Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
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. This began as one of my most highly anticipated books of 2016 and it is now of my top favorite books of the year. I was unable to put it down from the moment I started reading and I know that this is one of those profoundly beautiful and unforgettable stories that will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend it to everyone! When Atlas (the blast from Lily’s past) appears it throws this whole story in a different direction. Of course, we meet him with young Lily and then again later in the book. Atlas has this smooth, quiet confidence about him. He comes from absolutely nothing and makes something out of himself. I admired and respected him and I fell for him big time! The story was chilling, realistic, unpredictable, and a roller coaster of emotion. Whereas, I tend to like a lot of action to move the story forward, the emotional interactions between the characters, combined with action was something hard to put down. There were so many times that I found myself tearing up, but had to know what happened next.
Also the secondary characters in this book, Lily’s parents and Ryle’s sister and her husband are truly imperative in this story. They are just perfect and add so much to the story. 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.I don’t want to say too much and spoil the story for anyone. I will say that this book does span a large part of Lily’s life. We see her as a teen and also as an adult, it was very well done and I enjoyed the blend of past and present. Chapter One As I sit here with one foot on either side of the ledge, looking down from twelve stories above the streets of Boston, I can’t help but think about suicide. Not my own. I like my life enough to want to see it through. I’m more focused on other people, and how they ultimately come to the decision to just end their own lives. Do they ever regret it? In the moment after letting go and the second before they make impact, there has to be a little bit of remorse in that brief free fall. Do they look at the ground as it rushes toward them and think, “Well, crap. This was a bad idea.” Somehow, I think not. Lily's story is one that I never wanted to stop reading. If I know that I'm going to need to read a book in multiple sittings (which was the case with this book), I usually try to find a good place to stop. One in which, nothing major is happening and nobody is facing some drastic/perilous moment. Well you see the problem with this book is the fact that there is literally NO. GOOD. STOPPING. POINT! None! There was never a part where I felt safe in letting this book sit overnight because I knew that the story and the what if's would play endlessly in my mind. So I stayed up and read it all in one sitting because I simply couldn't stop. Lily was someone that I connected to right from the get go. I knew as soon as the book started that I would like her, and that never once stopped while I was reading. However, I didn't realize how much her character would affect me while I was reading. As I said before, after I was finished reading, I couldn't have been prouder of her decisions. The strength she had throughout the story to go through what she did, but also her resolve and conviction just made me constantly cheer her on. Lily is truly one of the most admirable characters that I have ever had the pleasure of reading about, and that admiration goes extraordinarily deep. If you wouldn’t sleep with someone you just met . . .” His eyes meet mine again. “Exactly how far would you go?” 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)
for the majority of this novel, i DIDN'T like it. i was definitely interested and curious, but i didn't care for the characters as much as i thought i would. i was frustrated and annoyed at the situations, and some of it felt artificial, rushed, and stereotypical. it all seemed so... fictional. usually the romance satisfies me, but even that didn't do it. buuuuuut it wasn't so much that i didn't NOT like it. it was simply okay when i expected it to be ~amazing~. One of them is. Was. “My father died this week.” He glances at me. “Nice try. I’m not falling for that.” “I’m serious. That’s why I came up here tonight. I think I just needed a good cry.” He stares at me suspiciously for a moment to make sure I’m not pulling his leg. He doesn’t apologize for the blunder. Instead, his eyes grow a little more curious, like his intrigue is actually authentic. “Were you close?” That’s a hard question. I rest my chin on my arms and look down at the street again. “I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “As his daughter, I loved him. But as a human, I hated him.” I can feel him watching me for a moment, and then he says, “I like that. Your honesty.” He likes my honesty. I think I might be blushing. We’re both quiet again for a while, and then he says, “Do you ever wish people were more transparent?” It Ends With Us was beautifully complicated. It was hot and cold. Up and down. Good and bad. Beautiful and ugly... I'm still trying to figure out how I really feel about it all because I'm genuinely torn on how I want to perceive this storyline. I loved it but in all honesty, I really do think I hate it as well. Not the "I-hate-you-Colleen-Hoover-stop-writing-books-and-find-a-different-career" type of hate but rather "I-hate-you-Colleen-Hoover-for-making-me-hate-everything-that-I-came-to-love" kind of hate because it pretty much summarizes all my thoughts and feelings about It Ends With Us in one sentence. 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.
