This Girl

Romance

Print length: 288 pagesAtria Books, 2013

Description

Newly married after surviving severe obstacles, Layken and Will finally have the future they struggled to reach. Yet Layken still wants to understand the parts of Will’s past that he would rather leave behind. When he agrees to recount their relationship from his own perspective, familiar events acquire a second emotional history. Will revisits their first meeting, the painful circumstances surrounding their bond, and feelings he could not fully express at the time, including confessions that complicate Layken’s understanding of their courtship. Framed by their early married life, the novel looks backward to ask how much intimacy depends on retelling shared experiences—and whether knowing everything can strengthen a relationship shaped by difficult memories.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Direct

Pace

Moderate

Tone

Intimate · Melancholic · Reflective · Romantic

Structure

Dual timeline · Framed

Focus

Character · Relationships · Voice

Emotional intensity

4 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

Knowledge and truthLoveMarriageMemoryTrauma

About Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover is an American novelist whose career began with Slammed, written initially without plans for publication and later taken up by Atria Books. After earlier work in social work and teaching, she became known chiefly for romance and young adult fiction; in 2022, her books occupied six of the top ten places on the New York Times paperback fiction bestseller list. Her novels tend to be character-centered, conversational, and dialogue-driven, using intimate relationships to examine trust, autonomy, grief, guilt, and forgiveness. It Ends with Us places romantic attachment against domestic violence and a woman’s effort to establish limits, while Reminders of Him connects love with bereavement, punishment, motherhood, and the difficult prospect of rebuilding a life. Ugly Love and November 9 likewise begin with deliberately constrained arrangements, allowing concealed histories and changing expectations to pressure the bond. Hoover has also moved into suspense: Verity retains a romantic element but shifts toward a remote household, hidden writings, and mounting uncertainty.