It Ends with Us

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.

One of the worst books I have ever read. It was alright at start but it was such a fast descent to trash. Like forgiving the abuse was bad enough but having a baby with the abuser and having to deal with him. God what a shitty novel.

I get it's inspired from the authors life but still doesn't make these things right.The abuser is based on the author's father, so obviously she will try to paint down the issue. But it's so unacceptable. The novel borderline romanticise abuse.

Like in real life you most would run and never look back. The novel shouldn't give message like being this forgiving, and breaking the cycle should have had removing the person from your life too.

One good thing the book did is it's making me appreciate other booktok books. I think that it could be so much worse.

At the first few chapters, my rating for this book would be 1 star.
In the midst of it, i would give a 2.
And till the end it's a 3.

The theme was alright. The problem again lies in the manner of story-telling and how the writing was like–well, i wouldn't want to say it's bad but it is indeed. Alongside those cliche quotes, which at times made me cringe, and oh yes, the weird fast-forwarding relationship going on for 6 months into marriage and children directly? how convenient that is!

Oh sure, maybe the bit about domestic abuse is the best about this book, but then the main problem to be solved or the moral of the story is easily known, and that might even downgrade the raise the awareness of some issues bit.

And i wonder why is this worth a 4.xx average rating while other literary fictions only have a 3.xx? Oh. how universal the side people take here!

“In the future . . . if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again . . . fall in love with me.”

I-I... that was probably one of the most beautiful written words I've ever read. 

Sometimes, I found myself thinking about this book randomly and my heart hurt. The book frustrated me so much but it made you think about all the women who went through what Lily experienced. And thinking about it just hurt...

|”Sometimes the one who loves you is the one who hurts you the most”

This book has taken me on an emotional roller-coaster ride. Young love, joy, pain, heartbreak, happiness, passion, hatred... gosh, there is just no end to it. And I am completely in love with it.

I really do not know how to proceed with a review without spoiling the storyline here. I love Lily, the main female character. I love how she is strong, but weak as well, and she acknowledges her weakness. She admits that she is weak, but she did not give in to it. She fights back, hard. Oh how easy it is to fall into the false promises of happily ever after, how hard it is simply accept the grave mistakes our loved ones did and how hurtful it can be.

You're presented with the what-ifs. And then you're forced to face the cold, hard truth. My heart breaks for Lily and the love of her life.

I simply love the writing style, the way Collen Hoover plays with words and how those words affect me, mentally and emotionally. My new favorite author, for sure.

When I sit down to read a book that has gotten a lot of buzz, I always prepare myself to be disappointed. Sometimes if the hype is too much, the book can't live up to it. Well this book didn't disappoint- it lives up to the buzz! I read this in two days and was thoroughly committed to reading what happened next. The story of Lily and her journey from an abusive household as a child to finding herself married to an abusive man was compelling. The author treated the subject matter and characters with such skill that the book is more than a story- it leaves the reader with questions and much to think about.

I don't know what to say about this incredible book without giving anything away. Like many people have said, it's best to go into it completely blind. Don't even read the blurb because you'll think you have this story pegged and you'll be completely wrong.

What I can say is It Ends with Us is a heart-wrenching story that is raw and filled with emotion. It will open your eyes to new perspectives and make you question everything you think you know about these characters. Every woman should read this book. Heck, every man should read it, too. And when you're done, go and hug your mom and every other woman in your life because IEWU will leave you with a greater appreciation for the strength we possess as women, even when we feel weak, and the sacrifices we must sometimes make for those we love.

There are certain books that will resonate with you for the rest of your life for one reason or another. For me, It Ends with Is is definitely one of them.

Shit. I'm sorry, book, for dismissing you as a generic (albeit pretty well done) romance. That “generic” start made me feel comfortable so that the twist really affected me. That was smart. I was trying to branch out by reading a fluffy romance novel and now I'm just left with a lot of emotions. Shit.

Very personal at that time. Had to stop reading at one point just cus i could relate so much. Then just to see if they'll meet again... Love wins at the end or not... I continued and finished. So i got the satisfaction that things always work out in the end.. but now i hate this book so much.. cus in my real life things didn't work out well and i lost her. Do it makes it books on which i have cried the most upon.

This book seriously messed me up. When I thought I couldn't cry anymore, I read the authors note and full on sobbed. I've heard people say that this book and the writing is bad but they're straight up wrong. I was super hesitant to finally start reading it because it's SO popular and could be overhyped or just not for me. So, if you're like me and are debating reading a Colleen Hoover book, I highly recommend you give this one a go because it really is so good.

I really did love this book and its raw, real depiction of extremely important issues. This really resonated with me at the time I read it and it couldn't have been any more perfect. What doesn't make it a full 5 stars for me is similar to the one I had with the Float Plan because I wish this didn't have an HEA. I feel like the story didn't need to have a wrapped-up romance in the end and that it took away from the story a bit. But overall I really enjoyed it

Bits of this book made me sob because, very unfortunately, they struck a chord. Usually that's a good thing and books that make me feel the feels generally get high ratings. But when it comes to abuse (child, spousal), I think I'd rather the chord remain unstruck. But the “it was okay” rating isn't because it was too real, too intense, because those are good things even if they're difficult. It wasn't because I felt manipulated, as Chelsea pointed out, although maybe I should have. It was because all the stuff surrounding the abuse, leading up to it and peripheral to it, caused a lot of eye rolling. Kelly said it pretty perfectly, I think: first Atlas and then Ryle were “the most perfect perfection that ever perfected.” It's really hard to relate to these picture-perfect characters, even if they didn't have ridiculous names (although I did find the whole “Issa” thing adorable). Maybe The Message™ was too heavy-handed, I don't know, but something (or perhaps many somethings) fell flat.

¯_(ツ)_/¯