It Ends with Us audiobook

5 + brave and bold stars!!! Want the naked truth about It Ends with Us? Reading this book will change your life. It’s so different from any of Colleen Hoover’s other books. You can tell it’s heavier, more personal, just more. This book is deep. It’s profound. It’s a book that needs to be read. I'll repeat: THIS IS A BOOK THAT NEEDS TO BE READ! This story is moving. It will make you think about things that are uncomfortable to think about. It will lift your heart, devastate you at times, make you proud, fill you with sorrow and make you smile. It will move you. It’s powerful and intense in the best way, but also has hopeful and lighter moments. The story itself is one that has been heavy on my heart from the moment I finished it. Sometimes, I read a book and it’s so beautiful, influential and emotional I will cry just thinking about the characters and their story. Not in a bad way necessarily, I just get that moved and that emotional while thinking about it. That is this book. Trying to find the words for this review is bringing me to tears. It’s hard to explain the story completely spoiler free, but this isn’t a ‘sad’ book. It’s a strength book. Because dealing with the issues in this story took so much strength. I’m not going to talk about the actual story at all, but I will speak a bit about the characters. Lily. Speaking of strength, Lily may be the strongest heroine that I’ve read about. Your strength is really tested when you are put in a hard situation where your choices are impossible. I loved Lily so much. I was proud of Lily and the choices she made. I want to be Lily when I grow up. Fifteen seconds. That’s all it takes to completely change everything about a person. Fifteen seconds that we’ll never get back. There are two men in this story, but please don’t think this is a triangle book. It’s not. It’s hard to explain, but it’s not. Ryle is a charming guy. He’s a giving person. He’s got a lot of great attributes. I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt so conflicted over a character as I did him. Atlas is the type of man I always have a soft spot for as a reader. His story gutted me at times, but he is also a character with a lot of strength and so much beauty. I loved Atlas from the second I met him and that love never stopped throughout the book. “Lily?” he whispers, looking at me sincerely. “You just might be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Aside from the three main characters in the story, Lily’s mom played a prominent part. Their relationship played an even bigger part. Ryle’s sister and Lily’s best friend Alyssa was one of my favorite characters in this book. When things got hard she was there. One line she said in the book, to Lily just solidified the type of woman she was. Coleen always writes that one side character that you love so hard in her stories, and Alyssa was that character for me. I can’t not mention Ellen, because, well, it’s Ellen. That part was brilliant. It made me smile every time Ellen was mentioned. When reading this book, there were moments I struggled between not being able to tear my eyes away from the page, and others I had to take a breather because I couldn't handle what was going on.Parts of this story left me so heartbroken and others lifted me up so high. There are some parts that are just so powerful I could only read them in awe. This is it. This is why I read. Books like this. All humans make mistakes. What determines a person’s character aren’t the mistakes we make. It’s how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses. 
Colleen Hoover is an author who truly has a way with words. She killed this book. I’ve read and loved all of CoHo’s books. Some of her earlier books are some of my all-time favorites. I’ve enjoyed all of her latest books, but this is by far the best book she’s ever written. And it’s tied with Hopeless as my own personal favorite book by her. And that is saying a lot, because Hopeless is one of my top books ever. If you only read one book this year, let it be It Ends with Us. Everyone needs to read this book. 5+ star favorite. Completely unforgettable and highly recommended! “It stops here. With me and you. It ends with us.”

