Review: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
00:13
5/5
There will
be spoilers in this review, I will give a spoiler warning before I delve into
my spoiler-y discussion.
Once again,
Queen Colleen Hoover kills it. Colleen Hoover is one of my auto-buy authors,
anything she publishes, I will buy before I even read the synopsis. I was
expecting great things from this book, and it delivered. I feel like I was hit
with a big brick sack of emotions after reading this. I laughed and I cried.
It Ends
With Us is was one of those sticky books, the kind that sticks to you and you
can’t stop your mind from constantly wandering back to if you put it down for
even an instant. It has been a long time since I have read a book that I can’t
wait to run home and finish reading, I think reading this was just the cure I
needed for my reading slump.
I went into
this book blind, but the story explores domestic abuse. Lily, the main
character, grew up with a hard home situation and moves to Boston and starts a
new life for herself.
Ryle is a
neurosurgeon, and is totally swoon-worthy. They meet on a rooftop in the very
first chapter.
This novel
had a lot of time jumping, so a new chapter might start a few weeks or months
later from where the old one left off. This normally bothers me, but I think it
worked for the story, this type of story could not be told if you couldn’t see
progression over time.
Throughout
the story, there were a lot of flash backs, which were told through Lily’s old
journal entries, each one addressed as a letter to Ellen DeGeneres, which was hilarious.
Another
thing I loved about this book was Allyssa and Marshal. Allyssa is Ryle’s sister
and Marshal is her husband, so often side characters are flat but these were so
full of life.
*SPOILERS
BELOW THIS POINT*
Ok, so I
had a lot of thoughts when I was reading this book. In NA and YA, controlling,
jealous, boyfriends with aggressive tendencies are romanticised so it was refreshing
reading about this more realistic side.
I
completely fell in love with Ryle, alongside Lily. I wasn’t expecting his
character turn at all, and my heart broke the very moment he first hit her. I
had never read a book which had explored domestic abuse before, and I am very fortunate
that I have never experienced it, or known anyone who has. It is so common to
wonder why a woman won’t leave her abusive partner, and this book explained so
many of the emotions and thoughts that a woman in Lily’s, or her mother’s situation
go through. The reasoning was so well written, and Colleen is so incredible at
writing characters that it felt so incredibly real, I felt like I was in
turmoil alongside Lily.
I loved
that although Lily was indeed a damsel in distress, she saved herself. Atlas
was incredible, but I am so glad that instead of him swooping in and saving her
from everything and magically being the hero that Lily was strong enough to
save herself, and only once she had found some normality and routine in her
life, Altas and her found each other again.
Speaking of
Atlas, their story was so sweet, and I really loved his character. When he was
first introduced I thought this was going to be a classic love triangle story,
not a domestic abuse story.
Reading
Colleen Hoover’s note at the end of the book, where she detailed her family
situation was heartbreaking, and I think it is incredible that she could tell
her story.
I
absolutely loved this book.
0 comments