10 Heart-Breakingly Beautiful Books Like It Ends With Us

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover was all over TikTok not so long ago – and we haven’t stopped thinking about the phenomenon since. Like everyone else, I was captivated by Lily’s story of growing up in an abusive situation, only to end up in a similar situation as an adult, to ultimately finding the love she deserves.

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of love stories that leave you sobbing in your bedroom at 2 AM, you’re in the right place!

Our list of 10 books like It Ends With Us has something for everyone. If you loved the darker real-world themes and Lily and Atlas’ story of survival, we have a book for you. If you the loved coming-of-age flashback story, we have a book for you. Or if you loved the friends-to-lovers romance plot, we have a book for you.

Whatever kind of story you’re looking for, you’ll find it with these books similar to It Ends With Us.

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One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Emma and Jesse have been in love since high school. They’ve built a life they love and spend their time traveling, living life to the fullest, and seizing every opportunity for adventure. Everything is going according to plan until their first wedding anniversary when Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific Ocean that goes missing.

Heartbroken, Emma moves back home to begin putting her life back together – where she runs into Sam, an old friend. Years after Jesse’s disappearance, Sam and Emma fall in love and get engaged. It seems like Emma might finally get her second chance at happiness until she gets the news that Jesse has been found alive.

If you want a love story that’s sure to tug on your heartstrings, just like It Ends With Us, you’ll love One True Loves.

And if you are keen to explore more of this author, here’s the full list of Taylor Jenkins Reid books, rated!

In Five Years, Rebecca Serle

This nominee for Goodreads Choice Best Romance (2020) is the perfect follow-up to It Ends With Us.

Dannie Kohan has her entire life figured out. After nailing the most important interview of her career and getting engaged, Dannie is right on track for her five-year plan. But when she wakes up the next morning, she’s in a different apartment, with a different man next to her and a different ring on her finger. She’s somehow woken up five years into the future.

After an intense hour in the future, Dannie wakes up right where she was before in the present, but she can’t seem to shake everything she saw. Determined to ignore the experience and convince herself it was just a dream, Dannie files it away in the back of her mind.

Until four and a half years later when Dannie meets the man from her dream.

Things We Never Got Over, Lucy Score

Another Goodreads Choice Best Romance (2022) nominee, Things We Never Got Over, is the perfect book for readers who love Colleen Hoover.

Knox is a bearded, bad-boy barber who lives alone and doesn’t tolerate drama. Things are going pretty well for him until he meets Naomi, a runaway bride. But Naomi wasn’t just running away from her wedding—she was running to save her estranged twin in Knockemout, Virginia.

Unfortunately for Naomi, her evil twin hasn’t changed at all, and her rescue attempt left Naomi with a stolen car and niece she never knew she had. Now Naomi’s stuck with no husband, job, car, or plan, along with an 11-year-old to take care of. Her life imploded – right in front of Knox. The least he can do is help her out, right?

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

If you loved It Ends With Us for its flashback coming-of-age story, your next read should be Where the Crawdads Sing.

The quiet fishing village of Barkley Cove has been haunted by rumors of the “Marsh Girl” for years. So in late 1969, when popular Chase Andrews is found dead, the main suspect is the barefoot and wild girl, Kya Clark, who’s considered unfit for polite society. But Kya isn’t what the rumors say. Instead, she’s a born naturalist who takes lessons from the land and years for love despite having the skills to live in solitude forever.

Drawn to two young men from town, Kya opens to the world that has shunned her, and the unthinkable happens.

Read this one for book club and use our Crawdads discussion guide. And if you’ve already read and loved this one, here’s a list of other books like Crawdads.

People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry

People We Meet on Vacation is perfect for readers who loved the friends-to-lovers trope in It Ends With Us.

Alex and Poppy are best friends, but they have nothing in common. Poppy is a wild child with an insatiable wanderlust, whereas Alex wears khakis and would prefer a night at home with a good book. They live in different states for most of the year, but for the past decade, they’ve been committed to taking a week-long summer vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything, and haven’t spoken since. In an effort to rekindle their friendship, Poppy convinces Alex to go on vacation with her once again. Now she has one week to fix everything, but ignoring the big silent truth between them proves harder than she thought.

Read this one for book club and use our People We Meet on Vacation discussion guide.

Safe Haven, Nicholas Sparks

True romance readers are no stranger to Nicholas Sparks.

Katie’s mysterious and sudden arrival in the small North Carolina town of Southport raises questions about her past, but Katie seems to be determined not to form personal ties. That is until she’s reluctantly drawn into two relationships: one with Alex, a widowed single-father, and one with Jo, her plainspoken single neighbor.

However, as Katie begins to fall in love, her dark secrets begin to torment her and threaten to shatter her oasis in Southport.

The Love Hypothesis, Ali Hazelwood

Nominated for a Goodreads Choice Best Romance (2021) Award, The Love Hypothesis has taken Book-Tok by storm.

In an effort to convince her friend Anh that she believes in lasting romance, third-year Ph.D. student Olive kisses the first man she sees – the young hotshot professor, Adam Carlson. Adam is also a well-known ass, which is why Olive is shocked when the lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade going and be her fake boyfriend.

When a big conference goes haywire and puts Olive’s career on the back burner, Adam surprises her with his unyielding support and hot body. Suddenly, their experiment feels close to combustion.

The Flatshare, Beth O’Leary

Tiffy and Leon share a flat and a bed, but they’ve never met.

Tiffy needed a flat fast and cheap, so while she’s at work, Leon, who works nights, occupies the flat. Other than that, Tiffy has the run of the place. Their friends think they’re crazy, but the situation works. But both Tiffy and Leon are dealing with their own demons, and they’re about to discover that they might have to throw the rule book out the window.

This heartwarming love story is perfect for fans of It Ends With Us.

This book also makes a good read-alike if you loved Normal People.

A Thousand Boy Kisses, Tillie Cole

Lily and Atlas meet as kids and find their way back to each other as adults – just like the two characters in A Thousand Boy Kisses.

After years away, seventeen-year-old Rune returns to the sleepy town of Blossom Grove, Georgia, where his childhood friend Poppy still lives. But he only has one question: why did the girl who promised to wait for him to return cut him off without an explanation? Rune was heartbroken when Poppy went MIA two years ago, and now he’s determined to find out the truth.

Me Before You, Jojo Moyes

This heartbreakingly romantic novel is the perfect follow-up to It Ends With Us.

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl who takes a job working for Will Traynor, the wheelchair-bound ex-master of the universe. He’s moody and bossy, but Louisa refuses to treat him any different. Soon his happiness means more to her than her own, but when she learns about Will’s shocking plans, she sets out to show him life is still worth living.