I’ve been wondering about this. Colleen Hoover is well known as the sort of poster girl for sloppily written, baffling and aggressively mediocre books.
What was the equivalent to her in previous times? Like the Romantic or Modernist period?
During the the 1890s, what book was considered “embarassing” or super low brow to be caught with (in the same way the book community largely treats It Ends With Us)?
Persephone books has been publishing lots of early twentieth century popular books by female authors. I thoroughly recommend their website, just for the interesting information on these books. Authors like EM Delafield, Noel Streatfield, Dorothy Whipple, and my personal favourite, Monica Dickens
https://persephonebooks.co.uk/pages/book-list
Thank you!!