Author Colleen Hoover continuously fails to take romance, domestic violence, and drug use seriously, leaving her impressionable teenage audience with an unhealthy understanding of love.
Hoover has written 26 books, her most popular being “It Ends With Us” which she has sold over 6 million copies of. Most of Hoover’s publications focus on controversial and sensitive topics such as abuse and forbidden love. According to The Straits Times, Hoover “has more than 20 books that feature abuse, or toxic men,” and “in most stories, such behavior is overlooked and depicted as romantic or desirable.”
Many teens read Hoover’s novels in search of beautiful love stories. According to “The Medium,” Hoover’s works can provide readers with a “healthy dose of romance.” However, while these stories may seem wholesome, some of them are based on inappropriate love and domestic violence. Presenting these awful situations in a good light is extremely harmful and damaging, especially for her young adult audience.
Hoover got her start to fame in 2011 with her debut novel “Slammed” which covers the story of a teenage girl, Lakelyn Cohen, who loses her father and falls in love with her neighbor, Will Cooper, who eventually becomes her teacher. Hoover managed to disguise a disgusting love story between a student and a teacher as romantic and beautiful, giving the impression that this type of love is acceptable.
Aside from portrayals of teacher-student relationships, Hoover also paints domestic abuse in a positive light throughout her most famous book, “It Ends With Us.” In the book, the main character Lily Bloom grew up watching her mother be physically and psychologically abused by her father. The abusive cycle continues when she ends up in a toxic relationship with a man named Ryle Kincaid.
Ryle harasses Lily throughout their relationship. Lily has been hit, pushed down the stairs, and assaulted by Ryle. Hoover presents being harassed like this as acceptable. She tells her predominantly female teenage readers to ignore the red flags and to see harassment as how a relationship works.
Throughout “It Ends With Us,” Lily slowly recognizes the signs of abuse but continues to play it off and ignores it. Abuse for Lily is a never ending cycle. Stockholm Syndrome, defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “the psychological tendency of a hostage to bond with, identify with, or sympathize with his or her captor,” is shown through the way Lily brushes off Ryle’s abusive behaviors. Hoover manages to make Stockholm Syndrome look acceptable and even desirable.
According to The Bay Net, it was found that there were over 38 deaths in 2023 in Maryland due to domestic violence. On a national level, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men are victims of interpersonal violence in their lifetimes. With so many people already struggling with abuse, portraying abuse in a relationship in a positive light only worsens this issue.
I am involved in the Youth Leadership Project (YLP) run by HopeWorks, one of the main centers in Howard County for victims of domestic and interpersonal violence. Through YLP, I attend meetings and events that educate teens on these topics. It’s important for teens to know the signs of domestic violence and interpersonal violence.
Although teens are taught some signs of abuse and how to handle it in school, they inevitably pay more attention to what they consume from the media. Teens today learn about relationships and how they should be treated through books and online, giving authors, directors, celebrities, and artists the responsibility to portray healthy love within their works.
Hoover and other authors need to fully realize their power and take the steps to change how they write about love. Hoover needs to take action and realize that her fan base is going to take what they learn from her into their own relationships.
Domestic violence and interpersonal violence statistics will only continue to rise for teens and younger generations if there are no changes made to young adult media. Since it is inevitable to completely avoid media designed for teens like us, we should be aware of the dangers and avoid readily taking in all the information fantasized within the media and romance literature.
