Book: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Read From: 9th July - 11th July 2021
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary: When Lily moves from Maine to Boston, she does not expect to meet handsome neurosurgeon Ryle. What she expects even less is for her first love Atlas to reappear as soon as Ryle makes an exception to his “no relationships” rule - just for Lily.
I need to have words with Colleen Hoover because this book absolutely ripped my heart into a million pieces. This is NOT an easy book to read. It explores some hard hitting topics that aren't discernible from the cover or synopsis - HUGE TRIGGER WARNING FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. Do not go into this expecting a cute little love story, it’s very difficult to read. But despite that, there are some heart-warming moments and so I was crying both out of sadness and happiness throughout the course of this book.
This is an extremely difficult review to write because this book really impacted me and I can't even find the words to describe my feelings towards it, let alone do the book justice. Lily is a character you can't help but love. Her backstory, particularly with Atlas, only reinforces this. I loved being in Lily’s head while we relived her past life through her diary entries and the special connection the two characters had was so heart-warming to read about. Ryle is a unique character, never have I ever felt so conflicted over my feelings. He's written in such a way where you can fully understand Lily's mixed emotions towards him because you are literally going through those emotions yourself as the reader.
This is such a terrible review but I’m genuinely at a loss for how I’m able to do this incredible book justice, and what glowing thoughts can possibly be said that hasn’t already? If you haven’t already, read this yourself (bearing the triggers in mind though of course!!) and see what all the hype is about because I can safely say that it is WORTH every ounce. It Ends With Us is a book that will stay with me for a long time, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see Ellen DeGeneres/Dory the fish again without thinking of this book. Not a bad thing of course - until I get the urge to reread despite my never-ending TBR!