It Ends With US - Colleen Hoover ***.75/5

Sometimes it is the one who loves you 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, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

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. (Goodreads)

This was a major sensation in tiktok and for me honestly, I didn't get what's the hype about it even after reading the novel. I mean I liked it but, I just don't see the hype!

From the onset, from the first meeting between Lily and Ryle, I just couldn't get to like Ryle. I really tried even in the middle of the novel, but I just couldn't feel any attachment to him. But, towards Atlas? I was addicted to him. I loved all reading all the letters Lily had written to Ellen about Atlas, and when he finally appeared in the restaurant I was 'finally, he's here!!". For me, I felt like, Ryle wanted Lily for sex and in the most part of the novel he just wanted that, begging her to have sex with him and put him out of his misery! As I've said countless times, I hate spice and this book contained a lot of it, for my liking and that made me so uncomfortable reading it.

When you start and going through the novel, at first you feel like that Ryle is the ML, he's the guy Lily is destined to be with, but in fact he was definitely not. I don't know how to explain it, but, although Ryle wasn't the ML, he was a main character because he was this symbol that made Lily understand what her mother went through, why she didn't give up and left her dad and why her mom stayed with him until the very end. Ryle made Lily understand what she actually doesn't want in a relationship. I do get, Ryle had a sad past but that doesn't no way justify hitting and abusing someone you love. Maybe it is easy for me to say because I haven't been in an abusive relationship or haven't even witnessed one, but that is not how you should treat your significant other at all costs.

For me what messed me really is that Lily witnessed her dad raping her mom and she had to go through the same experience with Ryle. The only difference was back then Lily had Atlas with her but with Ryle, she was all alone, scared to the core and afraid of the man she married and imagined her eternity with. She called Atlas, because she knew he would understand her no matter what. He was her shield and she relied on him. This was the turning point between Ryle and Lily and Lily finally understanding that Ryle was abusive and the first two instances, were not coincidences and accidents as she desperately wanted them to be.

I honestly, loved Allysa's character in this book, not because she was Lily's best friend, but because, although she was Ryle's husband, she told Lily to leave Ryle, when she heard about what her brother has done! It takes courage to chose the well being of a friend over your own blood and many people don't do that nowadays.

And i'll forever be grateful for Allysa for saying that and helping Lily to go through her pregnancy and not leaving her alone and for being so understanding!!

The story has never been about Lily and Ryle in the first place. For me, I felt like it was always Lily and Atlas. Even when Atlas was absent, his presence was always felt. Lily hadn't clearly gotten over Atlas considering the fact she still read the letters about him and considering the fact she was so shaken up when they finally met. She didn't throw away those letters and instead kept them in a shoe box, she had a tattoo on the exact place Atlas used to kiss her, she had the magnet that he gave her, and she didn't threw away Atlas's number which he gave, because he suspected something was wrong between Ryle and Lily. The thing is, Atlas never left. He was always there between Ryle and Lily, which makes it very clear that Lily in fact, didn't get over him. She never got the closure she wanted from him. That is exactly why this story was never about Ryle and Lily. Ryle was just a passer-by that made Lily understand what she was missing and how she does not want to be treated and what she doesn't want her daughter to go through. She knew if she stayed with Ryle, no matter hoe much he/she wanted, she knew her daughter would go through the same thing she did as a child and that's why the title is "It Ends With Us", because she ended Ryle and her story to make sure her daughter wouldn't suffer and experience the things, she had to go through!

Lily took out the "what if it was your daughter" card on Ryle, to make him understand the gravity of the things and why she's so adamant about not getting back together with him and why she wants a divorce

Hats off to Lily for breaking the cycle and choosing for her daughter, and wanting her daughter to live a good life and not a life burdened by unwanted memories that'll haunt forever in her life. Lily knew exactly what she doesn't want her daughter to go through growing up, and she knew if she stayed with Ryle, it was inevitable.

And then there's Atlas. Atlas didn't need Lily to tell him what she went through and what she was going through because even without words he understood. He understood because he was also abused by his father, so knew exactly what Lily had to go through. He became her companion and the shoulder and the shield, she wanted in her life. He became someone she could rely on even she hadn't seen him for years, she still called him to take her.

This is why I say, the story has always been about Lily finding her way back to Atlas, and their story officially continues in It Starts With US!

This was the perfect ending this book could've gotten. Honestly, I was determined of throwing out the book if Lily continued to stay with Ryle!

In this book, my favorite quotes would always be, "Keep swimming, Lily" and, "You can stop swimming now, Lily, We finally reached the shore."

Although I didn't necessarily enjoy this book, I would definitely keep recommending this book. Because Colleen Hoover executed such an amazing lesson worthy novel, that everyone should at least read once in their lives! This goes depth into what an abusive relationship could do a person and what impact it would have on a child who witness it. CoHo created a novel, that could surpass time and still be a valuable read to anyone, regardless of whether being single or married. For me, it was the lesson and the quotes that saved the book from getting 2 stars.

Honestly read this. I don't know how It Starts With US is, because I have yet to buy and read it, but for the time being read this, even if you don't enjoy it, read it until the very end, because it is worth the time. Don't read for the sake of reading, but understand what this book wants to say, because it is something you know on surface. Because this is something the school, adults in your family might not explain to you. Sometimes all they say is keep holding, for the sake of your children, for the sake of the family. Rarely you see, them encouraging you to give up and put a stop to it, because it is unhealthy and you shouldn't tolerate and abusive relationship for the name of 'family' or because your children needs a father. They do need a father but they shouldn't be given a chance to experience things that would haunt their whole lives!

Don't stay just because you love him or because he's your Ryle, maybe once you get out of it, you'll find your own version of Atlas and I pray you do!