Oh, Colleen Hoover. How you failed me.
Adult romance author Colleen Hoover wrote the book It Ends With Us which has now become a recent movie adaptation. I will be reviewing the movie next, but first, let’s talk about the book that was the inspiration for the movie.
Just to stay forward with you, this is my opinion. I know many people love this book as well as the sequel called It Starts With Us. But this book had many problems.
Let’s start with the overview.
This book follows our main character Lily Bloom who is a botanist. I know, right? Ironic how her name reflects her future job… funny. Anywho, Lily has a past where her father was abusive to her mother, which we learn by reading excerpts from Lily’s diary.
In the beginning of the book, Lily is sitting on the roof of a random building when all of a sudden there is a loud crash. The crash-casuing man, who clearly has anger issues, is throwing a metal chair around on the roof and breaks it only to look over the roof later once he calms down.
Most people would find this strange, right? Not Lily. Lily finds this intriguing and starts to talk to the man, Ryle Kincaid, who later becomes her main love interest. We learn that Ryle is a neurosurgeon (obviously) who lost a patient the night they met. That night, Lily and Ryle joked and talked together just to part ways with the expectation that they would never see each other again.
However, when Lily starts her botany store, Lily’s Bloom, she hires Alyssa, who happens to be Ryle’s sister. So I’m sure it’s easy to assume that Lily and Ryle are bound to cross paths eventually, and they do.
Let me just be frank with you for a second. She really named her flower shop Lily’s Bloom. She had previously stated how she hated her name but yeah, let’s make it into the title of a botany shop. Oh and let me just also say that the shop is focused on steampunk flower bouquets. This feels very much like a romance book when you make the lead female character seem “quirky.”
Anywho, back to what I was talking about earlier and Ryle and Lily’s paths crossing. The reason why they cross paths again is because the first customer at Lily’s shop is Ryle.
From there, their relationship blossoms (pun intended) and they fall in love.
However, at the same time, as we read Lily’s diary entries, which are written to Ellen DeGeneres by the way, we learn about Lily’s past love, Atlas Corrigan. My one and only question is why did she write to Ellen DeGeneras? Of all people. This felt very much like Hoover was trying to add something special and cool about Lily but it just came across as creepy and weird.
Anyways, Atlas was a homeless teenager who lived in an abandoned house outside of Lily’s childhood home. Lily was a younger teenager while Atlas was 18 years old. At the time, Lily didn’t know that they would later become lovers. She dedicated months to helping Atlas and even let him sleep on the floor of her bedroom. While this sounds very nice, it’s also very cliche writing. Of course they would fall in love. It’s a no brainer.
One day, Atlas told Lily that he was going to Boston to serve in the military and Lily became distressed. They loved each other, and Lily didn’t want him to leave. So Atlas vowed that they would find each other in Boston in the future. He always says to her that life is “better in Boston,” so Lily never forgets that.
In present time, we are in Boston and Lily has given up on finding Atlas and falls madly in love with Ryle. It isn’t until Ryle and Lily go to dinner at a restaurant called BIB’s that she finally sees Atlas again, as he is the restaurant owner and head chef. In case you didn’t know, BIB’s stands for Better In Boston. I see Atlas never lost feelings for Lily, hmm? Of course he wouldn’t. After years of not speaking, they definitely would remember each other and still have feelings. This also felt cliche because it is the extravagant showcases of love that are always in romance books.
Later into the relationship with Ryle, she realizes how abusive he is and runs to Atlas for help. She finds out she’s pregnant with Ryle’s child and then gives birth only to divorce Ryle and get closer to Atlas in the end.
This book is good when it comes to displaying domestic violence in the life of women. Hoover makes a point to show why some women stay with an abusive partner, and it really opened my eyes and made me understand the woman’s point of view.
While this b ook had some amazing moments, there were plenty that made me cringe. I would like to tell you my favorite line in this book and my least favorite.
My favorite line is, “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 truly speaks to why women endure abuse from their partners. It also shows why many people stay in toxic relationships when others think they should get out of the situation.
My least favorite line is, “Where did you get that magnet, Lily?”
I won’t explain the background behind this because it spoils many parts of the story, but it was one of the most heartbreaking lines I’ve read in a Colleen Hoover book.
Yet there is another line that might take the cake for the least favorite line. This line is more cringe-inducing than funny or lighthearted. The line is about Lily being attracted to Atlas while having cow manure on themselves. Yes, you read that right. Cow poop. I couldn’t handle that line and broke out in tears because of how horrible it was.
Colleen Hoover outdid herself with that one.
It Ends With Us wasn’t a horrible book. But it was definitely a work-in-progress. The book displayed its own interpretation of domestic violence, but it also came about as too perfect and too romantic. In a book about a serious situation, it shouldn’t be a romantic comedy. It should be a romantic drama or just a classic drama.
The book comes off as a story that ultimately romanticizes the abuse that Lily goes through. I wouldn’t recommend it if you are someone who is easily triggered or gets upset with romanticized negative behavior. I know I got frustrated many times. Especially during the diary entries.
I can’t make you dislike or like this book, but I will tell you that I would read it again. I’ve already read it three times. It’s like a train wreck you can’t look away from. Overall, if I had to rate this book out of a one to five, I would give it a three.
I definitely don’t believe it should have become a movie though.
