Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - It Starts with Us

I thoroughly enjoyed this book just as much as the first one! I loved this series overall, because it gives us insight into the life of domestic abuse and how not everything is black and white, and even after you leave the relationship, the abuser/partner are still present in your life.

I honestly thought Ryle would be more present in this book, but his character doesn’t really develop and still makes you annoyed with him. I loved the inclusion of Josh and Theo and getting to learn more about Atlas. Atlas was the perfect boyfriend/partner anyone could ask for. I found this book funnier than the first, and I especially loved Theo’s cheesy jokes about Finding Nemo. I also loved that Allysa and Marshall supported Lily and not Ryle simply because he’s family.

The only thing unbelievable in this book is that Ryle had never seen Finding Nemo until that moment at Allysa’s place.

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chelle's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

I am glad she did a sequel to “It ends With Us” but I did find it a hard to believe story for the most part. A little bit too “it works out for everyone in the end” for me. Atlas does not seem like a realistic character. Very Gatsby waiting for Daisy.

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stephanieluxton's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book picks up basically where we left off It Ends With Us.

I found this book to be a relaxing read. It's not as exciting as the previous book and I believe the reason for that is that Lily's character arc is already complete.

This book is different because it jups back and forth between Lily and Atlas's perspectives. I didn't like that very much. It was fairly necessary to tell a bug chunk of the story but I just felt it took away all the tension from their relationship.

That being said, this is not a spicy book. There is very little spice.

This book is about Lily navigating co-parenting with a narcissist and dating again. It's also about Atlas navigating his own problems with his business and family. It's about moving forward after life has been messy and picking up the pieces.

This is one of those books in which the story wasn't stand-out and might not be particularly memorable 6 months from now, but I did enjoy the process of reading it and I do think there's a demographic of people with similar life experiences that it'll really resonate with.

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