Customer Reviews
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.
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. Despite my problems with this book, I think the general idea that Colleen Hoover tried to present in this book was executed decently well at times, hence my two stars. 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. lily’s bedroom light turned on at the exact perfect moment, just as atlas was about to commit. wow what a mere coincidence. he thought she was an angel beaming in the light. he said and i quote “i ~felt~ something,” that’s the reason why he didn’t want to kill himself anymore.Your turn,” I tell him. Based on his reaction, I think he might not want to play his own game. He sighs heavily and runs a hand through his hair. He opens his mouth to speak, but then clamps it shut again. He thinks for a bit, and then finally speaks. “I watched a little boy die tonight.” His voice is despondent. “He was only five years old. He and his little brother found a gun in his parents’ bedroom. The younger brother was holding it and it went off by accident.” My stomach flips. I think this may be a little too much truth for me. “There was nothing that could be done by the time he made it to the operating table. Everyone around—nurses, other doctors—they all felt so sorry for the family. ‘Those poor parents,’ they said. But when I had to walk into the waiting room and tell those parents that their child didn’t make it, I didn’t feel an ounce of sorrow for them. I wanted them to suffer. I wanted them to feel the weight of their ignorance for keeping a weigh on my conscience at all when he rests a heavy hand on my stomach. “How far would you go, Lily?” His voice is decadent. Smooth. It travels straight to my toes. “I don’t know,” I whisper. His fingers begin to crawl toward the hem of my shirt. He begins to slowly inch it upward until a slither of my stomach is showing. “Oh, Jesus,” I whisper, feeling the warmth from his hand as he slides it up my stomach. Against my better judgment, I face him again and the look in his eyes completely captivates me. He looks hopeful and hungry and completely confident. He sinks his teeth into his bottom lip as his hand begins to tease its way up my shirt. I know he can feel my heart thrashing around in my chest. Hell, he can probably hear it. “Is this too far?” he asks. I don’t know where this side of me is coming from, but I shake my head and say, “Not even close.”
Let’s start with the obvious annoyances that seem to be in nearly every NA book that drive me batshit before getting to the real nitty gritty. First, the character names. Ryle, Lily Bloom and Atlas??????? 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 where she grew up--she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily's life seems too good to be true. What a glorious and touching read, a forever keeper. The kind of book that gets handed down."-- "USA Today" 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. there were two romantic tropes that bothered me because i don't like the tropes themselves and because i didn't think it was executed THAT well: insta-love and love triangle.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? I wish cutting my feelings off for the person who hurt me was as easy as I used to think it would be. Preventing your heart from forgiving someone you love is actually a hell of a lot harder than simply forgiving them.' And in this book, we see Ryle presented as, not a bad person, instead, only a "person who does bad things". Now, I've been thinking about this line. I wonder if it was Colleen’s intention to have Ryle say this line to purposefully show how he manipulates Lily into having this mindset or if Colleen really does think this way. Ryle is indeed a bad person, and abuser who is irredeemable. I understand and agree that it is at times, difficult to label someone as “bad” or “good” as it is more complicated than that. But there comes a point, that person is a bad person (for instance, when he tries to horrifically rape her and guilt-tripped Lily with his trauma). Colleen attempts to evoke confliction in the reader by writing in that Ryle donates to charity. Yet, this is not enough. One donation does not make you a good person, especially when compared to the severe harm that you’ve caused others. I cannot believe that after Ryle attempted to rape Lily, there are still Ryle apologists out there. That moment was absolutely mortifying. The writing wasn’t something I had a problem with. When I see people criticize Colleen Hoover, it tends to be because they call her writing “wattpad writing” which is stupid, because people will say that any contemporary romance has “wattpad writing”. That’s not a great criticism, they should actually elaborate. Other than the quotes that I’ve disagreed with like “There’s no such thing as a bad person, only people who do bad things”, I found that Colleen Hoover’s writing flows well and that she has some iconic, well thought out quotes. lily is obsessed with ellen degeneres to the point where ellen actually becomes the 4th main character of the story.
Great Deal 
New Comment 