I honestly don't know how I feel.There are times I am angry and times I am sad. And then I'm both. And it's the worst, because there is a war raging inside me, and the winner side keeps changing. How is it possible to switch from denial to sorrow to fury to acceptance in a heartbeat? “There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.” I did my best not to cry. I felt sick, but I clenched my jaw and forced myself to keep reading, trying in vain to ignore the tremors that ran through my body. But when the last chapters came, and Colleen's note in the end, I couldn't take it any more. I dissolved into angry, hot tears, and I checked my chest to make sure my heart was not bleeding. Lily's story had a lot to teach. I think I died a little when I realized that sometimes love is not enough. Regret, good will, they're not enough to fix some wounds. On the contrary, they make them deeper. “Just because someone hurts you doesn't mean you can simply stop loving them. It's not a person's actions that hurt the most. It's the love. If there was no love attached to the action, the pain would be a little easier to bear.” It Ends with Us is the most personal and daring and painful book Colleen Hoover has ever written. Abuse and domestic violence are a delicate subject, and when I found out they were this book's main theme I thought about not reading it. It was a moment of cowardice, a moment I didn't want to witness this side of relationships. But I owed it to myself, as a person and as a woman to proceed. Because pretending a problem doesn't exist does not make it disappear. There will be spoilers below so if you haven't read It Ends with Us, you should probably stop here. “Fifteen seconds. That’s all it takes to completely change everything about a person. Fifteen.” Naked truth coming. I was one of the people who don't understand. The people who, when they hear about abuse, the first thing that occurs to them is why doesn't she leave him? Why does she let her fear guide her, and she's so selfish that makes her children witness such horrors inside their home, that was supposed to be their sanctuary? But what we should ask is what is wrong with him? Instead of making excuses and trying to justify him, we should take a moment and consider how she feels, and the difficult decisions she has to make. Ryle broke my heart into millions of pieces. I fell in love with him, and I kept wishing that Colleen would delete these words, these scenes that hurt me and disappointed me and shattered my belief in happy endings. A part of me, a part I tried to smother, a part I am ashamed that exists, wanted him to change. To try harder, and for Lily to let him try harder. Me, who judged them for not leaving. In the end, I felt sorry for Ryle. For losing the love of his life, for destroying his only chance at happiness. I don't forgive him, I just wish that a magic wand would make everything better. “So much gravity, pushing down on my emotions. Everything shatters.My tears, my heart, my laughter, my soul. Shattered like broken glass, raining down around me.” Lily is a hero. She had dignity, and courage and strength. At first I was judging her mother for staying, but witnessing through Lily's eyes her challenges, feeling her heartbreak and her dilemmas, made me regret all the ugly things I thought. Loving the person who hurts you is a greater torture than the physical act itself. And damn it I loved Ryle, and I hated Colleen for that. I hated her for making me swoon and laugh when she was about to shatter my soul. The Katerina that started It Ends with Us is a different person than the Katerina that finished it. Remorseful, destroyed, wiser. “Life is a funny thing. We only get so many years to live it, so we have to do everything we can to make sure those years are as full as they can be. We shouldn't waste time on things that might happen someday, or maybe even never.” A part of me wants to forget this raw, powerful, inspirational, beautiful and ugly book. But the dominant part, even though it suffers, is glad I read it and learned.To every single person out there, READ IT.To every woman in Lily's place, BE BRAVE AND BOLD.To Colleen Hoover, THANK YOU. For sharing this with us. With me. “Just keep swimming.”

