Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - It Ends with Us

so, the controversial book of booktok/bookstagram indeed
i wanted to read this book because i don't like hating/criticising things just for the sake of & saying that there is nothing worthy of note in contents i haven't read
that being said, there is one thing i can give credit to in this and that's lily, not all components of her character but the feeling written of always feeling at fault & absolving, the ryle party in these cases, of blame felt right in an understood way. as well as the fact that the story is modelled around the author's experience, this facet imo was clear to see that it wasn't fabricated from a secondary source, but despite the connection of the author, the jump of transforming experience into storytelling for this is not something that can be done easily & sometimes there is simply just bad writing.

that being said, the rest

Character Words:
lily/alysa - i said the most i wanted to say about lily above but i think her relationship with alysa was also actually decent and while not the focus of development so lacked in it, issa standing by her instead of her brother becuase of the sake of family or the incident was a good example of friendship
didn't give a shit about marshal couldn't tell you a thing about him other than the fact that he felt more so like a pre-teen pretending to be a grown-up & his friendship with ryle was a bit weird in that he never really was shown to care about any of ryle's behaviour?? his best friend??? unlike issa?? perspective was lacking there and it did make quite a few moments feel a lot more hollow

spaces to break up the actual massive word vomit of atlas & ryle character words

atlas - i didn't pay attention to a lot of hype but it did make him seem like the main character so more social media confusion than book confusion more on him later however. [point 2 of Weird Things] + they were 'in love' from their teenage years whihc other than [point 2] could've been good, the final like get together for them was just so kinda like, put together last minute-y like here's a happy ending there you go. not that i want the perpetuated abuse stories sad ending, it's just again felt hollow
ryle - from the FIRST PLACE ryle was not a good love interest, the commentary meant between his relationship and lily of the cycle of abuse COULD have been good, HOWEVER, he never had the charming appeal that the way he's presented wants you to see him as. he's literally an asshole/weridly sexual harrass-y from the start in not a cute way, which if it was that she's falling into the cycle her mother did would be in-line with the meant-commentary, but the way that it's written it's just not? like it's that you ARE meant to find it attractive??? the knocking on apartment doors and then the just like yas i wanna fuck you, just no it's not the example of the 'good fascade' it's just not & it is written like it's meant to be regardless of purpose that is the portrayal - and that is the loose thread that pulls the rest of the message apart because ryle was never good to begin with & everything else about him feels hollow, even with the accident with emerson that is discussed in a singular page, there is no depth to it. there's just not a lot of depth in ryle at all, in terms of you can see there was an attempt but it just falls through like it misses the target it was trying to hit

WEIRD SHIT I WANNA COMPLAIN ABOUT BECAUSE I DIDN'T LIKE IT, im gonna have to add line breaks because oof words

1. RYLE'S WEIRD ENTIRE CHAPTER ON ABOUT HOW MUCH HE WANTS TO HAVE SEX WITH HER, he is overly insistent & this is meant to be the beginning so the "good" Ryle, it is literlaly sexual harrassment atp like i spent the entire time reading that like wtf is this wtf is going on ?? why is lily further attracted to this man let alone letting him in and showering and preparing for him, it is the start of anything physical contact wise they have & it immediately misses their relationship of any solid grounding because it's just fucking WEIRD. there was NOTHING about it that should've made Lily go, oh yaur this the man for mee, in terms of normal 1-1 human interactions, including lily's past with her parents it doesn't fit that explaination at ALL and i FUCKING HATED IT

2. ATLAS & LILY'S COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY AGE GAP. Right getting into the whys of Atlas' age, his background of the abusive home & then the entry Marine timeline being the part of his character yes good explaination for his age. LILY, DID NOT, NEED, TO, BE, FIFTEEN. IN BED WITH AN EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD. SHE COULD HAVE BEEN 17 AND IT NOT MAKE A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE. the fact that their 'first time' is on her 16th birthday while he is mere months from 19 is honestly just gross and it should not have been a love story regardless of the fact that she saved him. their relationship from the past could have actually been a good thing in the book but that detail just again pulls it apart like a loose thread. also when they're in bed together and he, an 18 y/o, just asks her, oh Lillers when dya turn SIXTEEN xx and then he turns 19 about almost as equally soon like fuck off 💀

3. therapy is only mentioned once in this book why the fuck are none of these people properly in therapy not even a mention of couples counseling nope

also, like storytelling regardless, like in verity, coho's writing style just simply feels born of Wattpad, like quality aside cause there are better wattpad books probs, it just does feel like it'd belong straight at home on the Wattpad scene not even ao3 LMAO

overall, the message & character study in this book could've been so much more but in the end it fell hollow.

