It Ends with Us

Title: It Ends With Us

By: Colleen Hoover 

Length: 376 pgs 

Age Rating: Mature. I'd say this book is emotionally complex, It is NOT the lighthearted romance I thought it was. 

Rating: 2.5 out 5 or 3/7 

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The Non-Spoiler Version

To echo my age rating, this book was way more than I went into it thinking it was. This book really did not make me feel good, and I feel almost obligated to write a warning of sorts? to anyone thinking of reading it. I mean its a romance, its a well written book in the sense that invoked alot of feelings for me, and I mean quite alot of feelings, and I am typically not one to shy away from books that make me feel the darker emotions, but there is no catharsis to this. It feels like the other pushed me in one direction and instead just left me feeling uneasy. I will be honest, I have not read the second book, and I havent decided if Im going to. This is the first Colleen Hoover book I have ever read so I can not speak to her writing at large. 

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The Spoiler Version

This book almost felt like a betrayal. Its rare I feel betrayed by an author simply because of their decisions in book (their actions as a person however…Looking at you JKR) but the emotional turmoil of having me be so excited for Lilly and Ryle to fall in love, even the shock of Ryle pushing her, it feels like it just went down hill from there. Even after she has her daughter, I wasnt entirely sure if she was going to take him back or not. Lilly, for all her condemnation of her mother, goes back and forth alot on her anger towards Ryle. The pregnancy trope pissed me off, but thats a personal bias, Im not going to lie to you there. But there were alot of things. Ryle never really seems to suffer the consequences he should for his actions. Atlas just doesnt read as the knight in shining armor hes made out to be. In the end of the book, I feel just as concerned for Lilly as I did when she had her daughter. The time skips towards the end of the book get more frequent and it seems like she just settles? and I worry for her. Her support system is the mother shes not close with, her abuser’s sister and her abuser’s best friend. To be fair to Alyssa and Marshall, they are the only people I have no issues with throughout the book. The real MVPs if you ask me. Atlas however? I get bad vibes! I found the whole waiting till shes whatever age to have sex with her a bit creepy, I found the fact that he immediately jumped to punching Ryle a red flag, I think the healthiest thing for Lilly to do is to move away from both of these men, process her trauma and move on the best she can! But now shes tied to one of them with a daughter and there is so many red flags it could make a goddamn superman cape. As I said, there was no catharsis to this book for me. There was no working through negative to reach the positive, there was no sunlight at the end of the tunnel. I commend the author for writing abuse realistic in the sense that severing from someone is never simple, nor easy, and people often do go back and forth a million times. I recognize that the author managed to invoke alot of thought, reaction and feeling from me, which is a skill in writing. It was not a boring book. The realism may appeal to people. Some people read for different reasons. However this book was not one of my personal favourites and although I may read other works of Colleen Hoover, I doubt I will read the second book.