So last month I finished It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover, and let me tell you I did NOT expect to dislike it to the extent that I do. I did not also expect to feel scammed by Tiktok over this highly popular book which so many people- to this day- make constant posts about how it's their favorite book.
It wasn't just Tiktok, it was constantly on every platform that could ever recommend a book. It was on reddit, Instagram, Youtube, GoodReads and so much that you actually want to give it chance, cuz you think, "that many people can't be wrong, can they?" And hell, they were. I just don't get it.
This is ofc a rant on the whole book and how I felt afterwards, its only my take on it and I know that it could be your fav book I'm trashing, but then again I'm only going to respect your opinion. And in end, if it gets too heated, let's just agree to disagree. So here it goes:
Rating- 1 star(with extra generosity, and only for Atlas)
LOVE-
– Atlas of course, his story and his kind and considerate actions.
EH?
– condescending main girl, even though writer tries to show she's not (no don't tell me she wasn't, every time she described Atlas in the beginning, she constantly called him "homeless". Sometimes even when things are obvious, you just don't verbalize it, words like that can be ugly and as a reader I only felt that this girl was looking down on him. Was it really necessary to call him that that many times? really?)
– TELL TELL TELL TELL TELL TELL writing.
– characters who spend literally no time bonding (except atlas and lily), and the only "bonding" scenes is mating??? Not only with Ryle and Lily, but also Lily and Alyssa. Lily meets Alyssa in the afternoon, and by evening they're BBFs? Totally possible. Yes
– Chances that Alyssa is Ryle's sister? Every single one. Yes, totally possible again. (cringing so hard my face might contort)
– Ryle? A big fat mistake to walk on the face of the earth. Honestly, no it's actually Lily. Lily's a big fat mistake.
– Girl doesn't think twice before marrying some random dude she met 6 months ago, after the possible risk that he might turn out like her father? WTF was she thinking? Oh right, she wasn't. She just doesn't think.
– Dude is a huge red flag in itself cuz he doesn't care abt relationships, and all he wants is to bang and leave (Do you guys see a toxic pattern here in CH's books? Does this remind of another book/2 maybe? Let me help you- Ugly Love and stupid Verity(it's the girl here tho)).
– How could she like him??? How???! Oh cuz he's good in bed, right. Or "oh his voice hits me right in my stomach". Totally. Girls aren't so gullible like CH makes her FMCs out to be , which is such a big hypocrite factor for me cuz if she's writing a book about women empowerment, she truly needed to up her game rather than write things that make girls seem like they're nothing more than superficial aff. ???
– Oh, here's the fun part tho, he changes. For her. Yes another fucking totally! (I'd rather be run over by cows with shit all over their feet than read this book)
– Most of the time it felt like the things that the characters did didn't feel much like what they would actually do, but rather what the writer is making them do. The fact that it feels this way is a clear sign that the writer has derailed from the story.
– Lily doesn't want to make a decision on their marriage until the baby comes out because of what!!!??? Pregnancy hormones? So all pregnant women are incapable of making decisions at all then??? And then immediately, the moment the baby comes out she decides for a divorce??? The fucking second she sees him hold their daughter? No preg hormones then huh? Yes, of course. What CH writes is what actually is. Yes.
– Terrible writing. Terrible characters. Very distracting plot holes.
– What's up with Allysa? She was soooo purposefully made that way, the cliché friend, so common it hurts. She naturally just sees the sign and comes to work for Lily? Cuz she's too bored of being rich? Where does this even happen?
– Lily hires Allysa without a second thought. No background asked, no serial killer check, no nothing. "Just gonna work for free??? Okay cool. You can start right away. Oh l kinda feel guilty for making you work for free though, so $10/hour? Sure. Of course."
– WHAT THE FUCK WERE THOSE JOURNALSSS??? EWWWW. Could she have come up with anything worse than those to convey the story? Guess we'll never know. After reading the book, I fully realize the sole purpose of the journals was so that Ryle would find them, and do what he will so that the story can progress. Terrible. While I was reading, it would've made so much more of an impact if the writer chose to maybe give Lily flashbacks of her time, dreams every single day, like she was always constantly traumatized by what happened to atlas. She then visits maybe a therapist to take help from, and he says journaling might help, and then ryle find those papers. Or ryle just goes through her files from the doc. Can't make him more of a dick than he already is, so why not?
– People don't just get over that trauma of being in an abusive household like how CH made it look like- it haunts them for the rest of their life. When someone places something a little to hard on the ground, when someone shouts, when someone's quiet, when someone's being a little too rough with them even when they're clearly joking, they're constantly reminded, they constantly wonder if that someone is angry. Where was this??? WHERE??? Terrible writing.
