Colleen Hoover – Mimi's Thoughts

Why do I have to choose?

My niece called me this afternoon. She wanted to know if I had come across the video of a book club meeting that had become very popular on social media. At this meeting, there was a question that apparently started a whole lot of drama. When I heard what the question was, I wasn’t even surprised by how wild it got.

The question was: Chimamanda or Colleen Hoover — who is the better writer?

And my first thought was… why?

I didn’t think “why?” because I think one of them is better than the other. That In fact, is exactly my point. I don’t understand why we have to compare them in the first place.

One thing I don’t particularly enjoy is comparison. And for me, if you’re going to compare two things, there has to be some reasonable basis for the comparison.

Chimamanda and Colleen Hoover don’t write the same kind of books. They don’t necessarily write for the same reasons, in the same style, or even in the same literary space. Not at all. Not even a little bit.
They come from different backgrounds and different parts of the world… Their stories, the themes, approaches and audiences can be very different… Very very different.

So I beg the question, what exactly are we measuring?

Because if you’re going to ask me who is a better writer, my next question will definitely be… “better at what?” Gbam… Did I just Gbam my own question? Haha.

To be honest, this is where I think these social media debates sometimes become unnecessarily complicated.

Let’s take movies, for example.

Would you ask me; “Was You’ve Got Mail better than The Terminator?”

Better how?

One is a romantic comedy. The other is an action/sci-fi film. They are trying to achieve completely different things. I want to believe that I can enjoy both movies without having to decide which one is the superior movie.

Frankly, It’s the same thing with books.

Colleen Hoover writes the kind of books she writes. Her books have their own style, themes and readership. Let’s forget that many people don’t like her for whatever reasons they choose not to.
Chimamanda writes the kind of books she writes, with her own style, themes and readership… And I agree, she is a genius. I know she is a genius.

You can prefer one. Yup, of course you can.

You can say, I connect more with Chimamanda’s writing… Or you can say, I prefer Colleen Hoover’s storytelling.

You can even say, I don’t enjoy either of them. Yes… Trust me, this option exists.

All of those options are perfectly reasonable opinions.

So now when we ask, Who is the better writer? we suddenly create this imaginary competition where one person has to win and the other has to lose.

I think out loud and ask you… why?

I think one of the things we forget as readers is that books don’t all have to do the same thing.

Sometimes I want a book that makes me think. Sometimes I want something that teaches me something. Sometimes I want beautiful prose and complicated themes that leave me quizzical.

And sometimes? I just want to lie down and read a story. A simple story. That’s allowed too. It’s just like when I want to lie down and watch a simple movie I go for cheesy, sweet and simple Hallmark.

So seriously, I must say, I find some of these book debates amusing. We take two completely different things and put them in a boxing ring and then get angry because people are choosing different fighters.

Maybe the better question isn’t Chimamanda or Colleen Hoover?

Maybe it’s: What do you enjoy reading, and why?
Should I Gbam again?

The thing is, I don’t need Colleen Hoover to write like Chimamanda for me to appreciate Colleen Hoover.

And I don’t need Chimamanda to write like Colleen Hoover for me to appreciate Chimamanda.

There is room on my bookshelf for different kinds of writers.

And honestly, there is room in the world for us to like different things without turning every preference into a competition.

Not everything needs a winner.


Some books by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:
Purple Hibiscus (2003)
Half of a Yellow Sun (2006)
The Thing Around Your Neck (2009) — short stories
Americanah (2013)
Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017)
Notes on Grief (2021)
Dream Count (2025)


Some books by Colleen Hoover:
Losing Hope (2013)
Maybe Someday (2014)
Confess (2015)
It Ends with Us (2016)
It Starts with Us (2022)
Without Merit (2017)
Verity (2018)
Regretting You (2019)
All Your Perfects (2018)
Reminders of Him (2022)
November 9 (2015)
Ugly Love (2014)

Enjoy the Art

I was minding my business on TikTok this evening when Apple TV+ decided to tell me Ryan Reynolds has a new movie coming out… This September. I already know I’ll most likely watch it when it becomes available in my area.

