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chloereads23's reviews
205 reviews
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
2.0
I went into this book wanting to love it, but there were so many aspects that I didn't enjoy while reading it. A big issue for me was the writing style - reading It Ends With Us felt like I was reading a Wattpad book. Easy to read, but the writing style seemed immature and very basic. In particular, I wasn't a huge fan of Lily's letters to Ellen; while I understand the idea behind including these, they felt like a lazy way to give an insight into Lily's past rather than including actual flashbacks or including it in the main storyline of the novel.
Speaking of Lily's past, I didn't like the romance between Lily and Atlas either. There was no need to make their relationship romantic with him being so much older than her at the time, or the ages could have been changed to make this more suitable, but I'm really uncomfortable with how both the book and fans glorify the relationship between Atlas and Lily.
I did like the way that Colleen Hoover wrote Ryle, as she was able to make readers fall in love with him and demonstrate how difficult it is to escape an abusive relationship like Lily does. It's an important topic to tackle and she did do a good job of presenting Ryle in such a positive light in the beginning, and then slowly realise what he's really like. The aspect of his characterisation and Lily's reaction to it that I didn't enjoy was towards the end of the book, where Lily realises their relationship is abusive, leaves him... and then agrees that he'll be able to see their child. There don't seem to be any real consequences to Ryle's actions, and the book finishes there. For me, this is a awful note to end on as it implies the abuse is over, with no lingering effects for Lily, and Ryle is given the chance to be a good parent to their child. It was an unsettling way for the book to end, particularly considering the audience of Colleen Hoover is often young women, and seems to suggest that in a similar situation an abuser should be given a second chance or fresh start. I will be intrigued to hear how this is dealt with in It Starts With Us, but I don't like where it ends here.
Speaking of Lily's past, I didn't like the romance between Lily and Atlas either. There was no need to make their relationship romantic with him being so much older than her at the time, or the ages could have been changed to make this more suitable, but I'm really uncomfortable with how both the book and fans glorify the relationship between Atlas and Lily.
I did like the way that Colleen Hoover wrote Ryle, as she was able to make readers fall in love with him and demonstrate how difficult it is to escape an abusive relationship like Lily does. It's an important topic to tackle and she did do a good job of presenting Ryle in such a positive light in the beginning, and then slowly realise what he's really like. The aspect of his characterisation and Lily's reaction to it that I didn't enjoy was towards the end of the book, where Lily realises their relationship is abusive, leaves him... and then agrees that he'll be able to see their child. There don't seem to be any real consequences to Ryle's actions, and the book finishes there. For me, this is a awful note to end on as it implies the abuse is over, with no lingering effects for Lily, and Ryle is given the chance to be a good parent to their child. It was an unsettling way for the book to end, particularly considering the audience of Colleen Hoover is often young women, and seems to suggest that in a similar situation an abuser should be given a second chance or fresh start. I will be intrigued to hear how this is dealt with in It Starts With Us, but I don't like where it ends here.