If you’re not familiar with author Colleen Hoover by now, clear your calendar for the next several weeks because you’re about to be hooked on the books that capture contemporary romance and heartbreak like few others. If you’ve already joined the CoHorts and read all those books, you may be experiencing withdrawal. So, here’s the good news: For fans of Colleen Hoover’s November 9, we’ve got a list of titles that you’ll absolutely fall in love with, filled with love revolving around literature, romances that play with time, and more. And, after that, check out these books for fans of It Ends with Us next!
6 Tear-Inducing Books Like Colleen Hoover’s November 9
Swear on This Life
Much like NOVEMBER 9, Renée Carlino’s SWEAR ON THIS LIFE follows one writer’s journey from storyteller to feature character in another author’s story. A struggling author and adjunct writing instructor, Emiline is reluctant to read the latest literary debut garnering serious acclaim. That is until she realizes this novel is about her—more specifically her childhood and her first love. Despite its being written by the mysterious “J. Colby,” Emi knows this could only be the work of Jase, whom she hasn’t seen in ten years. As a result, she takes it upon herself to find and confront Jase, while simultaneously reading the story of their romance in his hit book, which seems to have a very different ending than reality. A book within a book, this one will keep you engaged and eager for a storybook ending.
Swear on This Life
Booklist, Top 10 Women’s Fiction of 2016
Goodreads Best Romance of August
Redbook.com’s “20 Books by Women You Must ReadThis Fall”
Popsugar’s “21 Fiction Reads to Add to Your Fall Reading List”
Bustle’s “11 New Romance Books Perfect for Summer Beach Reading”
Brit+Co’s “16 Must-Read Adult Books Out in August”
Sunset magazine’s “Bookmark this: Your ultimate summer reading list”
From USA TODAY bestselling author Renée Carlino (Before We Were Strangers), a warm and witty novel about a struggling writer who must come to grips with her past, present, and future after she discovers that she’s the inspiration for a pseudonymously published bestselling novel.
When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J. Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.
Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.
That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.
The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?
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Twice in a Blue Moon
In TWICE IN A BLUE MOON by Christina Lauren, Sam and Tate meet during a brief vacation in London and quickly fall for each other, sharing stories of family secrets: Sam, the product of a scandalous relationship, and Tate, the daughter of a famous movie star living under a different last name. A decade and a half later, Tate has become a star in her own right, cast in a new movie—alongside her father no less. But she doesn’t realize until she’s on set that Sam is the screenwriter under a pseudonym. And now, on location, away from everything, the two must reckon with their own story, including how and why this movie came to be. A classic Christina Lauren romance, this book includes twists as dramatic as NOVEMBER 9 with an ending equally as satisfying.
Twice in a Blue Moon
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners and the “delectable, moving” (Entertainment Weekly) My Favorite Half-Night Stand comes a modern love story about what happens when your first love reenters your life when you least expect it…
Sam Brandis was Tate Jones’s first: Her first love. Her first everything. Including her first heartbreak.
During a whirlwind two-week vacation abroad, Sam and Tate fell for each other in only the way that first loves do: sharing all of their hopes, dreams, and deepest secrets along the way. Sam was the first, and only, person that Tate—the long-lost daughter of one of the world’s biggest film stars—ever revealed her identity to. So when it became clear her trust was misplaced, her world shattered for good.
Fourteen years later, Tate, now an up-and-coming actress, only thinks about her first love every once in a blue moon. When she steps onto the set of her first big break, he’s the last person she expects to see. Yet here Sam is, the same charming, confident man she knew, but even more alluring than she remembered. Forced to confront the man who betrayed her, Tate must ask herself if it’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason… and whether “once in a lifetime” can come around twice.
With Christina Lauren’s signature “beautifully written and remarkably compelling” (Sarah J. Maas, New York Times bestselling author) prose and perfect for fans of Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner, Twice in a Blue Moon is an unforgettable and moving novel of young love and second chances.