Dear Colleen,I find it fitting that I write this review as a letter to you the way Lily would write to Ellen. Don't ask me why, I really don't know. What I do know is that I haven't been on Goodreads in nearly six months and it's entirely your fault that i'm here now. So, if i stumble upon a poor review on one of my books and end up in the fetal position on my kitchen floor surrounded by Ding Dong wrappers, well, I'm blaming it on you. I've even given my husband instructions to bill you for the psychiatry bill if that happens.On Friday I had a hysterectomy. It wasn't the worst day of my life, but it certainly wasn't the best. One chapter of my life--quite possibly the best chapter--ended. The surgery itself took twenty minutes. Twenty minutes. Can you believe that? Twenty minutes to take out the uterus that carried my three beautiful babies for a total of twenty eight months. Twenty minutes to change my life. Don't feel bad for me, that's not what I want. The offending organ had to come out, I knew this. But it didn't make it any easier. It didn't make the finality of the situation any easier. In all honesty, for a couple of minutes I didn't just feel like a chapter was ending, more like an entire flipping book. Maybe my life isn't made up of chapters, maybe it's part of a duet, or a trilogy? Either way, part of my story was over. Over a matter of several hours, I slowly woke up from surgery and at one point I remember sitting there and just staring at the wall paper in my hospital room. My uterus was gone. Mauve diamonds. The wallpaper was covered in mauve diamonds.That's the most hideous color, don't you think? Mauve. Not quite pink. Not quite maroon. I counted seven hundred and fifty three diamonds before I allowed the first tear to fall. But I wasn't just crying for losing a part of my body, and I wasn't crying for losing the ability to carry more children. I was crying because some women don't even get to experience what I've gotten to experience. Some women never get to have babies. They never get to feel them grow in their bellies. They never get to see the slimy little monsters as they tumble their way into this world.And I did.I got to do all of that three times.So why was I so upset? What the hell was my problem? I should be grateful, right? Happy?My husband slept soundly in the chair, snoring softly, but at some point my cries must have woken him up. He stirred and I did the only thing I could do ... I grabbed your book. You see, it was sitting on my bedside table. I buried my nose between the pages and when my better half asked me if I was okay I simply peeked over the top of the book and whispered, "Colleen. She did it again."I didn't need to say much more, he knows my obsession with your words and I found myself grateful. Grateful that he knew your books make me cry and grateful that you inadvertently allowed me to grieve. And that's what I did. I read your book and I grieved. I cried when Lily cried. I cried when Ryle cried. And even when no one was crying, I still cried simply because I needed to and I could and no one thought twice about it because i was reading and that's what i do when i read. It was my outlet, my excuse for the tears that wouldn't go away, the tears that kept falling despite my desperate protest.I cried for all of the Lily's in the world, and the Ryle's too. I cried for the Atlas'. And I cried for the Kirby's (that's my name. No i'm not named after a vacuum, or a cream puff)But you see, I didn't want to cry. I didn't want to be upset. I have three beautiful children whom I love with my entire heart. My body did it's job extremely well and that is something to be proud of. But why wasn't I proud? Naked truth?I'm selfish.I wanted one more baby even though my husband didn't. I wanted one more baby when there are women out there that can't have any at all.So why am I telling you this? My story is nothing like Lily's. Not even close. But maybe it is ... She wanted something she shouldn't want. I wanted something I couldn't have. She had a decision to make ... one that would change her life. So did I. She made a decision that was right for her and for her life at that particular time. Ditto.But the real reason I'm telling you this is because for two days I was drowning and It Ends With Us was my lifeline. It's what I grabbed when I needed to stop thinking ... it's what I grabbed when i needed to cry ... and when i finally finished the book and put it down, it wasn't mauve diamonds that I saw ... it was my smiling children.My three beautiful smiling children ... and my niece Lily. -- Kirby

Preventing your heart from forgiving someone you love is actually a hell of a lot harder than simply forgiving them. 4 1/2 stars. Holy crap, what a book. This is unlike anything Hoover has written before. I have so many emotions right now that it's hard to know where to start, but I think everyone should read this book. That's right: everyone. I could easily give everything away. I could, but I won't. If you go looking for lots of reviews, it won't be hard to work out what It Ends with Us is about. And if you do, you should still read it, but I think it's better if you don't. I think you should go into this book knowing as little as possible. Just realize that this is something very different from Hoover's usual new adult romances (that I admittedly have had all kinds of problems with).So I don't want to say too much, but this is an extremely powerful story and it's not what most people will be expecting. It gets its power from the singular first person narrative (I'm honestly not a big fan of the alternating male/female POV romances) and we experience everything through Lily's eyes. When she falls in love, we fall in love; when her heart is broken, our heart is broken; when she gets it all wrong, so do we.I cannot stress how important and damn smart this book is. There is no black and white characterization - it's much deeper and more complex than that, and therefore, far more emotional. It peels back the layers of characters and relationships to do something that so many other authors have tried and failed to do - to make you understand a situation that for most people makes no sense. It's very sad, painful and exceptionally honest. My heart hurt while reading it and I almost cried several times.As well as all this emotion and sadness that I'm being coy about, Hoover also brings out some of her very best writing. Little gems of honesty about human nature and relationships that are all the more painful because of their resounding truth. It's such a quotable book, but unfortunately most of the quotes are spoilers, so I shall refrain from posting them.There's so many great things to mention, but I keep getting distracted by my feelings. The narrative is interspersed with letters that Lily wrote as a teenager and they are addressed to Ellen Degeneres - a strange touch that ends up being absolutely perfect. Shit, just writing this review and remembering the story is an emotional experience.And then there's the absolutely fantastic female friendship. I want Allysa to be my best friend. Hoover clearly knows her audience of 16-25 year old women, creating characters with their quirks and habits - Allysa, for example, is a self-confessed "Pinterest whore", which made me laugh. But seriously, she is the best friend ever and she says one of the most perfect lines in this book.Anyway, I'm just going to start rambling soon because I read this book in a whirlwind of emotions throughout a single day. I've been up since a ridiculous time and I need to go sleep now. But really, give this book a chance. I thought it was excellent.Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[Domestic abuse (physical, occasionally graphic). Attempted rape. (hide spoiler)] Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Store

