Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - It Ends with Us

Lily is a young woman who has grown up in an abusive household where her father regularly would beat her mother and the book starts with the death of her father, for which Lily feels no grief. After the funeral, she meets Ryle who is a charismatic neurosurgeon and they have an instant attraction but he is opposed to commitment and therefore the relationship does not progress.

Later, Lily achieves her dream of setting up her own floristry business and becomes friends with a rich friend Alyssa, who she later discovers is Ryle's sister, thus her relationship with his restarts. This progresses to a serious relationship, resulting in the couple moving in together and later getting married. However, during this time there are frequent episodes of Ryle getting angry and assaulting Lily, echoing the behavior of her father during her childhood. Whilst the relationship is blossoming, Lily recalls her first true love who was a boy named Atlas, who she met when he was homeless and living in an abandoned house next to her when she was 15. The flashbacks feature how the support she provided to his of food, clothing and eventually a warm place to sleep developed romantically, but was cut short when Atlas had to move in with his Uncle in a different state. Atlas was also the only person who knew of the abuse Lily's father inflicted and was even the recipient of the abuse when he was attacked by

Atlas reappears in Lily's life as a restaurant owner and he instant she is living with and urges Lily to leave her husband, which she eventually does but when she finally leaves, she discovers she is pregnant. Atlas initially provides a safe lace for Lily to live, however she eventually returns to the house she lived in with Ryle and the relationship restarts.

When the baby Emma is born, Lily finally sees that she needs to break the cycle of abuse of the women in the family as 'It ends with us' , so leaves Ryle for good. In the epilogue Lily has the baby and is separated from Ryle. She again bumps into Atlas and can see that finally they can be together.

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brzezinski's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A very insightful perspective on learned helplessness and domestic violence victimization. Does not romanticize violence.

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citrus04's review against another edition

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sucked ass and butt

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e_milyking's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

I personally didn’t enjoy this book, I think it’s important to touch on themes of domestic violence carefully and this didn’t feel like a careful book. I thought that some of the plot and internal dialogue painted a good picture of the realities of domestic violence, and some provided excuses for the perpetrator. I appreciated that it came from a lived experience perspective, but I think it’s potentially damaging to market this book as a ‘romantic triangle’ to young audiences and have the ending not provide any sense of actual justice. The writing was good and easy to read, but the character development was a bit undercooked and the concepts felt half-baked. Also why was a minor-adult relationship in there???? And he was meant to be the good guy???? I don’t like what messages it portrayed at times, overall the thread of ending the cycle of violence is great but it could’ve been done a LOT better. Could rant about this book at length clearly

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nixicat1's review against another edition

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challenging medium-paced

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

1.0

I understand why this book is so polarising and why some people connect with it. Although I agree with the intention to provide more lived experience of domestic and intimate partner violence, the failure of execution was too hard to overcome for me. The writing and characterisations are cliche and simplistic. There is a stunning lack of research or logical reasoning applied to the world building or plot progression. Although a bit of creative license is necessary to any fiction, I found it impossible to believe in these characters or the world they inhabit.

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