Toronto Star bestsellers: A new Colleen Hoover thriller, Oprah hits the non-fiction list

Perennial multi-million-seller Colleen Hoover returns with “Woman Down,” a thriller about an author trying to restart her career after internet backlash over the latest film adaptation of her work gives her a massive case of writer’s block — until an extramarital affair gets her writing again. 

Your ears might perk up at the film adaptation part given that a court battle is currently raging between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, the star and director of the movie version of Hoover’s “It Ends With Us”; and that the film resurfaced criticisms of the way Hoover writes about domestic violence.

Nonetheless, Hoover said in an author’s note that “Woman Down” is not “a replica of my journey or my morals, nor is it a reflection of how I feel about my peers and/or this industry,” as per Slate. Take that as you will.

There is another new novel — also not about hot hockey players — on the Canadian fiction list.

Emily Austin, the Ottawa author known for “Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead” and “Interesting Facts About Space,” returns with “Is This a Cry for Help?”

Its heroine is a librarian who returns to work after a mental breakdown to be met by protests demanding book bans.

It’s “a moving portrait of queer life after coming of age (that) also powerfully explores questions about sexuality, community and the importance of libraries,” says publisher Simon & Schuster.

There’s also a new entry of note on the Canadian non-fiction list.

Canadian filmmaker Shelley Saywell, known for documentaries like “Crimes of Honour” and “In the Name of the Family,” has authored “If Only Love: A Memoir of Second Chances.”

It’s about the short-lived, teenage love affair between Saywell and the American boy she meets while going to school in Japan in 1973, and what happens when they reconnect 30 years later.

Finally, Oprah Winfrey hits the original non-fiction list with “Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It’s Like to Be Free.”

Co-written with Dr. Ania Jastreboff, the book is partly a memoir about Winfrey’s own struggles with on-again, off-again weight loss — which culminated in her turning to medication — and partly a self-help book for other people dealing with the disease of obesity, and the resulting shame and self-recrimination.

CANADIAN FICTION

1. Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina

2. The Long Game, Rachel Reid, Carina

3. Game Changer, Rachel Reid, Carina

4. Hollow (deluxe limited edition), Celina Myers, Hanover Square

5. Tough Guy, Rachel Reid, Carina

6. Role Model, Rachel Reid, Carina

7. Common Goal, Rachel Reid, Carina

8. Is This a Cry for Help?, Emily Austin, Scribner

9. The Black Wolf, Louise Penny, Minotaur

10. Pick a Colour, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Knopf Canada

CANADIAN NON-FICTION

1. The Wealthy Barber, David Chilton, Financial Awareness

2. Book of Lives, Margaret Atwood, McClelland & Stewart

3. If Only Love, Shelley Saywell, Random House Canada

4. Sorry, Not Sorry, Mark Critch, Viking

5. One Day, Everyone Will have Always Been Against This, Omar El Akkad, McClelland & Stewart

6. North of Normal, Cea Sunrise Person, HarperCollins Canada

7. Vanished Beyond the Map, Adam Shoalts, Allen Lane 

8. We Breed Lions, Rick Westhead, Random House Canada

9. The Smiling Land, Alan Doyle, Doubleday Canada 

10. Values, Mark Carney, Signal

ORIGINAL FICTION

1. Woman Down, Colleen Hoover, Montlake Romance (1)*

2. Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina (4)

3. The Long Game, Rachel Reid, Carina (3)

4. Game Changer, Rachel Reid, Carina (2)

5. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown (2)

6. Tough Guy, Rachel Reid, Carina (2)

7. The Devil’s Daughter, Danielle Steel, Delacorte (1)

8. Role Model, Rachel Reid, Carina (2)

9. The First Time I Saw Him, Laura Dave, Scribner (2)

10. Common Goal, Rachel Reid, Carina (1)

ORIGINAL NON-FICTION

1. The Wealthy Barber, David Chilton, Financial Awareness (8)

2. Enough, Oprah Winfrey, Ania M. Jastreboff, Avid Reader (1)

3. Nobody’s Girl, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Knopf (12)

4. 1929, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Viking (11)

5. Book of Lives, Margaret Atwood, McClelland & Stewart (10)

6. If Only Love, Shelley Saywell, Random House Canada (1)

7. The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt, Penguin (64)

8. Sorry, Not Sorry, Mark Critch, Viking (6)

9. Notes on Being a Man, Scott Galloway, Simon & Schuster (6)

10. One Day, Everyone Will have Always Been Against This, Omar El Akkad, McClelland & Stewart (29)

CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULT

1. Talons of Power (Wings of Fire #9), Tui T. Sutherland, Mike Holmes, Graphix

2. Big Jim Believes (Dog Man #14), Dav Pilkey, Graphix

3. Partypooper (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #20), Jeff Kinney, Amulet

4. For the Fans! (KPop Demon Hunters), Angela Song, Golden Books

5. Powerless, Lauren Roberts, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

6. Little Blue Truck’s Valentine, Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry, Clarion

7. Love You Forever, Robert Munsch, Sheila McGraw, Firefly

8. Vortex of the Chaos Dragon (Dragon Masters #30), Tracey West, Graham Howells, Scholastic

9. Darkstalker (Wings of Fire: Legends), Tui T. Sutherland, Jake Parker, Graphix

10. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle, Penguin Young Readers Group

BUSINESS AND PERSONAL FINANCE

1. Atomic Habits, James Clear, Avery

2. The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel, Harriman House

3. The Atomic Habits Workbook, James Clear, Avery

4. Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert T. Kiyosaki, Plata

5. The Art of Spending Money, Morgan Housel, Portfolio

6. Hidden Potential, Adam Grant, Penguin

7. The Simple Path to Wealth, J.L. Collins, Authors Equity

8. How to Be a Rich Old Lady, Amanda Holden, Avid Reader

9. Unreasonable Hospitality, Will Guidara, Optimism

10. Start With Why, Simon Sinek, Portfolio

*Weeks on list

The bestseller lists are compiled by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited from information provided by BookNet Canada’s national sales tracking service, BNC SalesData.