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Confess

Confess

A Novel
DramaContemporary Romance
Pages
320
Published
2015
Language
English

Synopsis

Auburn Reed needs the job at Owen Gentry's art studio to maintain the arrangement that keeps her close to the child she loves. Owen, who creates paintings inspired by anonymous confessions submitted through a drop box outside his studio, needs an assistant who won't ask questions. As Auburn begins to understand the secret at the center of Owen's life — and Owen begins to understand hers — their connection deepens in ways that threaten to expose both of them. Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Romance in 2015, Confess was adapted into a 2017 Amazon Prime Video web series of the same name.

Prose complexity
1/10

Vibe

EmotionalRomanticTenseHopeful
Workplace RomanceFound Family

Genres

Drama Contemporary Romance Romance Contemporary Literature

About the author

C
Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover was born on December 11, 1979, in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and grew up in nearby Saltillo. She earned a degree in social work from Texas A&M University–Commerce in 2004 and worked in social work, latterly as a counselor for the federal WIC nutrition program. She began her first novel, Slammed, on a borrowed laptop in 2011, originally intending it as a Christmas gift for her mother, and self-published it in 2012; its word-of-mouth success led to a publishing deal with Atria Books....

Characters

Auburn ReedProtagonist

A young woman focused on one goal that governs every decision she makes.

Owen GentrySupporting

An artist who paints strangers' confessions and hides a connection to Auburn's past.

LydiaSupporting

Auburn's closest ally, who helps her navigate the difficult conditions of her arrangement with her late boyfriend's family.

All characters in Confess

Frequently asked questions

  • What is the anonymous confessions concept in Confess?

    Owen places a box outside his studio where strangers can leave handwritten confessions. He selects confessions and creates paintings from them — capturing the raw emotional honesty of an anonymous statement in visual form. The paintings are displayed and sold at gallery shows.

  • What award did Confess win?

    Confess won the Goodreads Choice Award for Romance in 2015, voted on by Goodreads readers. It was one of the first of Hoover's novels to win a major reader-voted award and significantly expanded her mainstream audience.

  • Was Confess adapted for screen?

    Yes — a web series adaptation aired on Amazon Prime Video in 2017. It starred Katie Leclerc as Auburn and Ryan Cooper as Owen, and was produced as a short-form digital series rather than a feature film.

  • Why is Auburn's situation so constrained at the start of the novel?

    Auburn's access to a child she loves depends on an informal arrangement with the child's father's family. The specifics of that arrangement — and why it gives the family leverage over her — are revealed gradually. Her need to protect the arrangement shapes every choice she makes with Owen.

  • What is the secret Owen is hiding?
  • Is Confess a standalone novel?

    Yes — it is a self-contained story with no sequel and no shared characters with Hoover's other novels.

  • What makes the art-world setting of Confess distinctive?

    Owen's confession-based painting practice is not just a backdrop — it functions structurally. Confessions submitted by strangers become plot-relevant, and the act of bearing witness to others' anonymous honesty parallels what Auburn and Owen must eventually do with each other.

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