Review: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

SOMETIMES THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU IS THE ONE WHO HURTS YOU THE MOST

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up – she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, and maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, but Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan – her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.

This book contains graphic scenes and very sensitive subject matter.

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Oh hell. This book completely and utterly destroyed me. Its been a long time since a book has made me cry like that. And not crying because it’s necessarily sad, but because I was feeling love, pain and everything in between. To be completely honest, I had no idea what this book was about before reading it. If I did, I probably would have been more hesitant to pick it up. It was not like anything I expected, but I am so glad that I read it. I am so deeply moved by this story and I can’t even work through my conflicting emotions. I haven’t read all of Colleen Hoover’s books but I can tell this story is different, and it is such an important story to tell. It Ends With Us is an absolutely heart-wrenching, powerful story and it really opened my eyes to the subject matter. If you are at all interested, this is a must read.

We first meet Lily as she is sitting on a roof in Boston following her father’s funeral. She reflects on her life so far and we learn more about her childhood through her thoughts. It is on this roof she meets Ryle Kincaid. Sexy, talented and funny Ryle Kinciad. They share some ‘naked truths’ up on the rooftop and while Lily is extremely attracted to him, he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who wants a relationship. Lily has plenty of her own baggage as well. When circumstances bring them together again, we see that Ryle has a soft spot for Lily and together they see that a relationship may work.

The great thing about this book is how it made me feel. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so many different, conflicting emotions in one story and it was absolutely brilliant. As Lily grew to care for Ryle, I grew to care for Ryle. When Lily struggled with some impossible decisions, I struggled right along with her. There were many times in the book where I realized I didn’t know what the right decision was because I was so invested in the relationships of the characters. 

The characters were all so wonderful in their own way. Lily is one of the strongest female characters I have ever read about. I loved that she is so relatable. She is confident and ambitious, but also sometimes awkward and unsure. Lily makes some of the most difficult decisions anyone would have to make, and she does it out of love, not hatred. Lily is bold and brave.

We got to see Lily in her adult, present voice, but also in her fifteen year old voice through her Ellen journals. Since Lily didn’t think it was ‘cool’ to write a journal in high school, she addressed all of her letters to Ellen DeGeneres. I absolutely loved it! I loved seeing the contrast between Lily’s younger and current self and Colleen Hoover did a wonderful job displaying that. It is through these journals that we learn about Atlas, another beautiful, authentic character. Atlas was Lily’s first love, and he was the homeless boy living in the abandoned house behind them. When she runs into him in Boston, she is overwhelmed by emotions of her past.  I adored Atlas. He is another character in an impossible situation and I felt for him. Ryle as I mentioned above is another wonderful yet conflicting character. I cared for him deeply as I learned more about him, which is why I felt so conflicted. Lily’s mother is another character I grew to respect and care about. Lily has a strained relationship with her mother in the beginning, but throughout the book their relationship grows and matures and they understand each other better. Lily has a beautiful scene with her mother towards the end of the book that had me bawling my eyes out. Allysa is another great character. She has some deep, heartbreaking lines in this book that made me realize how truly painful this book was to read. Painful, sad but undeniably important. 

Please read this book. It’s not a light book, and it’s not always a happy book. There are many happy moments, beautiful moments in fact. But in addition to those beautiful moments there are also very ugly moments. This book is raw, honest and beautiful. It tells such an important story. When I finished the story, I went on to read the author’s note and started crying all over again because many of the events in this story were inspired by events in Colleen Hoover’s life. And that made it so much more real. She changed my perspective on a very important, very sensitive topic. I know I will be thinking about this book for weeks . If you read this book, do yourself a favor and don’t look up anything about the plot. Don’t go in with any preconceived judgments or opinions. Enjoy the story and feel everything that comes along with it. While I will need many light, happy books after finishing this one, it is probably going to be one of my favorite books of the year.

5/5