It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover: A Book Review

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover Book Review

4/1/2022

Note: This review is spoiler free !
Book: It Ends with Us
Author: Colleen Hoover
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: For readers 17 and up
Rating: ⅗
First Half of the Book: 2/5 stars
Second Half of the Book: 3.5/5 stars

This book could have easily been rated higher if it weren’t for that hair ripping, cringeworthy, toxic first half of the book. I swear Colleen Hoover took the plot of a wattpad story and inserted it for the first half of “It Ends with Us”. 💀
But the second half was MUCH better. It had actual substance and a good message.

What I Didn’t Like: *Copies and pastes the entire first half of the book* 🙇‍♀️ 😬 (Just kidding hehe)

The Wattpad Storyline:

Was the author drunk while writing the first half?? This is ridiculous and I feel like I’m reading fanfiction.

Exhibit A: This book starts out with two strangers meeting each other on a rooftop and immediately spilling their deepest darkest secrets…. Why? No clue. What kind of people have deep convos with a stranger they just met? Ur really going to spill all your life’s secrets to a man you just met? Maybe it’s just me and my introvertedness, but I don’t get it 🤷‍♀️
Exhibit B: This thing between Ryle and Lily is weird and unrealistic. They’ve met like ONLY twice now and he’s knocking on all the doors in her neighborhood to find her?? And he’s literally panting over her. He says that he can’t pass his medical school exams because he can’t stop thinking about her and gets distracted. He then goes on to say he lost sleep over her 😭 Then he has the AUDACITY to beg her to… um do stuff…HELLO?! U GUYS BARELY KNOW EACH OTHER AND HAVE HAD TWO SMALL INTERACTIONS. This is the stupidest thing ever 😂 .
Exhibit C: “You make me want to be a different person, but what if I don’t know how to be what you need”. Wow, so romantic 🙄 . This was said after the fourth interaction between them. Totally not rushed at all 🤩 🤩 ! Gosh I have to keep reminding myself this is not fanfiction 💀
Exhibit D: “But I’ve missed you and for some reason I sleep better when I sleep next to you”. I- that’s a bit much for two people who barely know each other but ok.

2. Toxic and Non Consensual Behavior Romanticized:

Exhibit A: Immediately after these two meet, Ryle invites her to… um do stuff part 2…. I got the icks. Ngl if a stranger said that to me, conservation would be over faster than you can say “lawsuit” and I would be filing a restraining order right away 😟
Exhibit B: Then a few pages later HE STARTS TO LIFT UP HER SHIRT?! This guy needs to learn to ask people before he touches them 😤
Exhibit C: A quarter through the book, Ryle begs her to… um do stuff part 3…. And she said no (thank goodness this guy gives me the creeps). AND then he literally pressurizes her even after she said no. And this is normalized in the book??
Exhibit D: "Please have s** with me. I want you so so bad and I swear- once you have s** with me, you'll never hear from me again. I promise" UM IMMEDIATELY NO. GET BACK! GET BACK! 🤺 🤺 🤺 I’LL BE RIGHT BACK, I’M GOING TO GO LOCK UP ALL MY DOORS 😧
SPOILERS: The problem is that this toxic behavior is romanticized and passed off as flirting. That’s a dangerous message to support. It was only considered abuse when we were told that it’s abuse. Otherwise, the previous “flirting” moves Ryle had made were apparently justified.
**This is in neither the likes or dislikes section, just wanted to mention it: Why is 99.999999% of YA female leads red haired (including Lily) but only about 2% of the world’s population is?! 💀

What I liked:

Message (Kind of a Spoiler): The message about abuse was very powerful. It was developed in a way that truly encased the mind of a woman going through domestic abuse. It was very well done.
Atlas: ONLY BEARABLE PERSON IN THIS ENTIRE BOOK. I loved every scene he showed up in. Especially Lily’s diary entries about Atlas.

I feel like this would be a much stronger book if it weren’t for the fanfiction type writing in the first half. But I feel like everyone should still give it a read because of the powerful message behind this book!

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34 Comments

Jessica Boss link

4/2/2022 09:50:06 am

We liked It Ends With Us a lot BUT our favorite is Reminders of Him and we would DIE if you read it too.

