you could not tell by my list, I am a bit of a Colleen Hoover fan if you would. Colleen Hoover’s fan base have nicknamed themselves “CoHorts” because of her widespread popularity! What’s crazy to think is that I have a favorite author… let alone a favorite publisher! Yes, you heard that right I have a favorite publisher. I love the publisher Atria Books.

To circle back on the texture thing, their pages feel like butter when you touch them, the size of the font, down to the little minute details within each book makes me try to expand my horizons on authors solely because of the feeling of each book!

With that, those are my top 5 romance books! I hope some made their way onto your to-read list! Happy reading!