"We all have a limit. What we're willing to put up with before we break." When was the last time a book just completely slayed me, cutting me so deep and evoking such strong emotions? It feels like my heart has been filled, then broken, filled, then broken. In the end, I'm stunned by what I read.It Ends with Us starts out innocently enough. We follow the courtship of Lily and Ryle. He is handsome, successful, and so thoroughly smitten by Lily he can barely think. He makes advances while claiming he doesn't do relationships. She rebuffs him while secretly pining for him. Really, it's all fun and a bit frivolous, your standard romance.But then we arrive at the core of this story, which I won't spoil because it's best to read it from Colleen Hoover's own words. I'll just say that the main topic in here is something that a lot of books try to tackle, but very few do right. Hoover's portrayal is brutal and compelling, and it's hard to look away. Her nuanced approach makes the whole thing ring true, and she brings a humanity to it that is both sobering and heartbreaking.I read this book years ago when it first came out, and I remember thinking highly of it, though not much else. So when I read it again this time, I admit I was shaken by how hard it hit me. I think it's because I'm older now and have more experience with love and relationships, so I'm able to appreciate this story even more.My suggestions if you're going to read this book: have a box of tissues ready and don't skip the author's note at the end. I sobbed my way to the finishing line, then read the author's note and sobbed some more. This is a riveting and worthwhile read, though at times difficult, and it showcases Colleen Hoover at her best, taking her contemporary new adult genre and elevating it to soaring heights.~~~~~~~~~~~~See also, my thoughts on:It Starts with UsVerityReminders of HimRegretting YouUgly Love Layla ~~~~~~~~~~~~

at the beginning i told myself i knew what i was in for and i was completely wrong. there are very few times, personally, when a book feels like it’s become a part of you. like you can physically feel it become a core book that you know you’d never stop thinking, talking, and recommending to those that would enjoy it. this is definitely that booki don’t think this book could have been written more perfectly. from the writing, the plot, to characters…nothing is fabricated. it is raw emotion and realistic. you fall in love with Lily. You want the best for her and you fight with her from cover to cover. i adored her character and reading her journey.i was so scared that this would end it a way that would have been unrealistic or just covered up in hearts and butterflies like we didn’t just witness 300+pages of trauma. but it didn’t, it quite literally ends with us. and you won’t know what that means until the very end. yes i cried. a lot. all for different reasons but i ended the book with the biggest smile on my face. it truly felt like i was on a journey with Lily, like i was vicariously living through her. this is definitely a favorite book of mine that i’ll be taking to the grave. i loved it so much and if anyone has anything negative to say about it you are simply wrong. i get the hype now and i was blown away. it went above and beyond from my expectations. if you plan to read this book, look up TWs because it’s very very intense. more intense than i realized. do not romanticize these characters because that’s just speaking over their trauma and experiences. and READ THE AUTHORS NOTE, it tells you how this came about. every page of this is worth it, if you can handle the subject matter of course.

This book was really heavy. If you tear out most of the pages, it's not as heavy. But when you do that, the book just doesn't make any sense.

Oh my! Argh! This is me confronting my ripped apart heart pieces of mine after reading this book! Actually I read the book a long time ago! I was chickenshit to write a review! Because writing meant opening about my feelings. This book hurt me a lot and I couldn’t find enough words to give true definition of “hurt” it gave me! I honestly say this is my longest Colho reading because I putted it down several times. I got pissed! I screamed! I clenched my fists so hard! I cursed entire family tree of Ryle Kinkaid! I haven’t wanted to hire contact torturers to kidnap a character to give the punishment he’d highly deserved for so long. The things he did to Lily: the physical and emotional abuse he gave her were impossible for me to absorb. I felt breathless and I gave up several times. This book sledgehammered my heart and crushed my soul! I returned my reading because the beautiful love story between Atlas and Lily it’s like seeing sunshine through dark clouds and giving me the only hope I could hold. I honestly thought only reading the flashbacks to warm my heart! What if they reconnected that night when they accidentally meet again at the restaurant. What if Lily went back after him instead of choosing a path with Ryle. That scenario made me so happy but it would never be the same without tremendous angst Colho threw at us because she is expert to bring our the dirties ugliest cries of regular human being! And without pain and suffer, so much sadness, we don’t feel like we read actual Colho story, do we? Never! This book is in development to adapt into screenplay! It’s so compelling to read this heart stabbing, soul sledgehammering story of this book without consuming tons of paper products to dry tears we may shed. I cannot imagine how the movie will affect me. But sometimes words hurt more than actions and I’m so sure there’s no screenwriter has ability to reflect all those emotions Colho made us feel during our reads. So my advice: stock entire paper products from grocery stores, lock yourself sound proof room not to scare your neighborhood with your screams and howling sounds and give your entire concentration to this lyrical, insanely heartfelt story. It’s one of the most compelling, sad, sensational Colho book I hardly digest the emotional turmoil it gave me! But it’s worth to the pain. Especially that meaningful, sentimental, poetic ending melted my heart.