– Lily was a pain. So very frustrating. She blamed atlas for not coming back for her, while she dated the first guy she met. The guy who clearly had a temper. No, I'm not saying she should've known before, but I'm saying the obvious reaction should've been doubting men because of her childhood, I've known people who are extremely cautious of the same because of going through something similar. I know not everyone is the same, but that reaction should be blatant. How could she even find him attractive? How is she not reminded of her father all the fucking time??? How does she not take caution before dating another man???
– She met him on a rooftop, he flirts, and she falls in love with him? ? ? ? ? It makes more sense if they just hooked up than get married because of that, because that's all he wanted anyway.
– Repeated disappointing behavior. When he did what he did the second time, it should've been over there. I don't care how much she loved him, or how much of their future she saw(which the author didn't mention one bit of, 0% explanation of show writing and 10000% of just telling-"oh she loved him, so if you disapprove, you're standing on the outside, you don't understand". NO. Just NO.)she should have walked away without another word. But no. Even when he says he blacks out because of what he did to his brother, she only should've felt sorry for him and nothing more, but she takes that as a valid justification on his behalf for what he did. This is why girls like Inej and stories like Six of Crows are legendary-"He's gonna fix himself, and I'm gonna fix myself". Not one person doing the fixing for both of them. Fuck this!
– I never expected a character to be perfect. I in fact like stories that display the contrary, like if I were reading about a morally gray character, I'd like him to find redemption at some point, if I were reading about a character who never made mistakes, maybe he'd make a grave one along the way in the book, something to say that things can always go against us and we'd make poor choices. I get that. But what I truly don't get in IEWU is the "repetitiveness" of the same bad choices, up to the point where it gets so frustrating to sit with. He (literally) bites her neck of, punches her, pushes her down an entire flight of stairs, and each time she forgives him. She's covered in bruises all the time, but he says he loves her though, so she forgives him again. What does that say to the women going through the same kind of thing? That's it's okay to be let yourself be treated that way? For what?
Plus the entire dislike of this book doesn't only revolve only the abusive part, it's also the unrealistic writing, the relationship of the FMC with others. The time jumps, as well as how she never apologized to the right people. Had a Atlas and Lily's position be changed, and atlas the reason lily gets beaten by his father, do you think readers would be okay to see atlas go on w never once apologizing? why double standards people?
– Randomly just meets Altas one day, and decided to finally be together out of nowhere? Where's the angst? Where are the proper confrontations? Where is the fucking apology for what her father did to him??? WHEREEE??? TERRRIBBLLEEEE!!!
– Pacing? No Jumping. SUCKSSS. Terrible writing.
– I get that the book tried to be more on the educative side rather than entertaining, so its totally fine with the themes that play around. I'm never gonna say something was too difficult read (except ofc unrealistic trauma like A Little Life, but that's a story for another day) But where is the realism when trying to convey that? Where is the strong, brave female lead who walks away at the right time? Where is the female lead who inspires other girls with her story, where she makes an example of herself and NOT someone who people can relate to, cuz sometimes what we need is someone who we can look up to and NOT someone who's on the same level and feel sorry for them because we fully understand what they're feeling. She's not his babysitter. She's not here to make him behave his best. "He's going to pull himself together, and she's going stay by his side while he does that, not literally do it for him, and forgive him time and time again when he can't because then he's going blame her for not doing her job of pulling him together. Where's the female lead who never once looks back after something so cursed takes place, never even thinks that there's a possibility that more chances could be given? Because some things once said and done, there's NO going back. NEVER. Where is she? WHEREEE? Terrible.
– Lacking in every way.
– 0 aestheticism.
– 0 introspective paragraphs, 0 memories or possibilities shared to the reader by the character, 0 contemplation before making any decision.
– 0 everything.
If someone ever told me this book was sad, that would be the one most confusing statement I would ever hear because nothing about this book was sad, I would not shed air for this book, it was trash writing, and ever trashier characters (NOT Atlas). That was all it was.
Overall, TRASH.
However!!!
I hope you had fun reading this rant. You can trash it with me, and we can be Trash Buddies. 🙂
xoxo
by bluemonkeyyy9
39 Comments
I had to abandon this book.
I don’t use Tiktok, but even if I did, I wouldn’t buy any book that was popular with that app’s user base. It was probably a guerilla marketing scam that you fell for. I think you just learned a valuable lesson.
This sounds like another terrible YA ‘romance’ novel, and considering that it’s promoted by _Tik-Tok_ I’d probably avoid it like the plague.
