It Ends with Us

I don't want to spoil it, so I'll add tags and just say I really like the writing style & character building in general and the book has a really important message that it conveys well... but there were story choices that just felt outlandish that detracted from the otherwise fairly realistic portrayal of the protagonist's dilemma (e.g. the meet cute with the rich girl whose never had a job in her life and suddenly wants to work while in high heels and oh, btw, she's the sister of the random guy you met 6 months ago on some random building. ).

I have mixed feelings about the ending and feel it would have been much stronger overall had the Epilogue been omitted entirely (e.g. Yay! Empowerment! I courageously divorced my abuser and broke the cycle... but... he's such a great dad, so I'm going to leave my still non-verbal child with an physically abusive person with no impulse control. *Projectile Vomit* )

Don't skip the author's note at the end. The author's note made me almost excuse the existence of Epilogue, because I understand that in her own personal situation the wife-beater didn't hurt the children, but if the message of the book is "end the cycle" then the whole "leave your non-verbal 11 month old alone with an abusive person" just seems reckless and not at all breaking the cycle. In her own situation, the children in the household were all old enough to speak up if something happened.