Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

1304 reviews

bookishlucy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I've heard a lot about this book and Colleen Hoover online. Not much of it was good. I've heard people say this book romanticizes abuse and I couldn't disagree more. This book shows the complicated, messy, confusing, and ugly things victims go through. It shows the reality of abuse. Ryle didn't start out abusive, the first time he hurt her he apologized and he had an explanation for why and the book still made it very clear that none of that justified him ever laying hands on Lily.
I think this was a very raw and grueling portrayal, and I think Lily handled it the best she could. I was so scared for her at the end but so proud

when she decided to leave Ryle.

The time skips in between chapters was a bit discombobulating at the beginning of the book. We were already going back to when Lily was 15 through her diary entries. So having months pass in between each chapter in the present was a bit much. But when the diary entries were over it was less of a whirl-wind to read.

I've seen people criticize the fact that Lily wrote to Ellen DeGeneres in her diary, and while I agree it was cringe, Lily was also 15 at the time. I actually think Colleen did a good job at writing a 15-year-old. Teenagers are cringe sometimes, and a lot of authors are scared to go there, which results in characters that feel way too mature for their age. In her diary, Lily felt like a 15-year-old who was going through shit no kid should have to go through. 

Reading Colleen's note at the end, about her own father makes me sad. The fact that people online say this book romanticizes any of Ryle's actions is so far from true and is not at all what Colleen tried to do with this book. This is not a case of a book being badly written. It was so clear to me! 
These situations are always complex and victims aren't perfect. They don't leave at the right times, sometimes they don't leave at all. I think Colleen Hoover did a great job of portraying the complex emotions someone can go through in these kinds of situations. I just wish media literacy wasn't dead so other people might understand and feel more compassion for what victims of DV go through.

I highly recommend this book but obviously, check the trigger warnings first!

(Also, I do think it's wild she tried to make adult coloring books for this book series! And the fact she actually brought out a nail polish line, after the backlash about the coloring books, is even more wild. I don't think it's appropriate and marketing this book as a romance is also not appropriate. For those reasons, I'm not going to be buying any of Colleen's other books myself unless they're second-hand. But I will probably be checking out more of her works.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Gun violence

cewhouser7405's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Emotional abuse

ellaxo's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit and Death of parent

kkellymsu's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Medical content, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Bullying

pierrereads's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Sexual content

jenrenjoh's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Sexual violence

lindsaymc74's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Not usually a fan of Colleen Hoover books but this one I enjoyed. Except for Ellen. You know who you are Ellen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

froggybooks's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

the bad bits were really bad

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Child death

loochia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.25

THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE NOVEL.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Physical abuse

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

eleana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I went into this having some, not very good, preconceptions about Colleen. I've seen as much hate as love online about this author, so I hate to say I believed blindly her writing would suck. I was very pleasantly surprised by this. The writing itself was choppy and very cringe for the first 20% or so, but it found its rhythm and became gripping and sensitive. I also expected this to be extremely smutty, mostly due to booktok, but coming into this after an Elsie Silver book, the sex was much more tolerable. I don't love a sex scene in a book still, but did find I enjoyed parts of these.

I loved many characters, Atlas, Lily and Alyssa and loved and hated Ryle in equal parts. I think the ending was perfect for these characters

All in all, I'd read more Colleen Hoover in the future. This one may be worth the hype

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Rape, and Sexual assault