Also the fact that the one guy is named ‘Ryle’ bothers me for some reason, like the Author couldn’t choose between ‘Ryan’ and ‘Kyle’ and instead just mushed them together into a weird anime name.
It’s been too long since I read this book and my memory is terrible, but I see that I gave it two stars on Goodreads in 2016 so my thoughts were probably similar. What you describe is kind of my situation with Verity.
But the lesson I’ve learned is to never take broad recommendations from social media. It usually starts with a paid influencer who whips up a frenzy of people who don’t want to miss out on the latest trend. Find a few people with the same taste as you and stick to their recommendations.
Yeah, you messed up by listening to Tik Tok
Swindled by TikTok… no way!?
I think my thing with Colleen Hoover is her writing is weak but plots super interesting. Therefore super easy reads and great for people trying to get into reading. On TikTok a lot of people were saying it’s one of the first booktok books they read, personally I believe that also causes a connection. The books that got me into reading have such a special place in my heart even if their quality was mediocre at best looking back (*cough* The Hating Game). IMO she would benefit with having a ghost writer. Great ideas executed by someone else.
I think you’re being too hard on Lily when it comes to Ryle though. Now a days most people are together for a year or two before marriage, but only a decades year back it was often just 3-6months. And even though it’s not common to be together that short anymore to jump to the thought she doesn’t know if he’s like her father is a wild generalization to make. For starters some men literally aren’t like that until you are married, who’s to say they date for two years and anything changes? And no one dates something thinking they are going to get abused by them, to say she wasn’t thinking seems like a little much since that doesn’t cross most people’s mind when they love and trust someone.
> Ryle? A big fat mistake to walk on the face of the earth. Honestly, no it’s actually Lily. Lily’s a big fat mistake.
Please tell me I am misunderstand this paragraph and that you are NOT victim blaming Lily here.
Overall (specifically about abuse not the book itself) I think this book is a great portrayal of why people stay in abusive relationships, but not so much on getting out of them.
I haven’t personally read it and contemporary romance isn’t my cup of tea (I’ve not read anything by Hoover, actually. I think my last semi-contemporary CR was Peachtree Road and that was back in…hell 2007? 2008? Anyway).
That being said, I’d like to point out that I’ve known people in real life to do the exact things you’ve described as unrealistic, so there’s that. And considerably more absurd things, actually, not to mention that I’ve personally done things that would cause outrage in a reader were someone to slap it into a work of fiction.
Sometimes we just can’t relate to a novel, and that’s ok. Sounds like it’s aimed at a mid 30’s age bracket from the blurb so I’m not sure why TikTokers are flogging it but whatevs.
I read this book about a year ago, and while it’s not a literary masterpiece, it does a fair job depicting abusive relationships. You disparage the FMC for making poor choices or acting illogically, but that is exactly the point you’ve missed.
No one enters into a toxic, manipulative, or abusive relationship because it’s a good or logical decision. They do it despite the the red flags. Love bombing, grand gestures and relationships moving too quickly are exactly early indicators for a toxic relationship. I remember the FMC was similarly frustrated and judgemental of her own mother for staying in an abusive relationship. But, in my experience, knowing red flags and then *being put in that position where you’re being manipulated* are two very different things. Yet society consistently applies harsh judgement upon women for “entering” into or “staying” in abusive relationships, and often neglects to approach the issue with any empathy at all.
Ugly Love and Verity were even worse. I read Ugly Love because everyone was raving about it. I absolutely hated it. Still one of my most hated books to this day. I decided to read It Ends With Us because I wanted give her another chance. That was a fail. And apparently I’m a glutton for punishment because I gave her another chance with Verity (“It’s nothing like her other books!!!” they said) Straight up garbage. I’m done with her lol I don’t remember exactly when but I did read about 1/4 of Hopeless and threw that shit in the library donate box.
Edit: added a word
I am so bloody sick of hearing this woman’s name. I hated it. Lasted two chapters.
Her and anything to do with a court of frigging thorns and roses can go jump in a lake.
I’m not a fan of CH stories in general. I read ALOT of books and I just can’t get into her stories and that’s okay. I see them on TT or elsewhere and keep scrolling.
I’ve never read this book, but the antagonistic wording of this post made me roll my eyes.
I like most of her books. I won’t try to sway your opinion or counter your arguments because you came off really angry and aggressive and that’s not my vibe so I skimmed most of it.
Also I really believe that no single book will ever please everyone because each reader brings something of themselves to the page which affects their enjoyment of the book.
