Reminders of Him Summary

Reminders of Him alternates between two first-person perspectives, Kenna's and Ledger's:

Structure at a glance

• Kenna's return. Coming home from prison, seeking her daughter
• Ledger's view. Scotty's best friend, torn between loyalty and attraction
• The forbidden connection. Kenna and Ledger grow close
• The letters. Kenna's letters to Scotty reveal the truth of the accident
• Forgiveness and resolution. The Landrys, Diem, and a hopeful ending

Kenna's letters to her late boyfriend Scotty are woven throughout, revealing her inner life and the truth.

This summary of Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover introduces Kenna Rowan, a twenty-six-year-old woman recently released from prison after serving five years for involuntary manslaughter in the death of her boyfriend, Scotty Landry, in a car accident that occurred when they were both intoxicated. Kenna returns to the small town where she and Scotty fell in love, with one overwhelming goal: to reconnect with the daughter she gave birth to while incarcerated and has only met once, four-year-old Diem, who is being raised by Scotty's parents, Patrick and Grace Landry.

The town, however, regards Kenna as a villain, and the Landrys, consumed by grief and blame, are utterly unwilling to let her into Diem's life. Isolated and struggling, Kenna wanders into a local bar, once a bookstore she and Scotty loved, and connects with its owner, Ledger Ward. Ledger was Scotty's best friend and is deeply involved in raising Diem, functioning as a father figure and close ally of the Landrys, but he and Kenna have never actually met, and he doesn't at first realize who she is. An immediate, undeniable attraction sparks between them.

As told in this Reminders of Him summary, when Ledger discovers Kenna's identity, their budding relationship becomes fraught and forbidden. He feels torn between his loyalty to the Landrys and to Scotty's memory, and his growing feelings for Kenna and his sense that she may not be the monster the town believes. If anyone learns that Ledger is seeing Kenna, both stand to lose the trust of the people, and the little girl, they care about most. Meanwhile, Kenna makes painful, halting attempts to prove herself and to be allowed even a glimpse of her daughter, only to be rebuffed again and again.

Throughout the novel, Kenna writes letters to the late Scotty, a practice she began in prison, that gradually reveal her inner life, her enduring love for him, her crushing guilt, and, crucially, the full truth of the night of the accident, a truth the town and the Landrys have never understood. As Kenna and Ledger grow closer and the secret of their relationship becomes harder to keep, the story builds toward a reckoning with grief, blame, and the possibility of forgiveness.

Reminders of Him ends with the truth of the accident finally revealed, the Landrys forgiving Kenna and welcoming her into Diem's life, and Kenna building a hopeful future with Ledger. The turning point comes through Kenna's letters. In them, she recounts what truly happened the night Scotty died: after the crash, a badly injured Kenna believed Scotty was already dead, and, disoriented and hurt, she left to seek help but couldn't find a phone and stumbled home in shock. Only later did she learn that Scotty had actually survived for several hours after the accident, a fact that has tormented her with guilt ever since. Overwhelmed by grief and shame, she had pleaded guilty and never publicly explained her side, which is why the town and the Landrys saw her as someone who callously abandoned Scotty to die.

When the Landrys discover that Ledger has been secretly involved with Kenna, they are furious and feel betrayed. But Ledger, understanding that the truth has been buried under years of misunderstanding, makes the brave decision to share Kenna's letters with Grace, Scotty's mother. Reading Kenna's own words, her love for Scotty and the real story of that night, Grace finally understands that Kenna was never a heartless villain but a traumatized, grieving young woman who made a terrible mistake and has suffered immensely.

The conclusion of this summary of Reminders of Him is hopeful and healing. Grace forgives Kenna and brings her to finally meet and reconnect with Diem, a tender, understated reunion between mother and daughter. Patrick, Scotty's father, is more reluctant, but comes around after seeing the loving way Kenna, Ledger, and Diem interact together. The novel ends with an epilogue set about two years later: Kenna and Ledger are together, living nearby and deeply involved in Diem's life, and they have had a child of their own, a son whom they name Scotty, in honor of the man whose loss brought them all together. The ending affirms the novel's themes: that forgiveness, though heavy, is possible; that people can be redeemed; and that love and understanding can heal even the deepest wounds.

Here are some of the most memorable quotes from Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover. These short verbatim lines capture the novel's themes of love, loss, and forgiveness:

"There was before you and there was during you. For some reason, I never thought there would be an after you."

"Grudges are heavy, but for the people hurting the most, I suppose forgiveness is even heavier."

These Reminders of Him quotes are widely shared: the first, from Kenna's letters to Scotty, poignantly captures her grief and the impossibility of imagining life after losing him, while the second distills the novel's central meditation on forgiveness, that letting go of blame is often harder and heavier than holding onto it, especially for those, like the Landrys, who are hurting most.