Reminders of Him

Directed by Vanessa Caswill from a screenplay co-written by Colleen Hoover and Lauren Levine, Reminders of Him (2026) adapts Hoover's acclaimed 2022 novel of grief, motherhood, and grace. The story follows Kenna Rowan, a young woman paroled from prison after serving a multi-year sentence for involuntary vehicular manslaughter that claimed the life of her boyfriend, Scotty Landry. Returning to the town where the tragedy occurred, Kenna harbors one consuming desire: to meet her young daughter, Diem, who was born while she was incarcerated and is being raised by Scotty's grieving parents.

However, Kenna finds that the community and Scotty's parents, Grace and Patrick, have completely closed ranks against her, viewing her as an unforgivable villain. As she struggles to survive in a run-down motel complex and rebuild her life from scratch, Kenna finds an unexpected ally in Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and Scotty's childhood best friend. Unaware of each other's full identity when they first cross paths, Kenna and Ledger develop a tentative, deeply magnetic bond that quickly becomes complicated by shared trauma, hidden truths, and intense social pressure.

As Ledger becomes torn between fierce loyalty to the Landry family and his growing empathy and romantic feelings for Kenna, both must confront the heavy consequences of their choices. Reminders of Him charts a tender, emotionally charged journey about whether love and compassion can dismantle years of bitterness and grant someone a second chance at life and motherhood.

The central thesis of Reminders of Him is that human beings are fundamentally more than the worst mistake they have ever made. Director Vanessa Caswill and screenwriter Colleen Hoover focus on how grief can easily calcify into vindictive hatred, weaponizing guilt to deny someone else's humanity. The film illustrates that true healing is not a tidy erasure of loss, but an act of courage: confronting painful memories, releasing blame, and choosing empathy over retribution.

The film can be interpreted through three distinct perspectives:

Reminders of Him arrived in early 2026 amidst an unprecedented wave of Colleen Hoover cinematic adaptations (following It Ends with Us and Regretting You). The film tapped into the massive #BookTok literary phenomenon, appealing heavily to young-adult and adult contemporary romance readers seeking earnest, emotionally intense melodramas. While some traditional critics critiqued the film's sentimental comfort-oriented narrative, audiences embraced its vulnerability, solidifying Hoover's standing as a major box-office force in contemporary romantic cinema.

Critics and viewers widely praised Maika Monroe's nuanced, soulful lead performance and her grounded chemistry with Tyriq Withers. Tim Ives' widescreen cinematography capturing the rugged Wyoming/Alberta landscapes was also applauded. However, some film critics noted that the screenplay leans heavily into cozy melodrama and 'niceness,' smoothing over gritty realities to ensure a crowd-pleasing resolution. Holding around 62% on Rotten Tomatoes and solid streaming/box-office numbers, the film was hailed as one of the most faithful and emotionally resonant Colleen Hoover adaptations to date.