Ugly Love: A Novel

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Reminders of Him and It Ends with Us comes a hauntingly seductive tale of love, control, and the devastating secrets that can destroy it all.

When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction.
Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.

Never ask about the past. Don’t expect a future.

They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.

Hearts get infiltrated. Promises get broken. Rules get shattered. Love gets ugly.

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times and International bestselling author of multiple novels and novellas. She lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. She is the founder of The Bookworm Box, a non-profit book subscription service and bookstore in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

For more information and for a schedule of events, please visit colleenhoover.com.

To contact Colleen and her team (Her team's name is Stephanie), please email [email protected]

“Hoover builds a terrific new-adult world here with two people growing in their careers and discovering mature love.” -- Booklist (starred review)

"A must-read book of the year! I loved every word, I felt every moment, and I will never forget this story. I don’t give out a lot of 6 star ratings (in fact this will be the first one I’ve given this year) but the truth is that this book went above and beyond. The story was powerful, the writing was stunning, and the way every single piece of it was woven together was simply breathtaking.” -- Aestas, blog review

“By the end of this book, my heart was aching and rejoicing at the same time from the countless emotions it had been exposed to. This is the sexiest, most heart-wrenching Colleen Hoover book to date—a book that shows us a brand new side of this author’s writing genius, and it is in my humble opinion, her best work thus far.” -- Natasha is a Book Junkie, blog review

“Colleen Hoover once again proves she’s a master storyteller in her best and boldest work to date.” -- Vilma Iris' Blog

“She's done it again, my friends. And to be honest I didn't think she was ever going to write something I loved more than MAYBE SOMEDAY, but I was book hung over for 2 full days after UGLY LOVE.” -- Me, My Shelf, & I, blog review

“I fell in love with this book from the very first chapter.” -- Owl Always be Reading, blog review

"Ugly Love is another hit from Colleen Hoover that will leave your heart open and exposed to the myriad of emotions Tate and Miles' story will inflict upon it.” -- Lovin Los Libros, blog review

“ Colleen Hoover has given us a story that is full of emotion.... she stayed true to her reputation of writing characters that are real and a story that is both compelling and powerful.” -- A Literary Perusal, blog review

"Colleen Hoover just demolished me. Completely and 100% blew me away…not that I’m surprised or anything because she never ceases to amaze me.... I was pulled in from the beginning…and I loved every second of it!” -- True Story Book Blog, blog tour review

"Thank you for another 'rip my heart out' excursion ... and with Ugly Love you somehow managed to do it TWICE! And I loved every bit of it!” -- The Real Housewives of Romance, blog tour review

“If you were to only read one book this year, make that book Ugly Love.... It's definitely my favorite book of all time, and that's not a phrase that I use lightly.” -- Kayla’s Reads & Reviews, blog tour review

“I LOVED this book. I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. to finish it, something I haven’t done in ages.... Ugly Love was a riveting page-turner that I couldn’t put down.” -- Reading Books like a Boss, blog review

“Colleen is an artist. She has this uncanny ability to take normal, everyday words and somehow turn them into the most beautiful poetry I’ve ever read. The beauty of her lyrical writing style made me teary-eyed countless times. She can take something so simple and make it so powerful.” -- Nestled in a Book, blog review

“Ugly Love” by Colleen Hoover is a heartfelt and emotionally intense novel about two people who are drawn to each other for reasons they do not fully understand, even though both are carrying pain they would rather not face. The story follows Tate Collins, a young nursing student who moves in with her brother in San Francisco while finishing her education. She is practical, focused, and trying to build a stable future for herself, but her life changes the moment she meets Miles Archer, her brother’s brooding and attractive neighbor. Miles is an airline pilot, quiet and guarded, and from the beginning it is obvious that something about him is deeply closed off. The connection between them is immediate, but it is not a gentle or easy connection. It is based on attraction first, with emotions waiting dangerously in the background.

Tate and Miles do not begin with a normal romance. Instead, they agree to a relationship built entirely on physical desire, with Miles making two strict rules: Tate must never ask about his past, and she must never expect a future. Those rules set the tone for the novel, because they create a relationship that seems simple on the surface but is actually full of emotional risk. Tate agrees, partly because she is drawn to Miles and partly because she believes she can handle a relationship with clear limits. But as the two spend more time together, the boundaries between physical attraction and genuine feeling begin to disappear. What starts as a secret arrangement becomes much more complicated as Tate finds herself falling in love with a man who refuses to let anyone truly know him.

The present-day story is balanced with chapters from Miles’s past, and those sections slowly reveal why he has become so closed off. Years earlier, when he was a teenager, Miles fell in love with Rachel, a girl who seemed to understand him completely. Their relationship was intense and full of hope, and for a time it looked like they might build a future together. But that future was shattered by tragedy. After they had a son, a terrible accident killed the baby, and Miles was left carrying the burden of that loss and the guilt that came with it. Rachel blamed him for what happened, and that grief destroyed both their relationship and Miles’s ability to believe that love could lead anywhere good. By the time he meets Tate, he has already decided that opening himself up again will only lead to more pain.

This backstory gives the novel its emotional weight. Miles is not simply cold or cruel; he is a man who has been damaged by a loss so deep that he has built walls around himself to survive. Tate, however, does not know the full truth at first. She only sees his distance, his rules, and his occasional tenderness, which only make her want him more. The pain of loving someone who will not fully love back becomes one of the central tensions of the book. Tate wants more than stolen moments and half-truths. She wants honesty, emotional connection, and a future. The problem is that Miles cannot give her that until he learns how to face the past he has buried.

As the relationship deepens, Tate becomes more emotionally vulnerable, while Miles begins to show cracks in the armor he has kept in place for years. Their chemistry remains strong, but the novel is not only about desire. It is about the way grief can freeze a person in time and prevent them from moving forward. Tate’s love for Miles becomes a challenge to his isolation, forcing him to confront the possibility that protecting himself has also kept him from healing. At the same time, Tate must decide whether loving him means accepting the pain that comes with waiting for someone who may never be ready.

The emotional arc of the novel builds toward the point where Miles must finally face what happened to Rachel and his son. Once the truth of his past comes fully into the open, his relationship with Tate changes. He can no longer hide behind silence, and Tate can no longer pretend that love alone can fix everything. The story’s strength lies in the way it ties passion to grief and shows that healing is not quick or easy. Love in this novel is messy, damaged, and difficult, but it is also the thing that gives both characters a chance to move forward.

By the end, “Ugly Love” becomes a story about the cost of carrying pain alone and the risk of letting someone in after being broken. It is emotional, romantic, and heartbreaking in equal measure, with a strong focus on loss, forgiveness, and the hope that love can survive even when life has been deeply ugly. Colleen Hoover tells the story in a way that makes both the romance and the sorrow feel immediate, leaving readers with the sense that real love is not perfect, but it can still be powerful enough to help people begin again.