It Starts with Us

In It Starts with Us, Lily and Ryle have entered into a civil but tenuous co-parenting relationship after their divorce. Ryle wants Lily back, but Lily wants Atlas, her first love, but pursuing him might provoke Ryle's wrath, endangering Lily and her daughter.
Full disclosure—I may not be Colleen Hoover's target audience. There's been debate, is New Adult legitimately a genre, but I think the style, language and characterizations land It Starts with Us firmly in New Adult. But I do love romance, especially one with a gritty conflict, and thus I had to read this—and because you just have to admire Colleen Hoover's success! She writes open sensitive characters with great intimacy, and I love that about her writing.
But I didn't love this book. I never once believed Ryle would keep Lily and Atlas apart. Ryle was really gray in It Ends with Us, and here he was quite black. He didn't feel like a formidable antagonist for Lily, who seemed firmly entrenched on a path of moving on and stayed squarely on it. While I found Atlas's plotline with his mother interesting, I didn't find it dramatic. Atlas was and remained, a perfect human being. No character had an arc I got invested in. While I felt the book lacked narrative drive, the writing was good and the characters had some really adorable moments. I'm sure some people will hate this book, but lots will love it.