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It’s pretty easy to take a look at another person’s life and judge his or her actions without really knowing the whole story. But in Colleen Hoover’s emotional novel It Ends with Us, one young woman discovers that you never really understand someone’s situation until you’re living it yourself.
The story introduces Lily Bloom on an important day. On that day, she buries her father—a prominent citizen of their small Maine town who also abused her mother. On the same day, she meets Ryle Kincaid, a handsome neurosurgeon who begins to question his strict no-relationships rule after their first encounter. As Lily ventures into new territory—starting her own business while also starting a relationship with Ryle—she’s flooded with memories of her past. And when she runs into her first love and old friend, Atlas Corrigan, her neat and perfect world begins to crumble.
It may sound like a light contemporary romance, but It Ends with Us is so much more than just a simple love story. It’s an eye-opening novel about relationships and abuse from different perspectives: from a daughter who’s just as angry with her mother for staying as she is with her father for his actions, from a boy who’s not sure where to turn, and from a woman in love, who wants to believe in happy endings and unfailing love.
Through journal entries and flashbacks—as well as through her continuing story—the author develops Lily as a truly likable character. Despite the pain and heartbreak of her childhood, she’s grown into a strong young woman—one who’s determined to follow her dreams, even if it means risking everything. She isn’t without her flaws, but that’s what makes her real. And as her relationship with Ryle builds, you’ll recognize the ups and downs—and the terrible mistakes—from your own relationships. You’ll fall in love with this character—and you’ll become emotionally invested in her relationship with Ryle, too. And that’s what makes the problems they face even more devastating.
As you read this riveting novel, you’ll feel the weight of the struggles and the conflicts. The story will break your heart—but it will also open your eyes to circumstances that are all too real.
Though it’s sometimes difficult to read, It Ends with Us is a beautiful, emotional, and compelling novel—and it tells a story that you won’t soon forget. It may not be a fluffy beach read, but it’s definitely a worthwhile one.
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