Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - It Ends with Us

Title: It Ends with Us
Author: Colleen Hoover
Series: It Ends with Us #1
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: August 2, 2016

T H R E E • W O R D S

Gritty • Emotional • Powerful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Lily has had to work hard in order to get where she is today, leaving her small town and upbringing tainted by a toxic environment behind for big city life. Ryle is a brilliant neurosurgeon, with a dose of arrogance, a very busy schedule, and a firm no dating rule. After a chance encounter one night, Lily cannot get Ryle off her mind, despite them having very little in common. When life throws them together a second time, they cannot ignore the chemistry, and it all seems too good to be true.

As Lily starts to question Ryle's behaviour, her first love, Atlas, a boy she's never forgotten helping as a teenager walks back into her life threatening absolutely everything.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I'll start out my saying, that I personally wouldn't classify this as a romance novel. For me it's more of a dark contemporary fiction that explores various forms of love. It isn't light nor is it fluffy. What it is, is difficult to read and a realistic portrait of the heartbreaking reality faced by many in abusive relationships. It's a portrayal of how hard it is to break the cycle. Of how despite the violence and abuse, love can still exist. Of how easy it is for people to judge when they are on the outside looking in. The novel is beautiful and it is ugly, and it shines a light that abusive relationships are not black and white. I appreciated the author's note detailing the reason why she wrote this book and her deep personal connection to the content.

Colleen's writing is really good. She drew me into the story from the very beginning and I didn't want to stop reading. The characters were captivating, whether they were good or bad, and for me that's the power of great character development. I appreciated the letters Lily wrote to Ellen. To me this felt like a type of journal in which Lily shared her deepest secrets and desires, and gave insight into her past that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. I also really liked the floral shop backdrop. And I loved how Lily grew to understand and have empathy for her mother. I also appreciated Alysa and Marshall as key support for Lily.

In my opinion, Colleen Hoover has done something important with this book. If nothing else than to show people they are not alone.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• CoHo devotees
• readers who enjoyed Love and Other Words

⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, child death, grief, emotional abuse, domestic abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, violence, sexual violence, gun violence, alcohol, alcoholism, drug use, cursing, sexual content, rape, toxic relationship, mental illness, PTSD, homelessness, suicide, infertility, pregnancy, gaslighting, child abuse, injury/injury detail, blood, suicidal thoughts

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things."

"Plants reward you based on the amount of love you show them. If you’re cruel to them or neglect them, they give you nothing. But if you care for them and love them the right way, they reward you with gifts in the form of vegetables or fruits or flowers."

"Most plants do need a lot of care to survive. But some things, like trees, are strong enough to do it by just relying on themselves and nobody else."

"Maybe love isn't something that comes full circle. It just ebbs and flowers, in and out, just like the people in our lives."

Content Warnings