Book Review: It Ends With Us

“Sometimes the one who loves you is the one who hurts you the most” (It Ends With Us – Colleen Hoover). Real and heartfelt are easily the best words to describe Colleen Hoover’s debut novel, It Ends With Us. Colleen’s gut-wrenching novel portrays the emotions and heartache experienced within an abusive relationship. It’s a beautifully complicated story that intensely illustrates domestic abuse all while unveiling the strength in survivors. Published by Atria Books on August 2, 2016, only soon after it would claim the title of the 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance. The book was able to sell over two million copies and is translated into twenty different languages. Although It Ends With Us won the Goodreads Choice Award in 2016, in January 2022, the novel experienced a rise in popularity from the #BookTok community on TikTok where it become #1 on The New York Times bestseller list as well as #1 on The Publishers Weekly adult list. Making it #1 overall in the first six months of 2022. Colleen described this book as “the hardest book I’ve ever written”; as it was based on the relationship between her own mother and father.

It Ends With Us is the story of a young college graduate and entrepreneur. She moves to Boston to open up her own floral business. There she will fall madly for Ryle Kincaid, a handsome surgeon, who is hesitant to have a serious relationship with Lily. However, he eventually falls madly in love with her and so does she, but that’s not the only thing to start falling. Lily and Ryle’s relationship starts falling apart when Lily has a rather unexpected encounter with her first love Atlas Corrigan. Atlas poses a threat to Ryle, and this forces Lily to think about her traumatic childhood, especially when signs of domestic violence appear in Ryle. Lily, throughout the entire novel, made it clear that she wasn’t going to end up staying in an abusive relationship like her mother. Ultimately, she is forced to make a rather challenging decision. 

For those who have already read It Ends With Us and have experienced the emotions of the roller coaster-like story: get excited, because Colleen Hoover has announced a sequel. It Starts With Us will be published in October 2022 where we will get an insight into Atlas’s side of the story. 

Sources Cited:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Ends_with_Us 
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/colleen-hoover/it-ends-with-us/
https://www.julesbuono.com/it-ends-with-us-sequel/