For the last couple of months we have heard a lot about Colleen Hoover and her books. A lot of people on the Booktok have found her writing controversial for different reasons and are claiming that people should boycott her books. The way she writes about abusing relationships, romanticize toxic masculinity, and controlling behavior is what readers blame her for.

Others think that we should differentiate the author from the work, and will continue reading CoHo’s because they find her books deeply moving and were not shocked by her words.

“I like how even through the toughest of time she makes her characters still stand up for themselves, be strong, ” Junior Razan Mohamed said.

Many find her topics problematic for the younger readers, especially teenage or young adult women which is, most of the time, Colleen Hoover’s audience. They think that it is a very bad influence for those young women and give a wrong idea of what a relationship should look like.

“I don’t think anyone would want to intentionally encourage, like people in general, to have this things be okay for them. That should not be okay,” Mohamed said.

First of all, a lot of CoHo’s books are supposed to be read by adults, 18+, and when somebody buys a book it is very important to look at the appropriate age AND look at the TWs (Trigger Warnings) before. Then if you think you are mature enough and take the decision to read the book even though it is not advised  to you, then I think it is on you. You can’t blame an author because you read a book that is not appropriate for your age.

About the content, in my opinion I do enjoy it, but it is true that the males characters are not my favorite. The toxic masculinity is sometimes put forward and I don’t support that but I am mature enough to understand that books are not real life. Also, her books deal with deep contents that can be traumatizing for some people. “Verity” is the perfect example, and one of my favorite of hers. It is completely different than what she usually writes, this book is a thriller, there’s a lot of suspense and plot twists but also a lot of TWs such as murder, violence, and abortion.

It is up on you to decide if you want to keep reading her books, I personally don’t mind it but I do understand why it could disturb some people.