Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover: What You Need to Know

What Reminders of Him Is About

Kenna Rowan has just been released from prison. She served five years for a crime that killed the man she loved. Now she wants one thing: to meet the daughter she's never been allowed to know.

Her daughter Diem is four years old. She's being raised by her late father's parents, the Landrys. They don't want Kenna anywhere near her. They blame her. That's fair. Kenna blames herself too.

Then there's Ledger Ward. He was Scotty's best friend. He tends bar in the same small town. He knows exactly who Kenna is. He shouldn't help her. He knows he shouldn't. He helps her anyway.

The book is told from two points of view — Kenna and Ledger. Both of them are trying to do right by a man they both loved. Both of them are falling for each other in the middle of that grief. It's complicated. It's messy. It feels real.

Why Readers Love It

This book made a lot of people cry. That's not an exaggeration. CoHo fans often say it's the one that hit them hardest. The reason isn't the romance. The romance is good, but the thing that gets you is Kenna's grief.

It's worth noting how different this is from Hoover's early work. Her first books — the Slammed series, for example — are slower and more poetry-driven. They follow young characters dealing with grief and early guardianship. Reminders of Him is sharper. It hits differently. If you've read her Slammed books and want to see how much her writing changed, this is a clear example. We have a full breakdown of Point of Retreat, the second Slammed book, if you want to compare.

She made a terrible mistake. She paid for it. She's still paying for it. The book doesn't let her off the hook. But it also doesn't make her a villain. She's a mother who has never held her child. That's a specific kind of pain. Hoover writes it honestly.

Ledger is a strong character too. He's caught between loyalty to his dead best friend and real feelings for the woman that friend loved. He's not perfect. He makes wrong calls. That makes him easy to root for.

The Audiobook

The Reminders of Him audiobook is available on Audible and other major platforms. It uses two narrators — one for Kenna, one for Ledger — which suits the dual point-of-view format well.

A lot of readers prefer Colleen Hoover audiobooks for emotional books specifically. When a scene hits hard, having a voice carry it can make the experience more intense. Some listeners say they cried more with the audio than they would have reading on the page. Whether that's a warning or a recommendation depends on the person.

Most of Hoover's major titles are available as audiobooks. If you're new to her work and prefer audio, Reminders of Him is one of the better starting points.

How It Compares to Verity

Many readers come to Reminders of Him after hearing about Verity, or the other way around. They're both Colleen Hoover. That's where the similarity ends.

Verity (originally 2018, re-released widely in 2021) is a psychological thriller. Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling author hired to ghostwrite the remaining books in Verity Crawford's bestselling series. Verity herself is incapacitated after an accident. Lowen moves into the Crawford home. She finds a manuscript — a private autobiography Verity never meant anyone to read. What's inside it is genuinely disturbing.

Lowen also falls for Verity's husband, Jeremy. That adds a layer that makes the whole thing harder to untangle.

The ending is intentionally ambiguous. Readers still argue about what actually happened. That unresolved quality is part of what makes it stay with you.

Reminders of Him is grief and hope. Verity is dread and doubt. They require different moods. If you've finished Reminders of Him and feel ready for something darker, Verity is worth reading — but go in without knowing the ending in advance. We have a full Verity summary with spoilers if you want the complete breakdown.

Authors Like Colleen Hoover

If you've finished Reminders of Him and want something similar, these are the names that come up most often among CoHo readers.

Emily Henry is the most common recommendation. Her books have the same emotional pull and sharp dialogue. Book Lovers and People We Meet on Vacation are good starting points.

Taylor Jenkins Reid writes in a different style but hits with similar emotional weight. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is the one most CoHo fans end up loving.

Ana Huang is popular with readers who like the spicier side of contemporary romance. Her Twisted series is a good fit if that appeals to you.

Kristin Hannah is worth mentioning for readers who want something heavier. The Nightingale is not a romance, but it has the kind of emotional devastation that CoHo readers often seek out.

Start with one. See what fits. Colleen Hoover fans tend to read widely once they find a style they connect with.