Brief
Colleen Hoover shares six books that shaped her writing
Hoover lists six novels that influenced her, explaining why each resonated with her creative process.
By Felo News Desk · Published
Vogue’s Required Reading series features bestselling author Colleen Hoover naming six books that have most influenced her work, according to a piece published on October 6, 2026. Hoover, whose recent novel Verity was adapted into a film starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, says the selections span romance, thriller and literary fiction.
She highlights You by Caroline Kepnes, noting how the novel’s interior view of a character’s mind helped her understand the experience of being inside the manuscript‑within‑manuscript structure of Verity. Renée Carlino’s Swear on This Life earns a mention for its meta‑narrative about a woman discovering her own story written in a novel, a premise Hoover calls "brilliant". Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You is praised for its blend of difficult choices, emotional connection and moral ambiguity, elements Hoover finds powerful.
Hoover also recommends Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan, appreciating the author’s willingness to make things hard for her characters, a quality Hoover feels inspires her own writing. Emily Henry’s Book Lovers is described as a "palette cleanser" that makes Hoover happy as a reader, though she admits she wrote Verity before reading Henry. Finally, she cites Tarryn Fisher’s thriller Mud Vein for its captivating sentence structure, isolated setting and haunting love story.
Key facts
- Colleen Hoover listed six books that inspired her writing (vogue.com)
- The books include titles by Caroline Kepnes, Renée Carlino, Jojo Moyes, Kennedy Ryan, Emily Henry and Tarryn Fisher (vogue.com)
- Hoover linked the influence of "You" to the manuscript structure of her novel "Verity" (vogue.com)
Sources
- [1] vogue.com — originally reported as “Required Reading: 6 Books That Changed Colleen Hoover’s Life”
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