Books to Read If You Liked It Ends With Us

Right on the edge of the New Adult genre, this book tells the story of Queenie Jenkins, a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London. Queenie is in a constant state of comparison. Comparing herself to her white co-workers, comparing the two cultures she grew up in, comparing life to her family members’. After a messy break-up with a long time boyfriend, Queenie makes a series of impulsive decisions and hooks up with men who take up a lot of brain space, but don’t add much to her life. This behavior sends her spiraling with existential questions and pushes her to make changes in order to answer them. If you liked the journey of self-discovery Hoover’s characters go on, you’ll love Queenie.

If you loved the complicated family and backstory in It Ends with Us, then you might want to give The Serpent King a try. In this young adult novel, Dill is the son of a Pentecostal preacher who handles venomous snakes during church services and encourages Dill to do the same. Vipers at home and church aren’t the only ones Dill has to deal with. Bullies at school single him out because of who his father is. Luckily, he has two close friends, Lydia and Travis, who are also outcasts. Together this group helps each other survive life in rural Tennessee and cope with their looming graduation. None of them know there’s another ending just around the corner that’s going to change everything.

Macey Sorensen is ambitious in every aspect of her life except where her heart is concerned. She’s a new pediatric resident, planning her perfect wedding, and engaged to a safe, financially stable older man. This carefully constructed life, where her heart is safeguarded, is the one she wants; she’s sure of it. When she runs into Elliot Petropoulos, the one and only love of her life, the scaffolding holding up her plans begins to slowly crumble. Years ago, nerdy, gangly Macey fell hard for Elliot during a time when her heart was already hurting after losing her mother. He gently made her believe in taking a chance on love, and on the same night he confessed his love for her, he breaks her heart. This second chance romance is perfect for readers who crave undeniable sparks between characters.

In It Ends with Us, the protagonists deal with domestic abuse, and so does the female protagonist in Long Shot. If you are sensitive to such content, please be aware before reading. August and Iris meet at a sports bar and bond over discussing the basketball game. The chemistry between the two is instant, but Iris is already in a relationship with a baller and doesn’t want to get entangled with another one. Fast forward years later, Iris is trapped in a marriage with the baller she was dating and sees August occasionally at events. He instantly knows something is wrong, but Iris is trapped and can’t tell him how or why for fear of retaliation against her child. This is a beautiful love story that overcomes insurmountable odds.

In this delightful romance, one of the main characters is reluctant about love, just like Ryle. Darcy went on a terrible first date, but just to get her brother off her case about dating, she lies and says the date was a success. Elle, on the other hand, is desperately looking for true love and knows it’s not Darcy for sure. When Elle’s new business partner turns out to also be Darcy’s brother, she’s shocked to hear him excited about her and his sister’s budding romance. She goes along with it because Darcy begs Elle, and plus, she needs her business to thrive. But this fake relationship has a firm expiration date: New Year’s Eve. As the end of the year draws near, they start to realize that some of the fake relationship is turning into real feelings.

Eva Mercy and Shane Hall didn’t expect to meet at a literary event. She writes erotica and he writes sweeping, American fiction. Their chemistry on the panel is more than professional, and everyone in the room can feel it. The thing no one in the room knows is that Eva and Shane spent a sweltering week in June madly in love 20 years earlier when they were teenagers. They try to play it cool on stage, but the heat between them is undeniable, especially because they have secretly been writing to each other in their books. Now another week stretches out in front of them, and Eva doesn’t know if she can trust the man in front of her when the boy of her past broke her heart. If you love the romance in Colleen Hoover books, this one will keep you swooning throughout the entire read.

In this historical novel, Roya works at a stationary shop. The shop owner, a lover of romance, sets Roya up with his favorite customer, Bahman, an activist and Rumi stan. They fall for each other instantly and a few months later, on the night before their wedding, they agree to meet in the town square. But a riot breaks out, and in all the confusion and chaos, Roya loses Bahman completely. She searches and searches but finally decides to move on with her life by going to college in California, then starting a new life with another man in New England. More than 60 years later, fate steps in and reconnects Bahman and Roya. Now she has the chance to ask him questions she’s never asked before. Where did he go? How could he forget her so easily? The fate that brings Atlas back to Lily in It Ends With Us must be the same one acting in this book as well.

This is a YA novel that focuses on loyalty within friendships. All Beth wants is for her tight-knit, five-person friend group to stay together. She has a difficult home life and when she witnesses an act of violence against a boy in the group she has a crush on, Jason, she’s determined to protect him at all costs. They work together to support Jason. But he makes a life altering choice and now Beth and the rest of the group have to decide how much they are willing to give up of themselves for friendship. The bonds in this group make them found family, much like the relationships in It Ends With Us. When friends move to the family category, what can cause them to move back on the outs?

Lily works hard in It Ends With Us to create the life that she wants. In I’m So Not Over You, Kian and Hudson have an opportunity to start fresh and recreate their lives together. Now broken up, Hudson frantically texts Kian to meet him at a cafe. Kian hopes it’s to apologize. Alas, Hudson’s parents are in town and he wants Kian to act like they are still dating, just until they leave. Reluctantly, Kian agrees. At dinner with the parents, they get roped into attending the wedding of the season together. Hudson can’t afford any more dings to his reputation, but Kian isn’t sure this whole charade is a good idea. Old feelings start to resurface and the couple has to get real with each other and themselves about their feelings.

If love-phobic doctors turn out to be your kink after reading It Ends With Us, then you’re going to love Dr. Prem Verma, host of the Dr. Dil Show. Kareena Mann is a hopeless romantic who is trying to keep her parents from selling her childhood home. They agree to give her the house if she gets engaged, but she only has four months to find her soulmate. The last thing she needs is the negative attention she gets from an argument with Prem Verma going viral online, making the only man in her life the one she loves to hate. The bad publicity is hurting the show he’s on and Prem needs the proceeds from it to fund his community health center. When Kareena’s meddling aunties offer to fund the clinic if he convinces her they belong together, it’s an opportunity he can’t refuse. At first, Prem and Kareena seem to disagree on everything. The more time they spend together, the more their feelings change. They have to admit that the passion they feel for each other isn’t burning with hate any more.

Hopefully you’ve found a couple books that will give you the same feelings as It Ends With Us. For more romance, make sure to check out all our wonderful romance lists.