Books Like Regretting You: 9 Emotional Romance Reads

Colleen Hoover’s Regretting You is one of her most beloved novels for a reason: it tells its story of grief, betrayal, and second chances through two perspectives — a mother and her teenage daughter — and earns every tear. The dual viewpoint, the emotional gut-punches, and the romance threaded through real heartbreak are pure Hoover. If you finished it and want more books that wreck you and put you back together, these nine deliver.

Here is a quick comparison, followed by where to start with each.

Books Like Regretting You at a Glance

What These Books Share

What unites these reads is the particular formula that Regretting You perfects: a love story braided with real grief, told from more than one point of view, and built to deliver an emotional gut-punch you do not see coming. The Hoover titles below share that DNA most directly — second chances, devastating choices, and romance that costs the characters something. The two non-Hoover picks capture different halves of her appeal: Jojo Moyes brings the tears, and Christina Lauren the warmth and banter that lighten the load. It helps to know what drew you in. If Regretting You worked on you because of the mother-daughter heartbreak and the dual perspective, lean toward Reminders of Him and All Your Perfects. If it was the romance itself you came for, Ugly Love and November 9 deliver the swoon. And if you want to see Hoover’s range, Verity swerves into dark, twisty thriller territory. Either way, keep the tissues close — every book here is engineered to make you feel.

More Colleen Hoover

The closest books to Regretting You are the rest of Hoover’s emotional catalogue.

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

A young mother returns to reclaim her place in her daughter’s life after prison, facing a town that has written her off. The themes of motherhood, second chances, and earned forgiveness make it the closest match to Regretting You.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Hoover’s defining novel pairs a love story with difficult, important subject matter and builds to a devastating choice. If you have not read it, it is the essential next stop — see our books like It Ends With Us list for more.

All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover

A married couple’s relationship is tested by infertility and the slow erosion of a once-perfect love, told across two timelines. Quietly devastating, in the same emotional register as Regretting You.

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

A raw, painful romance about two people who agree to keep things casual and fail spectacularly. One of Hoover’s most emotionally intense reads.

November 9 by Colleen Hoover

Two people meet once a year on the same date, and a love story unfolds in annual instalments. Lighter than Regretting You but full of Hoover’s signature twists and feeling.

Confess by Colleen Hoover

A romance built around art and confessed secrets, with Hoover’s trademark emotional turns. A strong pick for readers who love her blend of romance and revelation.

Verity by Colleen Hoover

For Hoover’s darker side, Verity is a lurid, twisty thriller about a hidden manuscript that may be a confession. A change of pace that shows Hoover’s range.

Beyond Hoover: Emotional Romance

Finally, two novels that scratch the same itch from outside Hoover’s catalogue.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

One of the most-cried-over love stories of the century, built on an impossible choice. For Regretting You readers who come for the heartbreak above all, Moyes is the gold standard.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

A warm, funny enemies-to-lovers rom-com, perfect as a palate cleanser after a Hoover gut-punch. Keeps the romance and heart while lightening the mood.

Where to Start

If you want the closest match, read Reminders of Him. For Hoover’s defining novel, go to It Ends With Us. For the ultimate tearjerker, read Me Before You. And for a lighter, happier read, pick The Unhoneymooners. Any of these nine will give you what Regretting You does best: a love story that hurts in all the right ways.

A note for building your Hoover stack: because so much of this list is from a single author, the simplest path is to work through Hoover’s emotional novels in roughly descending order of heartbreak — It Ends With Us, Reminders of Him, All Your Perfects, Ugly Love — saving the lighter November 9 and Confess for when you need to come up for air, and Verity for when you want a complete change of pace. Then branch out to Moyes and Christina Lauren to see how other writers handle the same emotional highs. For more, see our authors like Colleen Hoover guide, our It Ends with Us vs It Starts with Us breakdown of her best-known duology, and our best beach reads roundup.