I’ve rewritten this review three times now, and each time I’ve felt it necessary to lower my rating. I don’t intend for this to be a hot take. I’m not trying to be unique or quirky for disliking a popular book but every day I grow more and more concerned with the number of people who misinterpret and romanticize this book. There will be spoilers in this review. at the beginning i told myself i knew what i was in for and i was completely wrong. there are very few times, personally, when a book feels like it’s become a part of you. like you can physically feel it become a core book that you know you’d never stop thinking, talking, and recommending to those that would enjoy it. this is definitely that book

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover - Books-A-Million It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover - Books-A-Million

yes i cried. a lot. all for different reasons but i ended the book with the biggest smile on my face. it truly felt like i was on a journey with Lily, like i was vicariously living through her.

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. Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil co-parenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date. I read this book years ago when it first came out, and I remember thinking highly of it, though not much else. So when I read it again this time, I admit I was shaken by how hard it hit me. I think it's because I'm older now and have more experience with love and relationships, so I'm able to appreciate this story even more. tw: graphic domestic violence, graphic attempted rape, suicide, depression, alcohol abuse, depression Lily grows up in an abusive household. After watching her mother suffer for years at the hand of her father, she tells herself that she'll never allow any man to treat her that way. She grows into a strong and independent woman, leaving behind the horrors of her childhood...Or so she thinks.

It Ends With Us’ is an - Eagle Eye News [Review] ‘It Ends With Us’ is an - Eagle Eye News

The writing wasn’t something I had a problem with. When I see people criticize Colleen Hoover, it tends to be because they call her writing “wattpad writing” which is stupid, because people will say that any contemporary romance has “wattpad writing”. That’s not a great criticism, they should actually elaborate. Other than the quotes that I’ve disagreed with like “There’s no such thing as a bad person, only people who do bad things”, I found that Colleen Hoover’s writing flows well and that she has some iconic, well thought out quotes. the typical let’s invite my gay best friend as my date to make ryle jealous only for the gay best friend to never reappear again. i smell plot device. 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. It Ends with Us starts out innocently enough. We follow the courtship of Lily and Ryle. He is handsome, successful, and so thoroughly smitten by Lily he can barely think. He makes advances while claiming he doesn't do relationships. She rebuffs him while secretly pining for him. Really, it's all fun and a bit frivolous, your standard romance.Preventing your heart from forgiving someone you love is actually a hell of a lot harder than simply forgiving them.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover | WHSmith

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.you fall in love with Lily. You want the best for her and you fight with her from cover to cover. i adored her character and reading her journey. I’m not going to talk about the actual story at all, but I will speak a bit about the characters. Lily. Speaking of strength, Lily may be the strongest heroine that I’ve read about. Your strength is really tested when you are put in a hard situation where your choices are impossible. I loved Lily so much. I was proud of Lily and the choices she made. I want to be Lily when I grow up. 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. 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! I believe Lily was a strong character to a degree and I agreed with the way she responded to certain things (or I would have done the same), but there are times where I would have been gone, and Lily stayed (like when Ryle begged her for sex). Still, you can really tell she did have a certain level of logic and reason, and tried to confront Ryle.