If you need me I'll be sweeping up all the pieces of my shattered heart. Dear God! It's amazing how you can read a story that is simultaneously gut wrenching and beautiful. I'll be honest, I managed to make it through this ENTIRE book without shedding a single tear... until I hit CoHo's note/acknowledgements at the end and ugly cried. The fact that this story had so much basis on real life events that meant so much to her shined through in her writing. Clearly you can guess the ending of the story (to some degree) by the title, but a majority of what makes this story so breathtaking is the journey there. "It Ends With Us" caused me to look at domestic abuse in ways I never allowed myself to in the past. As a society we are quick to judge women (and men) who stay in abusive relationships without taking into account what the process really is like for them. We get a slight glimpse into the fragile situation of how incredibly difficult it is to leave a dangerous relationship when you love the person who is causing you harm. I won't say more for fear of ruining the reading experience for someone else, but this book was so much more than a flimsy romance novel. Highly recommended! (Maybe I'll stop ugly crying by the time you've finished reading it.)

reread, just to see if my previous statement holds up.and in case you were wondering - yes, this is still my favourite CoHo book. ____________________________this is, without a doubt, my favourite book by colleen hoover. im still trying to process everything i read, but goodness me. this book, this book, this book. where do i even begin with something as beautiful, and real, and devastating as this? just thinking about this story immediately gets my pulse racing and my stomach in jitters. this book covered so many brutally heavy topics that it left me shattered in the best way possible. it was a heartbreaking and heartwarming story, all at the same time. it made me question and think about some standards i have for myself, because you never really know how you are going to react in a situation until you are faced with it yourself. and because of that, you should never judge another persons circumstances. i think this story effectively shows that theres not always a right or wrong answer. not everything is black and white. and sometimes, when it comes to love, you just have to listen to your heart and thats the best you can do. my only critique was i desperately wanted more of atlas and his story. he was such an interesting character and i didnt feel like i got enough of him to be satisfied with his storyline. but overall, this story has stolen my heart. i also know this story was particularly personal to CoHo, so i just wanted to say how honoured i was to have read something she felt strongly enough about to share with her readers. i think it made the book so much more meaningful than it already was.↠ 5 stars

You guys are always telling me this author writes vaguely shitty romance novels and is unbelievably overhyped... and yet this masterpiece exists? I call bullshit because this was masterful.If you have read this book and also follow my reviews, you know the topic of abuse is one I sort of talk about a lot. this book got it right. this book got it so, so right. So let’s talk about why. → character work ← I knew I would love Lily from the moment she stood up at her abusive father’s funeral and refused to speak. And oh boy, was I right. Lily works so well as a protagonist because she isn’t the archetype. She has been through abuse herself and she is so, so sure it would never happen to her. She would leave if even one thing happened. She would. ...But then she doesn’t. She reads as absolutely, totally real. And her character development? Fucking iconic. → friendship focus ← Something that really bothers me a lot in romances like this is that a romance tends to save the protagonist, and I think this book - despite marketing that made me concerned this trope would rear its ugly head - does the opposite. The lead friendship here between Lily and Alys is so 20/10 and so important. And even though there is a touch of romance, I think the book is very explicit about it not being healthy for Lily to jump right into a new relationship. I appreciate that a lot. → narrative treatment ← I think this is one of the only books I have ever read that actually seems to understand that abuse is a mortal sin. The wild thing is, aside from his moments of extreme rage, Rylin never appears to be that bad of a guy. He apologizes every time. He continuously seems to account for Lily’s feelings. But his actions against her are enough. There is no question in the narrative on whether she was being unempathetic: Lily was right to leave, no matter how he treated her in the aftermath. And I think that means a lot to me, how his character is nuanced but also irredeemable for Lily. I mean, aside from these three things, everything about this novel was basically good - the writing is extremely clean and easy-to-read, there are some really really funny moments, the romance that does end up occurring is genuinely sweet, and it's overall a win - but on a personal level? I am destroyed. This book is not just good, this book is Fantastic. and that's my opinion. goodnight. Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Youtube

