It Ends with Us

- Colleen Hoover

Albany, WA

September 6, 2022

Goodreads Book Blurb:

Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

Genres:

My Review:

solid, good read:

☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5

Okay, I get why this book is so popular. It Ends with Us is the first good CoHo book I’ve read. I’ve read seventeen of them now, so that’s not great odds, but this one is definitely worth the read.

There is real tension and conflict in this narrative – I felt just as torn as Lily between the right thing and what she wanted to believe. Meanwhile, Alyssa is the best human on the planet and deserves every happiness in the world.

I didn’t love that we learned about her relationship with Atlas through diary entries – I understand why it had to be that way to get to the big moment, but it took me out of the story a bit. I mean, what straight teenage couple has an obsession with Ellen DeGeneres? It is the weirdest journal theme I’ve ever heard of. I wish we got more from adult Atlas, though – it’s hard to consider him a legit option with such limited time with him.

It Ends with Us tells such an important story – which, yes, I know, I can’t believe I’m saying that about a CoHo book either… In many ways, Lily has it very easy. She has incredible emotional support, she’s financially independent, and she has a lot of time and space to make a decision on her own.

Spoiler

Not to mention a partner who will respect her decision and not attempt further violence as vengeance or revenge.

Many people in similar situations are not as lucky. Domestic abuse does not look the same in every situation, and many different stories must be represented so that no one feels alone, trapped, or helpless.

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