What surprised me wasn’t the trailer. It was the comment section of the post.

Oh my Goodness… The hate was loud. Really really loud.
I found some commentors asking, “Wait… what happened?” “Why does everyone suddenly hate Ryan Reynolds?” “Do we not like Ryan Reynolds anymore?”
I didn’t wonder along with them because I knew exactly why they were hating.

A lot of the backlash stems from the ongoing legal dispute involving Reynold’s wife, Blake Lively, and actor/director Justin Baldoni. Ryan stood by his wife publicly… as most husbands probably would. This made many people feel disappointed by the position he took. Whether you agree with him or not, opinions have become incredibly divided.

I won’t lie. For a brief moment, I felt caught in the middle too.
I’ve always liked Ryan Reynolds. His sense of humor is effortless, his acting is brilliant, and he has this way of making almost every role enjoyable to watch.
So, did the controversy make me pause? Yes it sure did.
Did it make me hate him? No.

And that’s when another thought crossed my mind.
Why do we find it so easy to hate people these days?
Not disagree with them. Not question them. Not even criticize them. Just… hate them.

It reminded me of Colleen Hoover… And just to add, this whole Reynolds controversy stems from the period of the movie production of Hoovers It Ends with Us.

I’ve watched people tear Hoover apart online for years. The funny thing is, I’ve never even taken the time to investigate every reason behind the criticism. I simply know she’s become one of those people the internet has collectively decided to dislike.

Yet, somehow, millions of people have laughed, cried and healed through her books.

Then there’s Morgan Wallen.
Recently, I found myself reading about some of his past controversies. There were arrests, poor decisions and headlines that weren’t exactly flattering. Did it change the fact that I love his music?
No it didn’t.
His songs still make me smile.
They still tell stories that resonate with me.

So I made peace with something. I don’t have to approve of every decision an artist has ever made before I can appreciate what they create.

I can enjoy Morgan Wallen’s music without defending his mistakes.

I can admire Ryan Reynolds’ talent without pretending to know everything about his personal life.

I can appreciate Colleen Hoover’s creativity without making her my moral compass.

Maybe that’s where I’ve landed.

The internet doesn’t seem to leave much room for middle ground anymore. It’s almost as if we’re expected to pick a side immediately.

Love them.
Cancel them.
Support them.
Boycott them.
No middle ground.

But life has taught me that human beings are far more complicated than hashtags and comment sections.

People are flawed, they disappoint us, they grow, they make mistakes… Sometimes they apologize… Sometimes they don’t.

Sometimes we choose to keep supporting their work and sometimes we don’t.

That’s a personal decision, and I respect it.

For me, though, I don’t want to join every online pile-on just because it’s trending.

I’d rather think, read, make my own conclusions and remember that someone can create something beautiful while still being an imperfect human being.

If we demanded perfection from every artist before enjoying their work, our playlists would become very quiet, our bookshelves much emptier, and our watchlists surprisingly very very short.

So yes… I’ll probably watch the Ryan Reynolds movie.
I’ll still listen to Morgan Wallen.
I’ll probably pick up another Colleen Hoover book if the story interests me.

I won’t do all that because I think any of them are perfect, I will do it because I’m learning to appreciate the art without expecting perfection from the artist.
And honestly… I think there’s a little more peace in living that way… Peace for me.

Team Manuscript

Spoiler alert. 
If you have not read Colleen Hoover's Verity and you plan to, I suggest you skip this particular blog post. It's filled with spoilers.

Why I Believe Verity’s Confession, Not Her Letter.

Some books entertain you. Some books disturb you…. And then there’s Verity by Colleen Hoover, the kind of book that crawls under your skin and refuses to leave.

I finished it, closed it, and sat still for a long time. And the more I thought about it, the clearer my position became: I am Team Manuscript. Not hesitantly. Not conditionally. Fully.

The turning point for me was the letter. On the surface, it offers an alternative explanation; a softer, more sympathetic version of Verity. It asks us to reconsider everything we’ve read. It wants to reframe her as misunderstood, wronged, maybe even framed by circumstance… But here’s the thing: it feels calculated.

