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Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already-grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. For the Ryle apologist and stans: I’m so glad Colleen wrote this book because there’s NO room for y’all’s bullshit. He is an abuser. This isn’t a dark romance. This is a contemporary romance where an abuser stays abusive, continues to be abusive in the tiniest ways and the cycles are broken. He truly and will forever be a terrible person and I’m so glad that this book continuously highlighted that. Abusers don’t “change” and even if they do, the cycle should be broken forever. The writing’s also addictive and she did a great job setting the book in Boston, so mad props there. I’ll admit; the discussion around abuse in this book wasn’t AS bad as in ‘It Ends With Us’, but it still felt pretty one dimensional and pissed me off at times. I can’t for the life of me understand why this series is hailed as one about ending the cycle of abuse, since the cycle of abuse in the books doesn’t even end!
IT STARTS WITH US IS NOT THE FIRST BOOK IN THE 'IT ENDS WITH US' SERIES. That is important to know! It Ends With Us is the first book, and It Starts With Us is the second, and final book in the dualogy.of this book is a retelling of the first one through Lily's creepy letters to Ellen. Literally reused, word for word scenes. Was Colleen tryna reach a word count or smth? Colleen Hoover's books are some of our most popular. We have gathered a few questions to help you decide the best Colleen Hoover book to read. the ending was beautiful but i hoped for an ending where i could sense lily’s personality progressing to be stronger, but that didn’t happen unfortunately. also. every time tiktok is mentioned in a book, an angel loses its wings. you're telling me lily knows about tiktok and gen z but she doesn't know that ellen is a horrible person? ok alternatively titled: a bland man does the bare minimum and people eat it up like he’s an austen character.
I think it’s important to note that Hoover also paints Lily a very supportive family/friends network—in her instance, her support system in regards to standing up to Rile is his family. Most people likely don’t have this, but it absolutely worked in this instance, for these characters as we’ve come to know them over these 2 books. she had literally been divorced for 2 years after all of the abuse she went through and she still fears ryle and is considerate of his feelings and opinions about her personal dating life? Like wtf? His opinion shouldn’t matter after all the shit he made lily go through. He’s a broken man, but he isn’t broken because of me. He was broken before he met me. Sometimes people think if they love a broken person enough, they can be what finally repairs them, but the problem with that is the other person just ends up broken, too.” —It Stars With Us Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He's also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, 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. Theo making fun of Atlas was funny, I actually loved that because THE KEEP SWIMMING LINE WAS CORNY AS SHIT I DON’T CAREI also want to add, I loved the side characters. Every single one of them. Theo and Josh stole my goddamn heart. The only thing I rolled my eyes at was Lily writing to Ellen still but alas a book can’t be too perfect. I understand that it would be very hard for Lily to win over Ryle in court, and the ending was probably more realistic with him still being involved; but if that’s the case, it doesn’t “end” with you and your daughter! If Ryle doesn’t have Lily in his life to abuse, guess who his next victim is going to be? Let me start by saying this: there’s going to be a lot of hate for this book for the sole reason people just want to dislike this author for their popularity and there’s this hate train going on for the littlest things this author does so I already know people are going to just come out of the woodworks and find the tiniest thing to hate on this. That is not to say that this book is perfect or that your review will be disingenuous. Books are subjective-- therefore there can be books that I love you hate, and books I hate that you love. I just don't understand or stand for the unwarranted amount of hate that goes into BASHING books just for the way they are written. I have been reading Colleen Hoover since 2012- Slammed was my first book by her. I have had many misses with her along with many hits. the letters were basically coho saying “see they are in love! they’re not bland! they do have other things in common other than their trauma!) which is false. All of the authors showcased in this anthology were featured in The Bookworm Box charity during 2019.
It Ends With Us should have stayed a standalone. It had the perfect bittersweet ending that was on point with the whole book. This was just meh and didn’t add anything interesting or new to the overall story.my theory still stands: colleen hoover, ironically, cannot write a good romance. i believe every single one of her books has these terrible, wild plot twists to cover up the fact that she cannot. lily and atlas had zero chemistry apart from them talking about how miserable they were when they first met and how they were each other’s saving grace.
This book is amazing. Just like the first one. I was considering it to be a solid four-star. Until the last chapter. Wonderful! I don't dislike It Starts with Us per se, but it does feel more like a long and unnecessary epilogue to It Ends with Us rather than the separate, worthwhile story it should've been. Y’all can say anything nasty about Ryle and I would completely agree, but you also have to admit that this guy is nothing but ✨ consistent ✨ in his abusive behavior. My face was this 😐 emoji the whole time, except when it came to Ryle, cause at least that guy gave me some emotions.. his texts to Lily even made me laugh… Lily, sweetie I’m sorry but your ex-husband humor is immaculate 🤡🏃🏻♀️ Ryle kept me on my toes, cause I never knew what else would come out of his mouth or what would happen at the mercy of his fist. What an unpredictable king. 😌 I’ve read It Ends with Us years ago and that book made me bawl my eyes out, because it was such an honest and realistic story about a women finally ending the circle of abuse in her family. IEWU had a purpose and meaning. Whereas, It Starts With Us reads like every other second-chance romance between two past lovers that shared a connection in their childhood. Reading Lily and Atlas romance gave me n o t h i n g. This was dryer than any cactus in the dept of the Sahara. Their interactions made me yawn, I’m sorry but Atlas was better as a side character in IEWU. Atlas is (maybe) the most unproblematic Colleen Hoover Hero, but imo that also makes him the most boring one.
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Think anyone who stays in an abusive relationship is asking for it? Stupid? Bringing it on themselves? Think again. It’s really easy to judge when you aren’t actually in the sitation. in conclusion, sometimes you try things and they don’t work out colleen! for me it is ice skating, for you it is writing. and that’s ok! This all sounds rather harsh, but it's really not that bad. It was an alright way to pass a few hours if you're not quite ready to leave the world of Lily and Atlas. This pleasant and unexciting story won't leave you breathless, but it shouldn't offend either. Just be ready to forget about it almost as soon as you're done. Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.
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