SPOILER FREE REVIEWAs a member of the human species with a Y chromosome, I admit that the allure of the romance novel eludes me, even though I'm a particularly hopeless romantic myself. The thought of reading about a prolonged courtship isn't something to get all excited about. After all, how many people out there are actually interested in hearing about my own misadventures in the dating arena?On second thought, don't answer that.So when I started diving into It Ends with Us: A Novel by Colleen Hoover, I expected pages of the same old trite that have filled thousands of romance novels ever since the first caveman dragged the first cavechick by the hair back into his stone-age pad. Wouldn't you know it? I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. Let's take a brief rundown of the requisite elements and see if this novel has them: Girl Meets Boy - CHECK Boy is Impossibly Handsome - CHECK Boy is Impossibly Rich - CHECK Boy is Impossibly Talented - CHECK Boy has Mysterious Name - CHECK Boy is Emotionally Aloof - CHECK Girl Tries To Deny Feelings For Boy She Just Met - CHECK Boy Makes A Move - CHECK Girl Pretends Not To Like It - CHECK Boy Says Something Clever and Sexy - CHECK Boy and Girl Have Wild, Raunchy Sex - CHECK Okay, the last one actually doesn't happen for a good while owing to the tried-and-tested phone-call-interruption-just-when-we're-about-to-do-it cliche, but it's still there.Here's a description of when the two lovebirds first meet:I feel his voice in my stomach. That's not good. Voices should stop at the ears, but sometimes - not very often at all, actually - a voice will penetrate past my ears and reverberate straight down through my body. He has one of those voices. Deep, confident, and a little bit like butter. Here's another one:This guy is beautiful. Well-manicured, smells like money, looks to be several years older than me. His eyes crinkle in the corners as they follow me, and his lips seem to frown, even when they aren't.Now, why would I give four stars to a book that overuses so many tropes?Because Colleen Hoover knows her audience so well it's almost criminal. Her writing is clean and lucid. The protagonist is fleshed-out. The story tugs at the heart. Everything else can be forgiven.And by the end of the first half of the book, it becomes painfully obvious that this novel is not about romance. It's about heartache.Our protagonist is a 23-year old wannabe florist named Lily Blossom Bloom (yes) who meets brooding neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (again, yes). Lily's father has recently passed, and she's trying to come to terms with her less-than-stellar relationship with dear ol' dad. Flashbacks are interspersed throughout the book via Lily's high school diary, and we quickly find out that her first love was a homeless guy named Atlas Corrigan (for the last time, yes) who lived in an abandoned shack near her childhood home. To say that dad and Atlas did not get along is an understatement.Lily is a smart and driven woman, and it shows through her personality. She balances the pleasures of love with the pleasures of work. A couple chapters in, she decides to pursue her dream and open a flower shop:"Sweet, life, pink, spring." I repeat. And then, "Allysa, you're brilliant!" I stand up and begin pacing the floor. "We'll take everything everyone loves about flowers, and we'll do the complete opposite!"Nice one, Lily.But of course, this wouldn't be a good novel if all we ever read about is how good Lily is getting it at the office and in the bedroom. Midway through, disaster strikes.I won't say what kind of disaster, but there's quite a few of it, both in present time and in the flashbacks. And then there's love. And then there's disaster. And then there's love. And then there's disaster. And then there's love.This book may overuse so many things we've come to expect of romantic comedies, but when I figured out the real message Colleen wanted to impart, I swept all the small things under the rug. This novel is a heartfelt plea for the readers to empathize with men and women who are caught up in relationships that are causing them turmoil and pain. It's a call to have an open mind when confronted with a similar relationship in the real world, both for the man, the woman, and their families. Finally, it leaves us with a beautiful if not sad moral lesson that the right thing to do may sometimes also be the hardest thing to do.People say that teenagers don't know how to love like an adult. Part of me believes that, but I'm not an adult so I have nothing to compare it to. But I do believe it's probably different. I'm sure there's more substance in the love between two adults than there is between two teenagers. There's probably more maturity, more respect, more responsibility. But no matter how different the substance of a love might be at different ages in a person's life, I know that love still has to weigh the same. You feel that weight on your shoulders and in your stomach and on your heart no matter how old you are.The book is peppered with phrases like the one above, and the more I read, the more I got the feeling that the words were coming from the author's mouth and not the protagonist's.At the beginning and end of the novel, there is a personal message left by the author, and the motivation for this book suddenly becomes clear. They say writing is a private and cathartic process, and for Colleen, this certainly was extremely private and cathartic. It must have taken a lot of effort to write. It's only fair that it took a lot of joy to read.