I believe Verity wrote that letter because she knew Lowen knew. There’s a quiet awareness in that house. A shift in energy. Lowen had read the manuscript. She had seen the darkness. And Verity, silent and observant, sensed that something had changed.

That letter doesn’t feel like truth surfacing. It feels like damage control. It appears at exactly the right moment. It is conveniently tucked away. It offers just enough doubt to destabilize everything… plus, it was too neat and too reactive. If you are truly innocent, why wait until the walls are closing in to explain yourself?

Now here’s another thing, I Don’t Believe Jeremy Ever Found the Manuscript. This is where my conviction deepens. Jeremy is emotional. Protective. Impulsive. If he had read that manuscript before Lowen did, there is no version of events where life would have continued as normal, never. No quiet coexisting. No tense dinners. No careful routine. There would have been an explosion. Which tells me he never found it… it was hidden intentionally. Verity never meant for him to see it… And that makes the manuscript feel even more honest, because it wasn’t written for performance. It wasn’t meant to defend her. It wasn’t curated for sympathy. It was raw.

This next part is deeply personal. As a mum, I struggled with the argument that “no mother would ever write such horrible things about her child.” And I agree, no healthy mother would… But that’s exactly why I believe it. The manuscript doesn’t read like fiction. It doesn’t feel exaggerated for creative effect. It reads like a confession… Like something ugly and forbidden spilling onto the page because it cannot be spoken aloud. The vividness of it disturbed me. Not because it felt fake, but because it felt psychologically possible. Dark. Shameful. Real.

A letter trying to redeem oneself is easier to write than a confession admitting jealousy of your own child.

Then, let’s talk about the Knife. Why did it cut Crew? The knife doesn’t feel like a coincidence. It feels like an escalation in a moment of frustration.

What makes Verity brilliant is that Colleen Hoover never gives us certainty. She gives us discomfort. She makes us question our instincts. She makes us examine how easily sympathy can be manufactured and how fragile truth can feel when rewritten.

Well, after I ponder on the twists, the suspense, the shock value, I return to this: The manuscript feels like someone slipping and revealing who they truly are while the letter feels like someone scrambling to protect what’s left… And for me, that difference matters.

So Yes, I’m Team Manuscript

I believe the manuscript.. And that’s what makes Verity unforgettable. Because you don’t just finish the book. You carry the debate with you.

Different strokes

I remember, I think it was two years ago. I logged into a book club I belonged to, as I tried to catch up on all I had missed for the duration of my absence, I noticed a comment from the anchor, she said “If anyone suggests anything by Colleen Hoover I am going to have to remove them from the group”.

I was startled. Why would she say that? I didn’t bother to find out why. I just went on ahead with my life. I didn’t participate in the group so much anymore.

I had never read anything by Hoover before this time. Shortly after that, I came across one of her books from her ‘Maybe’ series. ‘Maybe Someday’ was an interesting read for me, I think it was a good book. It left me with mixed feelings but I think it was well written.

I attempted the other two in the series but I didn’t quite feel it. I never finished any of the two.

A couple of weeks ago, I realized that a book I had been meaning to read for a while was being made into a film and I recently made a habit of reading books and then seeing the films, so I jumped on the book.

The book is a novel by Colleen Hoover; ‘It Ends With Us’.

There are a lot of mixed reviews about this book and the film too.

It’s from these reviews that I realized why the anchor of that book club had spoken that way. A lot of people believe Hoover writes as though she favours the wrong that has been done…I don’t think so.

A few days ago I wrote on Zoom in and how Tyler Perry movies usually left me sad, so I know how people must feel about Hoover’s writing, but they can just be like me… If it bothers you that much, just avoid it.

Yeah, I don’t watch Sci-fi, horror or anything that breaks me mentally…but I don’t condemn it. I just avoid it.

My review of the book will come when I’ve seen the film… I would recommend it though. It’s good. It’s got a few good lessons…for me.