I find CH’s writing a bit weak but stories quite raw. But again i have read only two of her books and I don’t plan to read any more as they don’t appeal to me much. I haven’t read this one but from the post, it seems OP is angry as the characters didn’t make good/educative decisions. That they aren’t role models. And that they are not nice perfect people. Also, for some reason OP thinks a character thinking something automatically means the author endorsing it as a truth for human race. These are very naive ways of engaging with fiction. But again, people are entitled to their opinions.
I completely disagree. Although I respect your
opinion and the writing style may not be your cup of tea. It was a viral tiktok book yes, but I don’t think that should take away from what the book itself discusses. I just want to comment on the part where you say it isn’t sad, maybe the way the words from don’t make you drown in your tears, but I think the storyline of the main character is sad. The things she faces in the novel are real and serious things that happen to many people each day, I think the conflict she has within herself and with the other characters is something people relate to hence why it did gain popularity. I have read other books from this author that I have enjoyed more, but I wouldn’t say it ends with us is trash. There is a sequel coming out, I do wonder if the story should have been left as is, but we will see where she takes it next 🙂
It really bothered me how Atlas had no hesitation to jump into a relationship with someone who has a baby with an abuser??? Like ?? Who wants to deal w that drama. Also her naming the baby Emerson was bizarre. Wouldn’t that be super traumatic for the family??
Agreed! It’s just so poorly written which is what I can’t get over. Like all the fucking “just keep swimming” callbacks like we get itttttt
Why are you so fucking insensite to lily’s experiences. You’re blaming her for being attractive to someone and not knowing they would turn out to be abusive.
How the hell could lily think or see the signs that ryle is abusive like her father. You don’t even realize what situation she is in. No one would think properly
Reading Hoover’s inspiration and background to this book feels a little heart wrenching because it’s obvious she has had, unfortunately, personal experiences with domestic violence and her novel did not end up doing the subject matter any justice whatsoever.
I’ll start off positively: how Hoover writes out Lily’s internal conflict from her reaction to being abused all the way to justifying it and so deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt is convincing for the most part.
Now, the problem I found was the writing style itself was very superficial and lacked discretion in the emotions or narrative intricacies it wanted to convey.
Superficial is the word I would use describing this book overall. Even Hoover’s own mother struggled to make a choice between financial instability and homelessness or being abused and this factor doesn’t appear in the book. Lily is a white, young woman with a good job, conveniently befriending rich people and starting a business which conveniently takes off. After she does leave Ryle, which feels way too rushed and unkempt considering it should be the titular point in the story, she is able to support herself and child financially.
I need to point out that Part 1 is way too long and pretty much empty storytelling as it does virtually nothing in terms of fleshing out characters, relationships or memories in service to what should be the most compelling part of the story, Part 2, which felt trivial because of how little time was spent on narrating Lily’s vulnerability.
I mean this kindly: Hoover might have been better off writing something based off of her own mother’s experiences if her intention was to raise awareness; instead it was subtly glamorised.
Finally, someone i can agree to! The only thing I enjoyed about the book was the effort that CoHo made to cover such a delicate topic
I was expecting something totally different with this book. I love a simple happy ending as much as the next person, but as I was reading this I thought it was SO set up to be a great thriller! Like boom, plot twist: Lily finds out Ryle killed his brother when he was older, like as a teenager, on purpose because he’s a psycho. He finds out that Lily found out, so he holds her hostage in their apartment. He tricks Atlas (also, Atlas? That’s the name the author picked here? Not as bad as Ryle but still..) into coming over and things look bleak when he shows up but somehow Atlas and Lily trick Ryle and gain the upper hand. Ryle is subdued, police are called, justice is served. Atlas and Lily are further bonded by this harrowing experience and skip off into the sunset to happily raise Lily’s baby together. Lily finds a VERY good therapist for her PTSD. The end.
After expecting something like that, I thought the ending of this book was very anticlimactic.
I literally came to Reddit and joined r/books just to talk about how much I hated this book.
This is my first book read for CH. I agree with a lot from your rant lol. The pacing, the unanswered questions especially with what happened to Atlas after what her dad did?? I read this book as well because it was popular by tiktok but I was expecting more so romance but I realized it wasn’t that much.
CONS: I was taken aback when she just all of a sudden said Alyssa is her best friend within a day, crazy. Alyssa kinda ignores her brother’s behavior the 1st time but I do agree she’s in a split. I knew that once Ryle came to her door begging for sex that was so pathetic, she should’ve seen it as a sign right there especially since he was desperately looking for her apartment just for that. GROSS. I’m MAD that she would blame pregnancy on not being able to make rational decisions like what?! I know unfortunately she doesn’t have much people/friends but kinda think she needs to distance herself from his family, she literally at their house EVERYDAY and more than her own especially if she plans on pursuing Atlas which kinda is a reason that made Kyle jealous and needs to look out for her daughter’s safety.
