It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

"The newest, highly anticipated novel from beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author, Colleen Hoover. 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. With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. Combining a captivating romance with a cast of all-too-human characters, It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price"--

I didn't read the summary for this book or any reviews--I just read it on hype alone--but this book's entire foundation is abuse and suicide trigger warnings, so please proceed with caution.

Both Lily and Ryle are traumatized people with terrible decision-making skills which, fine, who isn't? But this book tries to make the abuser sympathetic and (arguably) a victim himself, which definitely made me feel a certain type of way.

People can experience a garbage life and still choose not to hurt other people. No matter how much an abuser paints themselves as a victim, they *choose* abuse every single time no matter how many times they gaslight and apologize. And yet the author tries to rewrite that naked truth why? So Lily can decide to keep her abuser's baby, and invite him back into her life so they can divorce and still co-parent together?

All of Ryle's "redeeming" qualities are constantly repeated ad nauseum to maybe illustrate Lily's unprocessed childhood trauma masquerading as love? Or the author trying to convince us that telling an abuser they're a father will magically be their come-to-Jesus moment.

Lily is blind to and then habitually ignores red flags, and Ryle can't stop waving them around from that first moment. That's when I knew this book would mean a lot of heavy sighing and face-palming.

Then enter Elisa, enabler extradinaire, who likely knows everything about her brother but says nothing until it's almost too late. I find that hard to believe. I almost stopped reading at the cafe scene about the older brother.

The book is written well enough, although the repetition of phrases like "and just like that", Ryle's scrubs, etc. were grating.

Lily and Atlas kept me reading. They were the most well-rounded and believable characters, but the rest of the book was a big yikes. The flashbacks added to the story instead of detracted.

But, I can't shake how apologetic the author is about this abuser. The ending seemed paper-thin and left me on edge.

Wow. Just wow. Review to come when my thoughts find a way to become organized.

i'm so happy, i love this book. i love atlas and i love how she broke the cycle. i'm sobbing out of happiness lol. colleen, you're a mastermind. idk how you've fabricated such a strong main character but gosh, i loved everything about it.

naked truth? atlas happened. beautiful boy fr