Reminders of Him Summary Chapter by Chapter | Colleen Hoover
This Reminders of Him Summary Chapter by Chapter focuses on narrative clarity—what happens, when it happens, and how each chapter moves the story forward.
I’ve intentionally separated this detailed breakdown from the broader thematic discussion.
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Book Structure Overview
Total Chapters: 42 chapters
Prologue: None
Epilogue: Yes
Narrative Style: Alternating first-person POV (Kenna and Ledger)
Narrative Flow: Linear progression with emotional revelations unfolding gradually
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Reminders of Him Summary Chapter by Chapter
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This section contains detailed, chapter-by-chapter plot summaries.
Chapter 1: Kenna
Kenna Rowan returns to town after five years in prison.
Her first act is to visit the roadside where her boyfriend, Scotty, died and remove a wooden cross memorial she believes he would have hated.
She rents a sparse apartment, and her landlord forces her to take in a kitten.
Kenna is twenty-six and driven by one goal: to find her four-year-old daughter, Diem, whom she named in prison but has never met. She settles in, determined to “Carpe Diem,” setting her painful mission in motion.
Chapter 2: Ledger
Ledger Ward, owner of a local bar, is intrigued by a mysterious, flustered woman who comes in to write in a notebook. He observes her carefully, overfilling glasses while staring.
She orders only water and Diet Coke, avoiding interaction. Ledger is immediately captivated by her presence but gives her space, deciding to let her be while remaining deeply curious about who she is and why she seems so sad.
Chapter 3: Kenna
Kenna writes a letter to Scotty, noting how the town has changed. She recalls a bleak moment in prison.
At the bar, she asks the bartender (Ledger) for a fancy coffee, which he initially mocks but then surprises her by making. Drinking it, she is overwhelmed by this small kindness and cries.
She observes Ledger’s good looks and fluid movements, feeling a confusing mix of gratitude and attraction.
Chapter 4: Ledger
Ledger watches the woman cry over her coffee, unsure how to react. He notes how her green shirt matches her eyes. She orders wine but stares at it with regret.
Sensing she may struggle with alcohol, Ledger pulls the glass away before she can drink, and she seems relieved.
As she leaves, he impulsively chases her and asks her to come back to the bar later that night, breaking his own rules.
Chapter 5: Kenna
Kenna debates returning to the bar, knowing she should only focus on her daughter. She decides to go back just to reject Ledger and feel in control.
At the bar, he ignores her for a long time, making her second-guess herself. When she gets up to leave, he pointedly tells her to sit back down. She finds his command surprisingly attractive and waits for him to close up, drawn in despite her resolve.
Chapter 6: Ledger
Ledger breaks his “no customers” rule, feeling he has only one chance with this captivating woman.
They share an intense kiss in the bar booth, but she pulls away filled with regret and runs outside crying.
Ledger comforts her with a hug on the street. He drives her home, and in his truck, they kiss again with frantic energy until interrupted by a police car. She declines to see him again.
Chapter 7: Kenna
Kenna writes to Scotty in shock, realizing the bartender is his best friend, Ledger. She recalls her sweet, consuming relationship with Scotty and their first meeting.
The realization that she kissed Ledger makes her feel like a cheater. She fears his hatred if he learns her identity but also wonders if he could be the key to finally seeing her daughter, Diem.
Chapter 8: Ledger
Ledger lives across from Scotty’s parents, Patrick and Grace, to be near Diem. He picks up Diem for a T-ball game, showcasing his deep, paternal bond with the vibrant little girl.
Diem wears red cowboy boots instead of cleats and calls T-balls “dragon eggs.” The chapter establishes Ledger’s central role in Diem’s life and his loyalty to the Landry family.
Chapter 9: Kenna
Kenna searches for work, facing rejection due to her record until a manager named Amy offers her a bagging job. While filling out paperwork at the grocery store, Ledger walks in.
Amy reveals his last name is Ward. Kenna panics, realizing the girl he coaches is likely her daughter, Diem. She flees, filled with a nervous hope that her plan is somehow working.
Chapter 10: Ledger
At T-ball, a coach questions Ledger about the woman in his truck. Later, Diem asks when her “mom” will get a bigger car, revealing that Grace told her a lie about why she doesn’t live with her mother.
