Margaret Colleen Hoover (born Margaret Colleen Fennell on December 11, 1979) is an American writer who mainly creates books in the romance and young adult fiction genres. She is most famous for her 2016 book It Ends with Us. Many of her books were published on her own before a publishing company chose to publish them. As of October 2022, Hoover had sold about 20 million books. In 2023, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Early and personal life

Hoover was born on December 11, 1979, in Sulphur Springs, Texas, to Vannoy Fite and Eddie Fennell. She grew up in Saltillo, Texas. She graduated from Saltillo High School in 1998. She married Heath Hoover in 2000. They have three sons. She graduated from Texas A&M University–Commerce with a degree in social work. Hoover worked in social work and teaching before starting her career as an author.

Career

In November 2011, Hoover began writing her first novel, Slammed, without planning to publish it. She was inspired by a lyric from an Avett Brothers song: "decide what to be, and go be it." She used lyrics from the same song in her story. Hoover self-published Slammed in January 2012 so her mother, who had just received an Amazon Kindle, could read it. A sequel, Point of Retreat, was published in February 2012. After a few months, a book blogger named Maryse Black gave Slammed five stars, and sales for Hoover’s first two books quickly increased. Slammed and Point of Retreat reached #8 and #18, respectively, on the New York Times Best Seller list in August 2012. Atria Books republished the novels on August 10, 2012. A third book in the series, This Girl, was published in April 2013. After the success of Slammed, Hoover quit her job in social work to become a full-time writer.

Hoover’s novel Hopeless was self-published in December 2012. It features a girl who was homeschooled during elementary school before attending a public high school. The book reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list and stayed there for three weeks. It was the first self-published novel to ever top the list. A companion novel, Losing Hope, was published in July 2013.

Finding Cinderella is a free novella Hoover published in 2014. It includes characters from her novels Hopeless and Losing Hope. A paperback version was released with bonus features, such as a new ending and Hoover’s own "Cinderella story." Maybe Someday, published in March 2014, is the first book in a series about a boy

Awards and achievements

In the year 2022, Hoover had six of the top ten positions on the New York Times paperback fiction bestseller list.

• Slammed (ranked #8)
• Point of Retreat (ranked #18)
• This Girl (ranked #9)
• Hopeless (ranked #1)
• Losing Hope (ranked #6)
• Maybe Someday (ranked #3)
• Ugly Love (ranked #4)
• Confess (ranked #4)
• November 9 (ranked #9)
• It Ends with Us (ranked #1)
• Verity (ranked #2)

Works

• It Ends with Us (2016)
• It Starts with Us (2022)

• Slammed (2012)
• Point of Retreat (2012)
• This Girl (2013)

• Hopeless (2012)
• Losing Hope (2013)
• Finding Cinderella (novella; 2013)
• All Your Perfects (2018)
• Finding Perfect (novella; 2019)

• Maybe Someday (2014)
• Maybe Not (novella; 2014)
• Maybe Now (2018)

• Slammed (2012)
• Point of Retreat (2012)
• Hopeless (2012)
• Losing Hope (2013)
• Finding Cinderella (novella; 2013)
• This Girl (2013)
• Maybe Someday (2014)
• Maybe Not (novella; 2014)
• Ugly Love (2014)
• Confess (2015)
• November 9 (2015)
• Never Never (2015, digital; 2023, physical) three-part novella series with Tarryn Fisher
• It Ends with Us (2016)
• Too Late (2016)
• Without Merit (2017)
• Maybe Now (2018)
• Verity (2018)
• All Your Perfects (2018)
• Regretting You (2019)
• Heart Bones (2020)
• Layla (2020)
• It Starts with Us (2022)
• Reminders of Him (2022)
• Woman Down (2026)

• "A Father's Kiss" from The Kiss (An Anthology of Love and Other Close Encounters)
• "Saint" from One More Step (An Anthology)
• "The Dress" from Two More Days (An Anthology)