Book Review - It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

My first CoHo read and oh my god it was so good. The roller coaster of emotions that this book put me through was intense. Some points had me giggling and swinging my legs, and others had me completely speechless and ready to cry. This was such a beautiful story and I would absolutely recommend it to others. This review, from this point on, will contain spoilers because I just need to discuss what happened.

Lily grew up in Maine, in an abusive household where her father would beat her mother. Her only reprieve from the stress of growing up like this was a boy named Atlas. Atlas and Lily went to high school together and became friends when Lily helped him out when she found out he was homeless. They become extremely close and spend a lot of their time together until Atlas leaves for the Marines after his graduation. However, he always promised Lily that he'd come back for her, whenever he got everything together. On her sixteenth birthday, Atlas comes back to surprise Lily and gives her a magnet that says "Everything is better in Boston." Then he leaves for the Marines. Well fast forward about sixteen years to the present time, Lily has graduated college and moved to Boston. Her father has died and on the day of his funeral, Lily is tasked with giving the eulogy. But when she gets up in front of the crowd she has nothing good to say about her father so she doesn't say anything at all. To get her mind off things she finds a building with a nice rooftop view where she meets Ryle, who also came to the rooftop to blow off some steam. Ryle is a neurosurgeon who's not interested in any type of long-term relationship, but he is interested in Lily. In their time together on the rooftop, they have a heart-to-heart conversation in which they share their "naked truths" with one another. Ryle encourages Lily to follow her dreams of opening a flower shop. However, he then has to leave and Lily is left alone on the rooftop. But this isn't the last time she sees Ryle, over the course of the next year they happen across each other on several occasions. Lily ends up opening Lily's Blooms, a floral shop, and Ryle realizes that with Lily, things are different, and he does want a long-term relationship. During the course of their dating, everything seems so perfect. Their love for each other is so pure and perfect, until one night before a big surgery when Lily and Ryle are drinking. There was a casserole in the oven that they forgot and it started to burn; without thinking Ryle goes to grab it in the oven without using an oven mitt and he burns himself. Under the influence of the alcohol, Lily starts giggling which sets Ryle off and he pushes her, causing her to hit her head on the cabinet. Lily knows the signs of an abusive person, being that she grew up in an abusive household, but she excuses his behavior and decides that everyone should be allowed to make one mistake. The next day after this happens, Ryle and Lily are at a restaurant where they bump into no other than Atlas. Atlas sees the bandage on Ryle's hand and on Lily's head and assumes the worst. This leads to a fight between Atlas and Ryle. However, Lily assures Atlas that she's okay and that this was a one-time mistake. But Atlas leaves his phone number in her phone case if she ever needs it. However, Ryle's abuse is not a one-time thing and ends up occurring two more times before Lily realizes that she needs to get out. After some more time, she splits with Ryle and tells Atlas that she's ready for a relationship again. 

These characters are among my favorites of all time. They were all so relatable in their own ways. Lily is so strong and I thought it was really interesting how she found that she could keep finding reason to excuse Ryle's behavior, until her breaking point. And Ryle, he started out so perfect and was just the sweetest guy. I was completely shocked when he pushed her for the first time because I genuinely didn't think he was the type of guy who was capable of it. And each time he hurt Lily, I found myself feeling bad for him. That's how you know Colleen Hoover is a good writer, the fact that I could sympathize with an abuser. I really liked Alyssa, Ryle's sister. She becomes Lily's best friend and is there for Lily when she confides in her. I really appreciated that Alyssa told Lily that as her best friend, she would never forgive Lily if she didn't leave Ryle. She was just such a well-written character. But my favorite character of all was Atlas. He is just such a well-written character who would do anything to protect Lily and keep her happy and safe, especially knowing how she grew up. 

Honestly, despite the fact that I absolutely ate this book up, I'm not sure if I'll read the sequel. I feel like this book ends on a really nice note, with Atlas and Lily together at last, but I'm just not so sure that I feel the need to continue the story.