A review by cjfooks
It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

The perfect closure to ‘it ends with us’. It starts off exactly where it left off in the end of the first book and, although it doesn’t have as much depth or unpredictability as it ends with us, I actually enjoyed it more than its predecessor. 
It ends with us is a stressful (though still enjoyable) book to read, with an ending that’s hopeful, insinuating but not quite resolved. It leaves you feeling tentatively optimistic but guessing what happens next. 
Although it starts with us wasnt strictly needed (in fact Coleen Hoover actually said that she was adamant in leaving the ending with the first book), after growing passionate about all the characters in the first book, the optimistic, light hearted (although not without it’s dark themes, consistent with the story) was so satisfying a read. 

(It ends with us spoilers):
The story revolves around lily finding her way around Ryle and atlas (and Emerson) in her life and how to navigate them all together. But we also see so much more of atlas’s character and past as well, as the perspective switches character by chapter between him and lily.


(Overall spoilers):
It also ends in the most perfect, wholesome way (without feeling too out of reach and therefore fairytale-esque).



Love love loved this
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