Bookconfessionssecrets (Creator)

4/2/2022 02:04:19 pm

I need to read RoH!!

jacks_broken_hearts_club

4/2/2022 01:35:07 pm

Totally agree with this review. There were so many red flags right from the off with Ryle that I couldn’t understand why Lily was with him at all. I will read the next one for Atlas though <3

4/2/2022 02:09:40 pm

Right?! I instantly found Ryle creepy and can't believe he was introduced as romantic....

YES ATLAS FOR THE WIN! I will read it starts with us for him!

Megan ( Rogue.River.Reads)

4/2/2022 05:24:54 pm

I appreciate the honesty regarding the first half of the book! “Uhm immediately NO. GET BACK! GETBACK! 😂.
Need young ladies to understand this is NOT romantic.
Glad you powered through… not sure it’s going to the top of my list right now though.

Happy Reading!

4/3/2022 06:43:58 am

Haha thank you!! I feel like I'm kind of alone in my opinion though since everyone else loved it 😂. I would say to still give the book a try for sure but you might need to power through the beginning!

Thebook.bunny

4/4/2022 06:09:34 am

Love an honest review, I have seen so much hype for this book, your review has left me intrigued! Will certainly pick it up!

4/5/2022 09:34:47 am

Thank you!! Yah this book was overhyped a lot! It's all right but nowhere near as good as everyone claims it is lol. Hope you enjoy the book though!

Destiny (destinysreading)

4/5/2022 06:01:39 pm

While I gave this a 5 star because I felt that the second half redeemed the whole book, I love this review. I laughed out loud when you started talking about the watt pad storyline. I understand completely where you’re coming from with the first half. The romantic in me was trying to root for Ryle until things escalated (granted, they did escalate quickly). I just absolutely adored the ending. I love a satisfying ending. Great review!

4/10/2022 06:13:43 am

Yay!!! That makes me so happy to hear :) But yes, the second half of the book redeemed most of the story for me too!

Samadhee link

4/5/2022 10:08:09 pm

Wow really good review and I agree with you on thr most part!! Besides the first quarter book which was boring, the message was well addressed in the book and yeah I like atlas--

4/15/2022 08:32:31 am

Thank you so much! Lol yah the first quarter was not it! But the rest of the book was great!

Pip

4/7/2022 05:42:44 am

This is a really good review, and you know what, it made me see the book differently.
I have to be honest…. I was a bit swept up in the romance in the first half. But as you say, not acceptable behaviour was being passed off as flirty. Now that you point out Ryle’s subtly coercive behaviour I am mad at myself for not seeing it. And tbh I’m sure that is what lots of sufferers of abuse might think. Why didn’t they see it sooner/ see it coming? So for me it made the overall message of the book all the more powerful, because I thought, you know what, this could happen to me. The situation can sneak up and then be really hard to get out of.
Thank you for sharing! Great review 🙏

4/19/2022 08:43:27 am

Thank you!! That's all right if you didn't notice it! On further thought, I guess the author wanted us to see Ryle from Lily's perspective, who was unable to see his red flags at the beginning. The situation can definitely sneak up!

Amy

4/8/2022 04:30:02 pm

I totally agree with your points! The beginning of the book had some serious cringe for me, but the second half was truly such a strong message. It was a light read with a heavy message. This was my first Colleen Hoover book. I'll have to try reading some of her other work.

Bookshelfbymisst

4/9/2022 02:12:39 pm

Lovely and honest review!

As much as I was sucked in by it all and the whole unrealistic romance thing, you are so right in saying that abuse gets passed as flirting, I liked all the characters but Ryle does scream possessive & arrogant from the beginning.

Overall I loved it and still gave it 5 stars.

I recently read Verity though and if there was a scale of a 5 star rating, Verity would be at the higher end. It’s definitely my favourite one !

books.coffee.sunshine

4/11/2022 09:05:12 am

I totally agree with this entire review right here , I mean ryle was a big red flag long before he started physically hurting her . I’ll honestly never understand why some people still like Ryle after reading the entire book , it’s crazy . Great review btw 👌

4/19/2022 08:46:07 am

Thank you so much!! There are people who still like Ryle after the end?! Wow that's really shocking and honestly heartbreaking to think about.

yourfavoritereader

4/11/2022 05:11:52 pm

i totally respect your opinion and i do agree with the fact that ryle was a walking red flag before everything went down. what are some of your thoughts about allysa's reaction to the abuse?? she used ryles childhood trauma as an excuse but yet she was really supporting in lily leaving ryle.
it's a 5 star read for me 💖😌

Bookssinwonderland

4/12/2022 01:27:45 pm

I love this honest review!
I totally understand your points and I agree with most of them, although I liked Ryle at first. He was quite intriguing and he caught my attention, but I should have known better.
Anyway, I appreciate how Lily was able to distance herself from Ryle once she realised who he truly was.

