It Ends With Us: Special hardback edition of the global runaway bestseller (Lily & Atlas, 1)

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It’s a running joke with my friends/family/co-workers that I have a robot heart. And for the majority of the time it’s true. I generally experience two emotions – happiness and annoyance. But even a robot like me can be manipulated into having a feeling/crying the ugly tears like a Kardashian once in a blue moon (*cough Me Before You cough*). This time, though? It was like a flashing neon sign . . . . I wanted one more baby even though my husband didn't. I wanted one more baby when there are women out there that can't have any at all. With no prior knowledge of the plot of the story, I finally caved in and read the book in a total of two days. One notable quote from the book is, “no matter how convinced you are that your life will turn out a certain way, all that certainty can be washed away with a simple change in tide”. And Hoover has undoubtedly influenced the tide of popular literary culture since its release, riding the waves onto every WHSmith shelf and Waterstones table in the past year. Her delicate exploration of domestic violence widens the scope for greater understanding of ‘why women stay’, a challenging and irresolute question that has no singular answer. In regards to Ryle’s trauma, it is something that he weaponizes to manipulate and guilt-trip Lily. It does not excuse the abuse and I think it’s gravely concerning for people to blame the abuse on his trauma. Although it’s understandable to feel bad for what he had to go through, it is all used to manipulate and abuse Lily.

It Ends With Us | Book by Colleen Hoover | Official Publisher

then there's atlas, who i felt had more depth than ryle and lily but also not thaaaat much. he was probably my favorite character, but i felt his story (the letters) were kinda.. anti-climactic? their relationship was confusing to decipher, but i still loved them. it made me sad to think lily didn't end up with atlas IN THE FIRST PLACE but i guess that would make the whole purpose of the book redundant. i don’t think this book could have been written more perfectly. from the writing, the plot, to characters…nothing is fabricated. it is raw emotion and realistic.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.

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I'm not even going to add the blurb or tell you what this book is about. It's a Colleen Hoover book. That should be enough to tell you it's amazing. But I really feel that you should just dive into this book without knowing anything about the plot. To be honest, I'm the usually the kind of reader who likes to know every little thing about what to expect in advance, but I've really learned to trust Colleen's writing and her storytelling so even I went into this book without knowing anything at all... and I was blown away by the story! the main plot revolves around abusive and toxic relationships within families. it really opened my eyes to the emotions of those in these types of situations and helped me gain a lot of perspective. because of this, i think it's important to read this, but it's not enjoyable. it's definitely a really frustrating process to read. Over a matter of several hours, I slowly woke up from surgery and at one point I remember sitting there and just staring at the wall paper in my hospital room. My suggestions if you're going to read this book: have a box of tissues ready and don't skip the author's note at the end. I sobbed my way to the finishing line, then read the author's note and sobbed some more. This is a riveting and worthwhile read, though at times difficult, and it showcases Colleen Hoover at her best, taking her contemporary new adult genre and elevating it to soaring heights. Furthermore, although I understand that Colleen “wanted to write something realistic to the situation my mother was in – a situation a lot of women find themselves in”, I feel that Ryle was very different to her father. This coming explanation is just my presumption and random thought process. I could have greatly misinterpreted what Colleen went through and I do not mean to be disrespectful. I do not doubt that domestic abuse can be very different, but I believe the fact that Colleen’s father was an alcoholic has a huge impact on her final opinion of him. One could argue that her father needed help, and that although he is to blame, it did not come purely from malintent and manipulation. I am not saying that he is redeemable by any means, only that part of the violence can be due to an unintentional factor. Ryle still ends up having custody over the baby. This is infuriating to me. But we see that she wrote it this way because Colleen still had a relationship with her abusive father after her mother divorced him. Then we have the way that Colleen's father continues to (in my opinion) manipulate her by showing kind, good aspects of himself, like agreeing and encouraging Colleen’s stepfather to walk her down the isle rather than him. Just a thought or something to possibly consider.Another thing that I found to be really damaging about this book is the audience. There is this #coquette aesthetic on tiktok that I am sure you are aware of. I really to like the look of it etc. But it is a theme among this aesthetic to read books like "It Ends With Us" and "Lolita". I believe both of these texts are greatly misinterpreted, especially considering that it is often young girls who are reading these books from the ages of 11-15. Ignoring Lolita as that is a different topic, I am nearly certain that these girls buy books like “It Ends With Us” purely for the cover. It's pink. And it fits the aesthetic. I dove into the book thinking it was going to be a simple love story or a cheesy romance novel at best. I was embarrassingly mistaken when I found myself crying in my room after reading the incredibly personal and vulnerable author’s note Hoover had left for her readers. there were two romantic tropes that bothered me because i don't like the tropes themselves and because i didn't think it was executed THAT well: insta-love and love triangle. And in this book, we see Ryle presented as, not a bad person, instead, only a "person who does bad things". Now, I've been thinking about this line. I wonder if it was Colleen’s intention to have Ryle say this line to purposefully show how he manipulates Lily into having this mindset or if Colleen really does think this way. Ryle is indeed a bad person, and abuser who is irredeemable. I understand and agree that it is at times, difficult to label someone as “bad” or “good” as it is more complicated than that. But there comes a point, that person is a bad person (for instance, when he tries to horrifically rape her and guilt-tripped Lily with his trauma). Colleen attempts to evoke confliction in the reader by writing in that Ryle donates to charity. Yet, this is not enough. One donation does not make you a good person, especially when compared to the severe harm that you’ve caused others. I cannot believe that after Ryle attempted to rape Lily, there are still Ryle apologists out there. That moment was absolutely mortifying.