Ledger calls Grace, insisting they need a better explanation for Diem. He is left to grapple with the complicated lies surrounding Kenna’s absence.
Chapter 11: Kenna
Kenna, who has never seen a picture of her daughter, takes a cab to the Landrys’ neighborhood. She carries a toy starfish, paralyzed with fear as she imagines Grace’s hatred. Sitting on the curb, she visualizes the tragic night from Grace’s perspective.
As she works up the courage to approach, Ledger suddenly appears and demands to know what she’s doing there.
Chapter 12: Ledger
Ledger realizes the mysterious woman is Kenna Rowan. Furious and feeling betrayed, he physically drags her away from the Landrys’ house to avoid a scene.
He drives her home, yelling that Diem belongs to the Landrys now and she should leave town. Kenna screams and slaps his truck window as he drives off. Ledger is left shaken, struggling to reconcile the broken woman he met with the monster he imagined.
Chapter 13: Kenna
Feeling at rock bottom, Kenna is intruded upon by her teenage neighbor, Lady Diana. Kenna confesses she has a daughter she can’t see.
She writes to Scotty about Diem’s birth and her time in the NICU. She recalls advice from a prison friend named Ivy about living in sadness. Kenna names her new kitten Ivy, symbolizing a small step toward coping with her grief.
Chapter 14: Ledger
Patrick confronts Ledger, terrified Kenna’s presence will destroy Grace. Ledger promises Kenna won’t return. Later, his friend Roman challenges him, arguing Kenna isn’t a cold-blooded murderer and that preventing a mother from seeing her child is wrong.
Guilt-ridden, Ledger goes to check on Kenna and finds her outside with sparklers, pretending to be okay. She mocks his conscience-driven visit.
Chapter 15: Kenna
Kenna reflects on her own childhood in foster care due to her mother’s neglect. She realized she only needed an “adequate” mother.
While pregnant in prison, she contacted her narcissistic mother for help, who refused and cruelly said Kenna would now know how she felt. This history underscores Kenna’s desperate need to be an “adequate” mother for Diem herself.
Chapter 16: Ledger
Helping Patrick build a swing set, Ledger feels “loyalty whiplash” between the Landrys and Kenna. Patrick insists Kenna can never be part of their lives, stating, “She killed our son.”
Ledger shares childhood memories of Scotty with Patrick, who breaks down crying. Ledger begins to wonder if Kenna carries the same unhealed wound as the grieving Landrys.
Chapter 17: Kenna
On her first day at the grocery store, Kenna writes to Scotty, remembering an anniversary and his joking phrase, “Is that a fucking pigeon?”
She sees Ledger’s truck and is anxious. He appears in her checkout lane with cereal. While bagging his groceries and walking them to his truck, she finds one of Diem’s pink scrunchies on the floorboard and secretly keeps it.
Chapter 18: Ledger
Ledger tells Roman that Kenna works at the store and has no car or phone. He admits he’s unsure what’s best for Diem.
Kenna arrives at the bar soaked, asking for coffee and a ride home. In the truck, she asks if he regrets their kiss. Ledger says yes, making the rest of the drive silent and tense as he battles his conflicting feelings.
Chapter 19: Kenna
Kenna admits to sometimes fantasizing about kidnapping Diem but dismisses it as harmful.
She recalls her only, awkward meeting with Scotty’s parents, feeling she never fit into their normal family. She remembers Scotty’s promise of their own future and the humiliation of Grace overhearing them have sex. She feels destined to be an outsider to their world.
Chapter 20: Ledger
Ledger watches Kenna at work.
When Grace and Diem unexpectedly arrive, he panics, trying to usher them away. Kenna spots them, runs to the car, and collapses in agony as Grace drives off.
Ledger takes Kenna home, sees her letters to Scotty in her bag, and confronts her. She describes the pain of never holding her newborn. Moved, Ledger shows her videos of Diem on his phone.
Chapter 21: Kenna
Seeing Diem’s videos stretches open Kenna’s emotional wound. Ledger takes her for food, and she asks if he hates her. He admits he thought she was “disgusting” but now sees her as the “saddest girl.” He explains everyone in court saw her as unremorseful.