Cheers from Italy🇮🇹

Milka

4/14/2022 09:50:10 am

I agree with the points you made Ryle made me feel uncomfortable for most part of the book Atlas on the other hand is a different story I recommend reading Reminders of him or November 9th.

Bethany

4/14/2022 02:45:34 pm

YES!!! Everything about this review is 100% correct! The fanfic first half and the rushed relationship between Ryle and Lily is so true, couldn’t of said it better myself.
I just thought it was so cringe and no real person would do half the things that bloke did, especially considering he’s supposed to be a very smart put together person like?

Chloe

4/15/2022 05:27:08 am

Yesss! I completely agree with Atlas being the only bearable person! As much as I loved Lily, it tended to get a bit hair pulling and Atlas really saved this book!
Although I had to give the credit to Lily for putting herself out of the situation as soon as she got pregnant… although it was kind of hypocritical of her to say she wouldn’t date someone like her dad and then ended up with someone who was.
We needed more Atlas though!
💞Atlas all the way!💞

4/19/2022 08:44:44 am

FR! Atlas literally saved this book omg. But yah Lily was very strong and I'm glad she was able to save herself!

Brittany

4/20/2022 05:25:45 am

I always appreciate an honest review of a book! I loved Atlas and I thought that the message of abuse and how it was handled was done really well! I can’t help it I loved this book!

Megan

4/28/2022 08:36:20 am

Thanks for the honest review, I definitely agree. Ryle was romanticised in a way that makes it almost ok the way he acted. I understand the ultimate message but think it's dangerous the way it was portrayed.

@Bookish.courts

5/1/2022 01:34:22 pm

Very interesting review. I completely agree with you about the message portrayed in the second half of the book. Very powerful and a very real topic that I believe was written about quite well. Atlas was my favourite character and Alyssa was close behind him. I found the whole relationship between Lily and Ryle rushed and very forward. I mean the timeline of their relationship was very fast.

Overall I actually really enjoyed this book and found myself unable to put it down. I wanted to see what all the hype was about and I was excited to try an author that was new to me.

Jade

5/2/2022 01:59:34 pm

Hiiiiiii! I totally get what your saying abt the wattpad first half haha. I found it fun to read it got me hooked in the beginning and then that second half just blew me away! Such a great story of finding your strength and the courage to do what you know is right even if it’s difficult. If you could shoutout my bookstagram on your story I’d love that!! Cause I’m new and I don’t have a huge following! It’s @jades._.bookshelf

Ruby link

5/2/2022 02:17:57 pm

I agree with the first half of the book it was a bit much. I couldn't understand how after he was viciously attacking a chair that he would even be remotely approachable let alone allowing him to touch me intimately in any way. I ended up looking past that and focused on the real message of the book and gave it a 5/5 simply because this needs to be talked about. There aren't enough books out there that give the proper insight on abuse and what it means to be in that kind of relationship.

@skrapcrazyreads

5/25/2022 06:59:49 am

You touched on many of the feelings I had reading this book. So many triggers that were casually brushed off. I do agree there is value in the storyline and definitely worth the read.

universe7k

5/25/2022 09:12:14 am

Hey! I loved your opinion about the book! So far i can say that Atlas is my favorite character after all,,, and i’m happy that Lily eventually made the right decision!

Daniela

6/2/2022 02:08:31 pm

Yes!!!! Totally, the first half of the book I swear I couldn’t stop reading but only because of the cringe. The romantic timeline is delusional I mean who gets married after six months of dating and after one probable assault? I don’t know I just didn’t buy into the romance part of the book at all.

Ellie

6/2/2022 03:19:53 pm

I totally didn't think about how cringey the first half is until I read your review. But I totally agree! Ryle was a red flag from the beginning.

Kristinas_booksncats

6/3/2022 07:22:57 pm

I agree so much with your review! The love story with Ryle felt mush more like falling in lust and it was hard to get into their storyline.
Atlas's storyline and the ending really save this book. While I can say I enjoyed reading this book, I am so happy this story was told for all people who have been in abusive relationships.

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