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Seven Days in June
For another poignant rom-com that also takes a sharp view into a writer’s world, check out SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE. Eva Mercy is an erotica writer and Shane Hall is a literary author, and their intense weeklong fling from fifteen years ago has always been on both their minds; it even snuck its way into several of their novels. When they run into each other again at a New York literary event, the old feelings rush to the surface, accompanied by explorations of betrayal, Black culture, motherhood, and more.
Seven Days in June
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In Five Years
NOVEMBER 9 takes a snapshot of one day over the span of five years, whereas IN FIVE YEARS takes a snapshot of one short window of time five years into the future, and then we rewind back to the past to figure out what happened. Manhattanite lawyer Dannie Kohan is understandably distraught when she wakes up five years in the future and finds herself in bed beside a man who is not her fiancé. And when she returns to her present day and is forced to cross paths with that same man, the results are not what you’d think. Just as Colleen Hoover drops twists and turns every which way, so too does Rebecca Serle.
In Five Years
An Atria Book. Atria Books has a great book for every reader.
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Eight Perfect Hours
Driving home from her college reunion, Noelle Butterby gets stranded in her car during a blizzard until stranger Sam Attwood serendipitously arrives to help. Stuck in the car together, they share stories and dreams until the roads clear and they both go their separate ways. After those eight perfect hours spent together, neither thinks they’ll see the other again, but fate keeps pulling them together—not unlike Fallon and Ben in NOVEMBER 9.
Eight Perfect Hours
“I read Eight Perfect Hours in one sitting, in four perfect hours, because I couldn’t bear to put it down without knowing the ending. Lia Louis has become a must-buy author for me.” —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author
In this romantic and heartwarming novel, two strangers meet in chance circumstances during a blizzard and spend one perfect evening together, thinking they’ll never see each other again. But fate seems to have different plans. From the acclaimed author of the “swoon-worthy…rom-com” (The Washington Post) Dear Emmie Blue.
On a snowy evening in March, thirty-something Noelle Butterby is on her way back from an event at her old college when disaster strikes. With a blizzard closing off roads, she finds herself stranded, alone in her car, without food, drink, or a working charger for her phone.
All seems lost until Sam Attwood, a handsome American stranger also trapped in a nearby car, knocks on her window and offers assistance. What follows is eight perfect hours together, until morning arrives and the roads finally clear. The two strangers part, positive they’ll never see each other again but fate, it seems, has a different plan. As the two keep serendipitously bumping into one another, they begin to realize that perhaps there truly is no such thing as coincidence.
With plenty of charming twists and turns and Lia Louis’s “bold, standout voice” (Gillian McAllister, author of The Good Sister), Eight Perfect Hours is a gorgeously crafted novel that will make you believe in the power of fate.
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The Love Proof
LOVE PROOF is about a physics prodigy, Sophie, who uses her knowledge of alternate realities and her profound grief to prove that true love can be found in any time frame. When Sophie feels like she’s found a love that feels deeper than anything before, and then loses it, she dives deep into her studies involving physics to examine what happened. While NOVEMBER 9 examines love’s endurance through time the hard way, LOVE PROOF explores shortcuts through time and offers new questions about fate. And it revolves around a love that feels as fated as the love between Fallon and Ben.
The Love Proof
In this “captivating, heartfelt, and utterly unique tale” (Emily Giffin, author of The Lies That Bind), a brilliant physicist studying the nature of time embarks on an unforgettable and life-changing journey to prove that those we love are always connected to us.
Sophie Jones is a physics prodigy on track to unlock the secrets of the universe. When she meets Jake Kristopher during their first week at Yale they instantly feel a deep connection, as if they’ve known each other before. Slowly, their love lures Sophie away from school.
When a shocking development forces Sophie into a new reality, she returns to physics to make sense of her world. She grapples with life’s big questions, including how to cope with unexpected change and loss. Inspired by her connection with Jake, Sophie throws herself into her studies, determined to prove that true loves belong together.
“Fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife will be blown away by Madeleine Henry’s The Love Proof” (PopSugar), a story of lasting connection, time, and intuition. It explores the course that perfect love can take between imperfect people and urges us to listen to our hearts rather than our heads.
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November 9
Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in Los Angeles together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.
Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and simultaneously his novel—be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?
November 9
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Photo credit: iStock / Tetiana Soares