Content Warnings

juliabea's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

Love how C.H writes and overall was a good read but felt it was predictable midway through.

Content Warnings

camdentomlinson's review against another edition

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sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

truly_ana's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.5

very intense I guess and confusing when she wrote letter to Ellen but not confusing? overall I liked it

Content Warnings

brdrummond's review against another edition

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sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

isabelle_mace's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

nat101day's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

lilybear3's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

0.25

**This is the first and only book of Colleen Hoover’s that I will read, due to problems surrounding her son’s harassment to a minor, her response to that, and her romanticizing abuse in her writing. If you’d like more information, I encourage you to research. I picked up this book at the library (no money given) so I could formulate my own opinion about a book and author that skyrocketed in popularity. Hopefully, I wrote this review in a way that is understandable.

Into the review:

I rarely take notes while reading books, but this one was so terrible, I almost did a page-by-page commentary because I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

The names in this book are just wild. Lily Blossom Bloom? Ryle?

Emerson Dory?? TF<spoiler/>

The writing is bad for a number of reasons. I’m so confused by the choice of randomly italicized sentences. The story is told in first person, so it’s already an internal monologue! It will be going relatively well and then Hoover drops a sentence that just takes you out of it. There are also unrealistic things that happen, like

they very last-minute wake everyone up to take a midnight flight to vegas. I guess anything is possible when you make rich characters.

I felt like this was (and is) written for straight white people who think certain scenarios or dialogue are romantic when they’re actually cringy.

About 130 pages in, something finally happens, but it is the dumbest scene I have ever read.

there is no way Ryle was that drunk to grab a pan out the oven with no oven mitt. Secondly, why are they having sex WHILE HIS HAND IS BLEEDING A LOT? I don’t understand because he’s a SURGEON.

Talking about characters

As far as characters go, everyone in this book is unbearable, except for her mom at Atlas. While Atlas is sort of written with a savior complex, it is completely forgivable due to how much I hated Lily, Ryle, and Allysa. Best Atlas quote: “it wasn’t pity sex, I know I was there.”

I hate miscommunication. There isn’t really the miscommunication trope, it’s that realistically, you would talk with your partner about having kids, moving in, etc. BEFORE marrying.

Told in Lily’s perspective, it was difficult to read in that I had no idea why she was doing or saying the things she did. She redeemed herself a little and I even felt proud of her for a moment, then continued to disappoint me. The best chapter of the books is when Lily asks for help from her mother, her mother is affirming and supportive

The ending:

The epilogue ties up loose ends but leaves it open for a sequel with her new relationship with Atlas. I’m confused that she didn’t want her daughter to be around Ryle and his temper but is letter her have time with him?

This is a general statement, but I wanted more Atlas in this book, he just disappeared in the last 1/3 of the book.

Final thoughts: @thecalvinbooks on TikTok said it best, Colleen Hoover books are for people who don't read, they're not written well. People who are getting into reading shouldn't read them because they won't want to read anything that isn't this type of writing.

Reading articles on my own, I know Colleen Hoover is problematic in that some of her books are marketed as romance even though there are abusive relationships and abuse scenes. One article wrote that typically romance novels are based around consent, Hoover romanticized abuse and homelessness in this book. I also feel like the abuse scenes were used for shock and propelled the story, leaving readers on edge to see what happens next, I won't lie, I felt this myself. She has a savior complex with her stories where a man will come and save the woman in distress and there is no representation whatsoever. It is a book written by a white woman, for white women.

The author’s note outlines that this story was based on her experience watching her father abuse her mother. She says it was hard to write,

making Ryle (a character she loved) be abusive and Lily (also loved) continue to stay

, writing how hard it is the break the cycle of abuse and why victims stay. There are two resources for domestic violence and homelessness listed in the back of the book.

While I can sympathize with her experience and know that versions of Lily and Ryle’s relationship exist in the real world, I cannot recommend this book to people without sharing all of the trigger warnings, which should have been in the beginning of this book. Periodically, she has a monologue on abusive relationships, why some victims choose to stay, and why the cycle of abuse is hard to break. I appreciated it at times, but it did not make up for the fact that this book was propelled by those triggering scenes.

Content Warnings

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