It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Rating: 3.6/4

Not just another love story. I fell onto the bandwagon of a book that I saw frequently popping up in Instagram reels and booklovers’ feeds. It Ends With Us is a gut wrenching book which keeps you on your toes like none other.

Beginning the story in Boston, Massachusetts, Lily is in a hard position to sort out her life, and take control of her future. With a background in business, she puts her mind forth to opening a flower shop in the city, where she encounters Ryle, a wealthy neurosurgeon who uses his marriage to his work to lead a nightlife and one-night-stand private life. He is extremely fearful of a serious relationship, yet soon finds himself entranced by Lily, who is staunchly opposed to the freedom of a noncommittal relationship.

As the book marches on, Ryle’s and Lily’s relationship proceeds without a hitch until her childhood love, Atlas reappears in her life. Atlas fled a damaged home system when Lily was sixteen, living in an abandoned home. For a series of months, Lily learns to love him, minimally taking care of him and warming her heart to his. When he joined the military, he left her, never to connect again–until now.

One of my favorite elements of the book is Hoover’s attention to detail regarding the slight mentions of loose ends that are readily evident as they are further explained from Lily’s previous life. Just like normal people, Lily chooses to keep many parts of herself hidden from her current partner, Ryle, and the audience, bringing shocking and tenor-resolving threads throughout the book. Involving stories of abuse and toxic relationships, Hoover describes the emotional, individual and mental layers of a person in an abusive relationship, as well as the responsibilities of a mother to herself and her relatives through a series of interactions and flashbacks, which raise the question of a provocative story of fierce romance and individual self-understanding.