This book is everywhere, but I put off reading it for a long time. I think Colleen Hoover is really good at writing stories that are not predictable, which makes them really fun and exciting and (obviously) popular. Her stories are also pretty heavy content-wise, so I told myself I wasn’t going to read this one. BUT when the cast for the movie was announced, I caved. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni?! If I want to see a film adaptation of a book, I’m gonna read the book first. So, here we are. Keep reading for my review of It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover.
Synopsis (spoilers)
Lily Bloom attends her father’s funeral, and has nothing good to say about him in the eulogy. He abused her mother through her entire childhood. Lily meets Ryle Kincade after her father’s funeral. They obviously have a connection, but have no plans to meet again. 6 months later their paths cross again when Lily unknowingly hires Ryle’s sister to help run her floral shop. Ryle made it clear to Lily from the first day they met that he had no intentions of ever being in a committed relationship. But that changes the more time he spends with Lily. Lily and Ryle fall in love, but Lily soon falls into a similar relationship that her mother experienced with her father, and she must decide whether she will stay or go.
Thoughts (spoilers)
I looked up trigger warnings for this book before reading it, which helped me know what to be mentally prepared for. (domestic abuse, rape.) When I finished the book part of me thought, why would someone write about this for fun? Listening to the author’s note at the end of the book helped me understand that more and helped me to appreciate the story more. She grew up in a similar situation as Lily — her dad was physically abusive to her mom. Some of the specific things that happened in this book were from her mom’s life. I highly recommend reading that at the end of the book to understand why she wrote this. It also clarifies that her intention with writing this book was to show that women who have a difficult time leaving abusive relationships are not stupid or weak.
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