It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover – 385 pages
Book Blurb:
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover: 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.
My Review: 4.5 stars
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is an absorbing love story about finding your perfect person until circumstances show you he’s not. For Lily, she’s had two such men and how they come together, apart, and together again is my idea of an awesome romance novel trope. Romance fans will want this book!
Let me say up front that domestic abuse is portrayed in this book. Although it’s not gruesome or overly graphic, it is still there and a big presence in the book. Hoover wrote this story in honor of her mother who did suffer abuse in her marriage so I’m sure the writing was somewhat cathartic for her.
There is a lot to like about this book. The characters were genuine, flawed and complicated, just like real life. The plot kept me engaged, which often had me mad, happy, confused and angry. The chemistry jumped off the page, something Hoover excels at. The best news is that I just learned that sequel to this book will be published in October, 2022. I can’t wait to see where Hoover takes Lily’s new relationship!
Quotes I liked:
All humans make mistakes. What determines a person’s character aren’t the mistakes we make. It’s how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses.”
“There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.”
“I feel like everyone fakes who they really are, when deep down we’re all equal amounts of screwed up. Some of us are just better at hiding it than others.”