“You’ll never be able to find yourself if you’re lost in someone else.”
November 9 is a New York Times bestselling new adult romance book by Colleen Hoover. The story follows Fallon who meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her planned move cross-country. Despite the difficult timing, their attraction leads to them spending the entirety of Fallon’s last day in Los Angeles together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration that Ben has been waiting for his novel. As time passes and the pair navigate new relationships and challenges in their life, they continue to meet on the same day every single year. That is until Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth, or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist. If you loved Colleen Hoover’s gripping tale, join us today at What We Reading for the best gripping, dark and tear-jerking romance books like November 9!
Ugly Love – Colleen Hoover
Kicking off our list of books like November 9 is another one of Colleen Hoover’s best books, Ugly Love. When Tate Collins encounters airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it is far from love at first sight. They wouldn’t even consider themselves to be friends. The only thing that Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable pull for one another.
Once their desires are out in the open, they realise that the perfect scenario is right in front of them. He doesn’t want love, and she doesn’t have time for it. So, they embark on a fiery, no-strings-attached romp together. Miles only has two rules that Tate has to adhere to: never ask about the past, and don’t expect a future. They believe they can both handle things, but it doesn’t take long for both of them to realise that is far from the case.
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Archer’s Voice (Where Love Meets Destiny #1) – Mia Sheridan
When Bree Prescott arrives in Pelion, Maine, she hopes that this sleepy lakeside town is the place where she will finally find some peace. Her first day there sees her life collide with Archer Hale, a reclusive man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man that no one else is able to see.
Similar to November 9, Mia Sheridan’s Archer’s Voice is the story of a woman shackled to the ghosts of the past and one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is a story of a silent man who lives with a deep wound, and the love of a woman who helps him find his voice.
Seven Days In June – Tia Williams
Nominated for Best Romance in the Goodreads Choice Awards, Seven Days in June is a 2021 contemporary romance book by Tia Williams. Brooklyn native Eva Mercy is a single mother and a bestselling erotica writer. Shane Hall is an introverted award-winning literary author who, to everyone’s amazement, winds up in New York. When the pair unexpectedly meet at a literary event, sparks between them instantly begin to fly, raising the eyebrows of New York’s Black literati.
What the world doesn’t realise is that Eva and Shane have a long history. After a crazy week as teens twenty years ago, their chemistry remains undeniable and they have been secretly writing to one another in their books ever since. Over the next seven days, Eva and Shane reconnect, though Eva isn’t sure she can fully trust the man who broke her heart the first time around without getting some answers first. Like November 9, Seven Days in June takes a view into the writer’s world and explores betrayal, Black culture and the condition of modern motherhood.
One Day – David Nicholls
If you loved the cute storytelling device of Fallon and Ben meeting up on the same day every year in November 9, One Day by David Nicholls needs to be on your TBR list! The story kicks off on July 15th 1988 when Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow, they have to go their separate ways. However, they cannot stop thinking about each other.
Over the next two decades, snapshots of that very relationship are revealed on the same day – July 15th – of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And, as the true meaning of this one crucial point in their lives is revealed, they are forced to confront the nature of love and life itself.
In Five Years – Rebecca Serle
After acing the most important interview of her career and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Manhattan lawyer Dannie Konan goes to bed knowing that her life is on the right track. But, when she wakes up, she finds herself in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a totally different man. Thanks to the television on in the background, she manages to make out that it is the same night, but five years later.
After an intense and thoroughly shocking hour in the future, Dannie wakes again, but this time back in the present. She is unable to shake what has just happened. She isn’t the type to believe in visions, but the whole experience felt so much more real than just a dream. Nevertheless, she shelves it and moves on. That is until four and a half years later when she encounters the same man from her vision. Like November 9, In Five Years takes a snapshot of a window of time for a love story about loyalty, friendship and the nature of destiny.
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One True Loves – Taylor Jenkins Reid
In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They construct a life for themselves, far from the expectations of their parents and the residents in their Massachusetts hometown. They travel across the world together, living life to the absolute fullest and seizing every chance they get at adventure. On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is flying over the Pacific when the helicopter carrying him disappears. In a moment, Jesse is gone forever.
Emma quits her job and moves back home in an effort to stitch her life back together. Years later and now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and feels the familiar sensation of falling in love overcoming her again. When the two get engaged, it feels like a second chance at happiness. That is until Jesse is found, and returns home. With a husband and a fiance, Emma is forced to decipher who she is and what she wants, all whilst trying to protect the ones she loves in Taylor Jenkins Reid’s One True Loves.
A Year To The Day – Robin Benway
It’s been a year of missing Nina. A year of milestones and celebrations without her. Leo feels like she should remember what happened that night. Yet, all she can recall is leaving the party and getting into a car with Nina and her boyfriend, East.
East, who once promised Nina that he would look out for her younger sister. East, who has been striving to keep that promise ever since. But East has so far refused to give Leo the one thing she needs more than anything – he won’t tell her anything about the accident. As the days tumble one into the next, Leo’s story comes together as her world falls apart. The only constant is the one person who can help her carry this heavy burden, however, East might be carrying a gruelling burden of his own. Tender and tear-jerking, Robin Benway’s A Year to the Day is the perfect follow-up for anyone who loved November 9.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
