Get all the Colleen Hoover books with age rating for each book by the popular author who has topped the New York Times bestseller more than any other in recent years.
Colleen Hoover is known for writing contemporary romance novels (and book series) that have become a sensation on Instagram, TikTok, and other social media. As such, a Colleen Hoover book may seem like enticing fiction for kids to read. However, parents may take a common view that her books are NOT for all ages.
In fact, NO Colleen Hoover books are recommended for anyone under age 14. A few are recommended as appropriate for Young Adults aged 14 and over. Most are recommended for Mature Adults aged 17 and over. Lastly, a few are so dark and/or explicit that it’s best that only persons aged 21 and over read them.
Below are all the Colleen Hoover books with the age rating for each book, categorized by Young Adult books, Mature Adult books, and Very Mature Adult Books. Then, get answers to frequently asked questions about these age ratings. Finally, download a free printable PDF checklist of all Colleen Hoover’s books.
Colleen Hoover Books: Age Rating For Each Book
(Note: Anthologies are not included.)
Young Adult: Ages 14+
- Slammed (Slammed Series Book 1 of 3) (2012)
- Point of Retreat (Slammed Series Book 2 of 3) (2012)
- This Girl (Slammed Series Book 3 of 3) (2013)
- Regretting You (2019)
- Heart Bones (2020)
- Never Never (Part 1 of 3) (2015) (co-authored)
- Never Never (Part 2 of 3) (2015) (co-authored)
- Never Never (Part 3 of 3) (2016) (co-authored)
Mature Adult: Ages 17+
- Hopeless (Hopeless Series Book 1 of 4) (2012)
- This Girl (Slammed Series Book 3 of 3) (2013)
- Losing Hope (Hopeless Series Book 2 of 4) (2013)
- Finding Cinderella (Hopeless Series Book 3 of 4) (2013)
- Maybe Someday (Maybe Someday Series Book 1 of 3) (2014)
- Ugly Love (2014)
- Maybe Not (Maybe Someday Series Book 2 of 3) (2014)
- Confess (2015)
- November 9 (2015)
- It Ends With Us (2016)
- Without Merit (2017)
- All Your Perfects (2018)
- Maybe Now (Maybe Someday Series Book 3 of 3) (2018)
- Finding Perfect (Hopeless Series Book 4 of 4) (2019)
- Layla (2020)
- Reminders Of Him (2022)
- It Starts With Us (2022)
Related Post: Trigger Warnings for It Ends With Us | Trigger Warnings for Ugly Love | Trigger Warnings for Layla
For short plot summaries of all the books listed above, check out my full guide to Colleen Hoover’s books.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Colleen Hoover Reading Level
Some Colleen Hoover books are appropriate for 14 year olds. The following Colleen Hoover books are rated as Young Adult books for persons aged 14 and over: Slammed, Point of Retreat, This Girl, Regretting You, Heart Bones, and Never Never (all three parts).
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is appropriate for Mature Adults aged 17 and over. It contains adult themes, including domestic violence, and explicit romantic content.
No. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is not appropriate for children or Young Adults. It is only appropriate for Mature Adults aged 17 and over. It contains adult themes, including domestic violence, and explicit romantic content.
No. Colleen Hoover’s books are too mature for 11-year-olds, as they contain romantic and thematic content that is too complex and advanced for persons that age. All of Colleen Hoover’s books are either a Young Adult reading level (age 14+) or a Mature Adult reading level (age 17+). A few of her books are further recommended to be read by persons aged 21 and over.
No. Regretting You by Colleen Hoover is a Young Adult book for which the recommended reading age is 14 and over. It includes complex thematic content, including tragedy and grief.
No. Verity is recommended only for very Mature Adults to read. The most appropriate reading level is age 21 and over. The book contains very dark and very explicit adult content.
The appropriate age for readers of November 9 by Colleen Hoover is 17 and over. It is a Mature Adult book with complex themes, including tragedy, grief, drugs, and alcohol, as well as romantic content.
The age rating for Slammed by Colleen Hoover (as well as the final two books in the Slammed series, Point of Retreat and This Girl) is Young Adults aged 14 and over.
Bonus: Printable PDF of the Full Colleen Hoover Book List
Download a checklist of all of Colleen Hoover’s books in order of publication date below.
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Conclusion
Now you know the age rating for all Colleen Hoover books.
Related Colleen Hoover Posts
If you liked this post about the Colleen Hoover books’ age rating, check out these posts:
It ends with us
Is the book ‘Reminders for him’ appropiate for +14?
No, Reminders of Him is a “Mature Adult” book for ages 17+.
Is the Confess series appropriate for 14 year olds?
No, Confess is for Mature Adults 17+.
You said young adult is 14+ but that is so not true and I really think you need to change that information because a young adult is aged 18-22. A 14 year old is literally barely a teenager so how can you classify them as a young adult. They probably haven’t even started puberty that much.
The characterization here is based on the book publishing industry’s and the Young Adult Library Services Association’s (a division of the American Library Association) classification that Young Adult books are for persons aged 12 to 18 years.
I do not find her books appropriate for teens Verity very dark child abuse and explicit sex
I agree with most of these. As someone who read layla, november 9, it ends with us, it starts with us, reminders of him, hopeless, losing hope, and a couple others at the age of 13, with these being the first books with any mature themes, they have literally scarred me. I thought I was fine at the time, but, writing this a couple years later, I feel that I was not ready for it then, nor am I ready for it now; they took away my innocence a lot. I was kind of in a reading slump and these were the books I was recommended by YouTube/found at my library. This also happened with “before i fall” (which i read at the age of 10 and discovered what sex and suicide were – how fun). To all the teens out there, sometimes you should actually listen to age ratings 🙂
Thank you so much for your detailed input on this. I hope it helps other parents and kids decide the right age for reading these books.