Kenna says she was too shattered to defend herself. Ledger asks who benefits from her presence and offers her a job at his bar to save money to leave.
Chapter 22: Ledger
Ledger tells Roman he “fucked up” by hiring Kenna. At the bar, he introduces her to the cook as “Nicole.” He leaves for Diem’s dance recital, where she does her own routine.
Over dinner, Patrick reveals they’ve filed a restraining order against Kenna. Ledger feels like a traitor. Diem tells him she doesn’t want him to move away because she likes walking to his house.
Chapter 23: Kenna
Kenna starts her bar job, noting the higher pay. She bonds with the cook, Aaron. A waitress speculates Ledger hired her to make his ex-fiancée, Leah, jealous. Kenna learns Leah and Ledger broke up because she didn’t want to love Diem as much as her own children.
Ledger is visibly bothered seeing Kenna talk to Roman and accidentally calls her Diem’s “mother,” touching Kenna deeply.
Chapter 24: Ledger
At T-ball, moms gossip about Kenna and the restraining order. Ledger defensively says she isn’t an addict.
He picks Kenna up, warns her about the restraining order papers, and shows her Diem’s dance recital video, making Kenna laugh. Back at the bar, Roman leaves Kenna gluten-free cupcakes. Kenna says she hates music because it’s sad, so a waitress lends her noise-canceling headphones.
Chapter 25: Kenna
Kenna buys her first phone. Her neighbor, Adeline, invites her to a Mother’s Day lunch. Kenna asks Roman to borrow a table.
In his apartment above the bar, Roman explains how Ledger saved him from addiction. Ledger sees them together and corrects Roman for using her real name. Kenna tells Ledger she’s celebrating with other mothers since she can’t with Diem.
Chapter 26: Ledger
Ledger acts like an “asshole,” irritated by Kenna and Roman’s interaction. Roman calls him jealous.
After work, Ledger warns Roman not to start anything with Kenna because she needs to leave. Roman retorts that Ledger is “full of shit” and could have just paid her off if he wanted her gone. Ledger realizes Roman is right—he wants Kenna to stay.
Chapter 27: Kenna
Kenna overhears Ledger’s warning to Roman and feels slapped in the face. In the truck, she gives him her number under the name “Nicole.”
At her apartment, she confronts him, asking if he thinks she’d use Roman. Ledger admits he questioned if their first kiss was authentic. He then confesses he wants nothing more than for her to meet Diem. They kiss intensely but stop because it “hurts enough already.”
Chapter 28: Ledger
Kenna texts Ledger after being served the restraining order at work, humiliated. He finds her walking and takes her for snow cones, his go-to solution for Diem’s problems.
He feels useless against the Landrys’ unwavering stance. This moment shows Ledger trying to comfort Kenna in the only way he knows how, further blending his care for her with his role as Diem’s surrogate father.
Chapter 29: Kenna
At the snow cone stand, Kenna notes Diem’s favorite color is yellow. Ledger takes her to see the new house he’s building. He admits he was supposed to get married that day but has no regrets. He feels guilty about moving away from Diem.
Kenna suggests he sell the new house to stay near her. They hold hands, and Ledger jokes about hiding Kenna until Diem is eighteen.
Chapter 30: Ledger
Ledger tells Kenna she doesn’t have to work and offers her money to leave town. Hurt, she asks if he wants her to go.
A waitress falsely claims Ledger’s ex is at the bar, making Kenna jealous. Ledger clarifies it was a lie to “build angst.” Kenna gives her two-week notice, saying “You know why.” Ledger is filled with an urge to tell the Landrys the truth about her.
Chapter 31: Kenna
Ledger follows Kenna inside her apartment in the rain and asks to read one of her letters to Scotty. She refuses. They discuss Diem’s name and why Kenna pleaded guilty (she was “shattered”). Ledger says he wants to fight for her because Scotty would want him to.
They end up on her inflatable mattress, where Kenna confesses she hasn’t been with anyone since Scotty. They have sex for the first time.
Chapter 32: Ledger
Ledger wakes up admiring Kenna with her kitten, then realizes it’s Mother’s Day. He feels like an “asshole” for not acknowledging it.
