BOOK REVIEW: IT ENDS WITH US BY COLLEEN HOOVER.

History keeps repeating itself in the most heart-wrenching way. But it has to end with us. This vicious cycle of pains and love and heartbreaks, must end, in our time.

EZIOMA KALU.

BLURB

Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

MY REVIEW.

I finished reading this book in a day, because it was too jealous to let me divide my attention. 🥺

Trigger warning : This book will make you feel all your emotions in extremities. First, you’re feeling sorry for Lily, the main character, for losing her dad, then you’re cheering her and Ryle on, to go ahead and date.
This is a beautifully written, heart-wrenching book that highlights the connection between love and an abusive relationship.

I feel like everyone fakes who they really are, when deep down we’re all equal amounts of screwed up. Some of us are better at hiding it than others.

Colleen Hoover, It ends with us.

Lily has to grow up resenting her father, who physically abused her mum all her life, and goes on to not have a good thing or two to say about him, during his funeral.
She lives with that hurt, that pain of watching the woman she loves so much being severely battered by the one person who should protect her from the monsters.

Her rescue becomes her journal which she addresses to Ellen DeGeneres, where she pours out her anger for her father, and her displeasure for her mother’s insistence to keep holding up with the abuse.

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, It ends with us.

But Atlas comes into her life, and it takes an interesting turn. She has a dynamic relationship with him, which would be flung to her past many years later. Her meeting with Ryle is both interesting and exciting, as they both tell themselves ‘naked truths,’ about their lives, even though they’re strangers and don’t know the possibility of meeting with each other again.

Lily thinks there’s a perfect man out there waiting for her, and she feels like she’s on an infinite search for the Holy Grail, but would Ryle later become the Holy Grail?

I have this idea that’s there’s a perfect man out there for me. I tend to become jaded easily, because no one ever meets my standards. I feel like I’m on an infinite search for the Holy Grail.

Colleen Hoover, It ends with us.

Her relationship with Ryle starts off as sweet, romantic and everything nice and fun. But will she live happily ever after with Ryle? The salubrious relationship Lily and Ryle enjoy will take a swift turn to the other side, when Lily’s first love, Atlas resurfaces.

Will history repeat itself all over again, and will she be able to maintain the perfect relationship with this hot doctor like she’s always dreamed of?

Ryle is a sweet boy, no doubt. He’s a hot dude, a doctor who looks extremely sexy in his scrubs. But he has a temper, which he blames on his childhood trauma. This goes a long way to highlight on traumas and their negative effects. It is not enough to shake off a traumatic incident and pretend you’re normal, when you’re not. Trauma breaks you. It turns you into something you’re not, it makes you live like a beast. And it’s worse if you keep living in denial.

Trauma victims need all the help they can get, because if care is not taken, the trauma transforms into bitterness, anger and pain, and invade their hearts and minds, and turn them into nefarious creatures.

There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.

Colleen Hoover, It ends with us.

This book is a mixture of romance, heartbreak, laughter, tears, and something else. It’s a book everyone should read. Especially if you’re the one to always blame the victims of abuse, because why won’t they just get up and leave?
No. The only person to blame when an abuse takes place is the abuser, and not the abused. This is because most times it takes an astronomical amount of strength to give up on whom you love, simply because they cannot nip their temper in the bud.

People spend so much time wondering why women don’t leave. Where are all the people who wonder why the men are even abusive? Isn’t that where the only blame should be placed?

Colleen Hoover, It ends with us.

And it also takes a lot of courage to break free from what you feel is the norm, what you’ve experienced all your life, and the cycle that you’re used to.

It ends with us is an excellent book, written in simple language. I love the author’s flawless narration and beautiful descriptions, she tells this story in such a way you’re submerged into it, and cannot let go. It’s a page turner, and I enjoyed every bit of the journey. The characters are relatable and the plot is touching. The themes explored are very critical ones like trauma, abuse, violence, love and heartbreak. It’s a 5/5 book. And it made me become a Colleen Hoover top fan. 🥰

Have you read the book? What do you feel about it? Please share your thoughts with me in the comment section. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter, follow me on all social media platforms and share with your friends.
Bye🥰🥰 I love you guys!