Margaret Colleen Hoover (néeFennell; born December 11, 1979) is an American author who primarily writes novels in the romance and young adult fiction genres.[3][1] She is best known for her 2016 novelIt Ends with Us. Many of her works were self-published before they were picked up by a publishing house. As of October 2022, Hoover has sold approximately 20 million books.[4] She was named one of the100 most influential people in the world byTime magazine in 2023.[5]
Hoover was born on December 11, 1979[6] inSulphur Springs, Texas, to Vannoy Fite[1] and Eddie Fennell. She grew up inSaltillo, Texas,[7] and graduated from Saltillo High School in 1998.[8] She married Heath Hoover in 2000[9] and they have three sons.[10] She graduated fromTexas A&M University–Commerce with a degree insocial work.[11] Hoover worked in social work and teaching jobs before starting her career as an author.[12]
In November 2011, Hoover began writing her debut novel,Slammed, with no intention of getting published. She was inspired by a lyric, "decide what to be, and go be it," from anAvett Brothers song, "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise," and she incorporated Avett Brothers lyrics throughout the story.[13] Hoover self-publishedSlammed in January 2012.[11] She states that she published the novel so that her mother, who had just received anAmazon Kindle, could read it.[14] A sequel,Point of Retreat, was published in February 2012.[11] After a few months,Slammed was reviewed and given five stars by book blogger Maryse Black, and afterward, sales rapidly increased for Hoover's first two books.[15][11][16]Slammed andPoint of Retreat reached #8 and #18, respectively, ontheNew York Times Best Seller list, in August of that year.[17][18]Atria Books picked up the novels and republished them on August 10, 2012.[19] A third book in the series,This Girl, was published in April 2013.[20][21] After the success ofSlammed, Hoover quit her job in social work to become a full-time writer.[14]
Hoover's novelHopeless was self-published in December 2012 and features a girl who was home-schooled throughout her elementary education before she goes to a public high school.[11] The book reached #1 on theNew York Times Best Seller list and remained there for three weeks.[22] It was the first self-published novel to ever top the list.[23] A companion novel,Losing Hope, was published that July.[24]
Finding Cinderella is a free novella that Hoover published in 2014. It features several of the characters that are depicted in her novelsHopeless andLosing Hope. A paperback was released with several bonus features, such as a new epilogue and Hoover's own "Cinderella story."[25]Maybe Someday, published in March 2014, was the first novel of a small series about a boy and a girl who write music together and fall in love. Musician Griffin Peterson created a soundtrack to accompany the novel.[26] Links in the e-book or a scannableQR code in the paperback led to a website, where readers could listen to the music.[27]
Never Never, a collaboration withTarryn Fisher, was originally sold as three separatenovellas. The works were later republished as one complete book.[28] This young adult thriller/romance novel features teenagers Silas and Charlie, who wake up with a loss of their memory. The book follows these characters as they work together to recover their memory, figuring out pieces of themselves as they go. Their journey uncovers lies and secrets as they get closer to finding out the truth.Never Never tells the story of Silas and Charlie’s relationship evolving back to what it once was.[29] In creating the novel, Hoover and Fisher alternated writing chapters and making edits to previously written content. The writers did not know where the story would end up, but Hoover stated that the experience was one of the most entertaining writing experiences she had ever had.[30]
Hoover's novelIt Ends with Us was published in 2016.[31] Hoover described it as "the hardest book I've ever written."[32] The novel containsdomestic violence, and, according to Hoover, it was written with the intention of advocating for domestic violence victims.[33] The story was inspired by Hoover's personal experience as a child growing up in a household with domestic violence, which carried through into her adult life. The book's main character, Lily, experiences domestic violence at a young age, witnesses her father's abuse towards her mother, experiences it firsthand, and then ends up in a violent relationship as an adult.[34] As of 2019, the novel has sold over a million copies worldwide and has been translated into over twenty languages.[35]
In 2021, Hoover experienced a surge in popularity due to attention from theBookTok community onTikTok.[33][36] As a result, in January 2022,It Ends with Us was #1 on theNew York Times Best Seller list.[37] Production ona film adaptation ofIt Ends with Us, directed byJustin Baldoni, began in May 2023.[38] It was released in August 2024 to mixed critical reviews but large commercial success, grossing over $350 million worldwide. Hoover has stated, in interviews, that the inspiration for the novel was the domestic abuse that her mother endured.[39] Following the film, numerous studios have shown an interest in optioning some of her other books.[40][41]
A sequel toIt Ends with Us,It Starts with Us, was published on October 18, 2022, by Atria Books.[42]Simon & Schuster released the details of the extensive marketing campaign for the novel, which became the publisher's most-preordered book of all time.[43] Aplanned coloring book forIt Ends with Us was canceled in January 2023 following online backlash due to the novel's subject matter.[44][45]
In October 2022, Simon & Schuster UK acquired two standalone novels by Hoover.[46]
As of October 2022, Hoover has sold more than 20 million books.[4] Reflecting on Hoover's success in 2022, Alexandra Alter ofThe New York Times wrote, "To say she's currently the best-selling novelist in the United States, to even compare her to other successful authors who have landed several books on the best seller lists, fails to capture the size and loyalty of her audience."[4][47]