He encounters Diem and Grace; Diem asks if she should give her mother flowers. Ledger promises her mother will get flowers. He buys Kenna a vase of flowers, moving her to tears. This gesture is his first real acknowledgment of her motherhood.
Chapter 33: Kenna
Kenna reads Ledger the crucial letter detailing the night Scotty died. They were at a party, stole beer, and drove to a lake. Scotty, more drunk, asked her to drive. She hit a ditch, and the convertible flipped.
Seeing Scotty’s blood, she panicked, couldn’t find a phone, ran a mile home, and fainted. She woke to police and pleaded guilty because she was too broken to defend herself.
Chapter 34: Kenna
Ledger reacts to the letter by throwing chairs and screaming in fury—not at her, but at the tragic injustice.
He holds her face and says, “I’m sorry you lost him,” the first time anyone has acknowledged her loss. He apologizes for being part of the group that tore her down. They have sex in his truck, an act that feels like “forgiveness and promises” to Kenna.
Chapter 35: Ledger
Ledger and Kenna work on his new house’s floors. They end up making out on the unfinished wood. His parents, Benji and Robin, walk in and catch them.
Ledger introduces Kenna as “Nicole,” but his mother recognizes her from the trial years ago. Later, his mother encourages him to “do the right thing,” having seen something “special” in Kenna.
Chapter 36: Kenna
Ledger comes to her apartment, and they kiss with “sad desperation.” He insists they must talk to the Landrys before their relationship goes further.
Kenna argues against wasting time on an uncertain future. They have urgent sex. Kenna admits she’d have fallen for him regardless of Diem but fears the Landrys’ decision, even if it hurts her, might be the right one.
Chapter 37: Ledger
Ledger decides to confront the Landrys.
After dropping Kenna at work, he finds Patrick waiting. Patrick saw Ledger’s truck at Kenna’s and recognizes Diem’s car seat. He asks if Ledger is sleeping with her and punches him when Ledger tries to explain they were wrong about Kenna. Diem runs out crying. Patrick forces Ledger to choose: “that woman, or Diem.”
Chapter 38: Kenna
Kenna sees Ledger’s black eye and swollen lip.
She understands the Landrys made him choose and asks him for money to leave town immediately, saying, “I can’t stay here.” Ledger begs her to stay, but Kenna insists he must apologize to the Landrys for Diem’s sake.
He throws his credit card and cash on her counter, promising to tell Diem what a wonderful person her mother is.
Chapter 39: Ledger
Ledger goes to the Landrys’ house to see Diem.
While she sleeps, he uses her phone to email himself Kenna’s letters. He prints the letter about the accident and confronts Patrick and Grace in the kitchen. He tells them they’ve defined Kenna by her worst moment and gives them the letter to read. He leaves, crying, feeling everyone’s future hangs on their reaction.
Chapter 40: Kenna
Kenna is packing to leave when Ledger arrives with Grace Landry. Grace gives Kenna the $4,000 pink-stone ring Scotty bought for her before he died.
Grace says reading the letter gave her “peace” and apologizes for keeping Kenna from Diem for five years. She invites Kenna to dinner, marking the miraculous beginning of forgiveness and acceptance.
Chapter 41: Ledger
At dinner, Diem naturally moves from Ledger’s lap to Kenna’s. In the backyard, Patrick tells Ledger he believes him about Kenna’s worthiness.
A white-and-gray pigeon lands, making Patrick laugh instead of cry—a breakthrough in his grief over Scotty. Later, Ledger tells Kenna he will sell his new house to stay with his “people.” They say “I love you” for the first time.
Chapter 42: Kenna
Kenna and Diem revisit the accident site to re-stake the wooden cross, doing it for Grace’s happiness. Diem wishes for a sibling.
Driving away with Ledger, Kenna turns on the radio and listens to music without sadness for the first time, symbolizing her healing and the new life she has found.
Epilogue
Two years later, Kenna and Ledger are a family with a newborn son named Scotty. Kenna reflects on how the holes left by loss have been filled.
Diem is now seven and has seamlessly integrated Kenna as her mom. Diem has a room in both homes. Kenna rarely writes letters to the late Scotty anymore because her life, finally, is whole.
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