This book tells us the story of Lily, Ryle, and Atlas. Lily is a businesswoman who moved to Boston after graduation. Ryle is doing Neurosurgery residency in Boston. Both of them accidentally meet together one day and fall for each other. Atlas is Lily's first love who suddenly reappears in her life. After a long time, I enjoyed reading a romance novel. But this book gave me a totally different experience compared to my favorite books. After reading 50 pages My rating at that time 1 star I was wondering what Ryle was doing. The author said that he was doing Neurosurgery residency. But he was behaving like a roadside Romeo and a kindergarten child at the same time. After 100 pages My rating at that time - 3 stars Colleen Hoover slowly fleshes out the character of Lily, and the story slowly starts to become interesting here. After 150 pages My rating at that time - 2 stars Cliches and smut regularly seen in romantic novels start appearing here. The author slowly but steadily falls into the bandwagon created by the writers of the new generation. After finishing this novel My rating at that time - 4 stars The novel ended in the best way possible. The author could have easily gone for a more conventional ending that might have satisfied more readers. But she decided to follow her heart and wrote a fantastic latter half for this novel After reading the authors note My final rating - 5 stars After you finish reading this novel, please don't forget to read the author's notes in the last part of this book. Colleen Hoover is telling her personal experiences and opening up her heart there. I was thoroughly impressed with what she wrote there. After reading that, I understood that I couldn't give any rating less than five stars for this book. I can never call this a perfect novel. There were many areas in the initial part that I detested a lot. However, the author brilliantly managed to bring everything back on track with her brilliant writing skills. She is discussing some extremely important topics, like domestic abuse, in this novel. She is also giving a great message to the readers through it. I can easily say that it is one of my favorite romantic novels I read in the last few years.

4.5 stars!! An absolutely heartbreaking yet important story. I'm so proud of Colleen Hoover for writing this story and sharing what Lily went through. I learned so so much from Lily's story and I can't wait to read It Starts With Us.

”Oh, I want you, Lily. Make no mistake about that. I just don’t want to want you.” I thought really long and hard about how I’m going to review this book and what it always comes down to, is that I actually don’t want to review it. This is one of the rare books you just have to read yourself. You have to experience it and feel it and no matter what I’d write in my review, it would never even get close to all the emotions that hit me while I read “It Ends With Us”. This book makes you happy and sad, it confuses you, breaks you, hurts you, makes you question yourself and your thoughts! Hell, it makes you question your own code of ethics. ”The reasoning is the hardest part of this. It eats at me, little by little, wearing down the strength my hatred lends to me.”It would be easy to judge; easy to sit on a high horse, but the way this is written, the way Colleen Hoover conveyed her feelings… It makes it impossible to go out of this book without acknowledging her POV, it makes it impossible not to think about it. I know the world is not white and black. I always knew that there are many shades of grey, but this book? It confronts you with the deepest grey and forces you to deal with it. It poses the simple question: What would I have done? And as usually, the simple questions of life are the hardest and most complicated to answer. ;-)”All humans make mistakes. What determines a person’s character aren’t the mistakes we make. It’s how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses.”We all know what we SHOULD do in certain situations! What is expected of us, but when you’re actually in one of those situations? When feelings are involved? It’s not that easy anymore…I could be vague and probably continue like that forever but I won’t say more than this! It wouldn’t be fair to all the people who still want to read “It Ends With Us”. So all I’m saying is this:- This book is important! - I really liked Lily as a character and I admire her! (view spoiler)[She did the right thing in a very difficult situation and she was so, so, so brave to end her relationship with Ryle!!! It had to be done, for the sake of her child, she had not only to let go of him but also of her hatred for him. And to reach that point, to make that decision, to give her child the opportunity to have a father and to forgive him for what he did? THAT WOMAN IS STRONG!!!