PROS: I like that it addresses the topic and how difficult it might be for someone. Atlas is an angel! It kind of her to pay homage to his brother with naming their daughter and allowing him to watch her.
TBH, I was expecting a whole other outcome from the point Atlas came to pick her up and that’s when their relationship would redevelop but guess not.
It was a cringe show, nothing more, nothing less. I felt as if I were reading a story straight out of wattpad because of how cringe and predictable the story was. I also found myself feeling so unmotivated to finish the book since it got super underwhelming for me. Sadly enough, I have yet to start Ugly Love as the book was given to me, and I have a feeling I’m going to be disappointed by the time I am done with it.
>!Edit: Forgot to add, the journal entries to Ellen and the Finding Dory references were completely unnecessary, especially Emersons middle name???!<
Late to the game but just finished the book and can we talk about how Ryle said his mom has a fear of flying but then she flies at least 3 times in the course of like 9 months in the book??
I just want to say thank you for saving me from reading anymore of this book. I’m a third of the way through and I want to scream. The writing is so poor and unrealistic… and tropey. The plot points are unbelievable and unimaginative.
I 100% agree with everything in your list. I just don’t get it.
The thing that made this book readable for me was atlas and their past………… ryle keeps getting described as a poor puppy that just loves to…. mate.
I started reading it yesterday and I’m having second thoughts already (I’m on page 150). I feel I’ve trashed my money buying it. The writing, the characters, the story is basic and embarrasing, to say the least. I will finish it, though, to have a better argument to prevent anyone on buying the book. I’m totally with you in this comment “cuz you think, “that many people can’t be wrong, can they?” And hell, they were. I just don’t get it.”
I’ve just finished this book and couldn’t belive I’ve been bamboozled into buying this. It’s…guys it’s awful. The subject is touchy so it’s hard to describe if you haven’t read the book why it’s unrealistic and it’s not so much the MC’s choices but some of her inner dialogue doesn’t add up. Personalities are bland, timeline and time jumps are poorly executed. You know to be fair if I wasn’t much of a reader and this was the first book I’d read I would have probably enjoyed that. I just hate how she’s explaining everything to the reader. It’s ok to let us fill in some gaps, don’t tell me everything. Anyways worse book I’ve read in 10 years but good plot. 1/5
I agree with you, the book was trash and so overhyped. I’ve never read such a boring book and I cannot believe people are obsessing over this as much as they are.
I agree with you, the book is shallow and kind of bit silly. It did not provoke me any emotion, neither empathy towards the characters. They are too one-dimensional. But what bothers me much is was that addresses mental issues in a banal, shallow and biased way, just to get the spotlight.
1) The author uses suicide theme to get to hook the readers in a pathetic way. Her words sounded to me like a clear prejudice to suicidal survivors or victims.
2) Marry Sue female lead. You have a garden a hobby and a dream, but you never received the proper training to achieve it. Then you move to Boston, receives an inheritance that allows you to open flower shop in a big city with no connections. Soon rich girl pops up from nowhere’s deciding to work for you as her new hobby…and everything became a huge success in less then one year? WTF?
3)marry sue male lead: you are good to cook cookies, then you go to navy and became the navy’s chef. That’s helped you to became a famous restaurant an chef owner. Exponential WTF???? I didn’t know that US Navy gives gourmet food for their soldiers. You don’t need to enroll in the Cordon Bleu institution or take years working as a subchef in a restaurant. That was so unbelievable like other.
4) Lily Bloom, is melodramatic, selfish, attention seeker and needy person since the beginning. She needs all people gravitates around her needs. 1) She always addresses Atlas as a beggar in her thoughts and she never apologized for what her father did to him. If you really love a person you will truly address that. 2) With Ryle, despite his huge red flags, his avoidance from relationships were because of his temper issues and big trauma. He chooses to be a neurosurgeon because of his trauma, something his family knows. A caring partner will talk to his psychiatric to seek from advice and guidance. He asked for the ugly truth since the beginning and he asked her to stop with her first love or he will not control himself. And what she does? She is jus involved with her personal issues not caring for her lover issues. If your partner have a important surgery an burned badly his hands will you laugh at him? WTF of girlfriend you are? Moreover, she fights with him and make him give up on the dreams that he told her on the first page. He beats or push her at this time? No, he goes away and after by a huge apartament for them. I don’t atone his violence, but I wonder if he will have these violent reactions with another partner who not push his triggers to much.
5) a typical abuser usually starts with psychologically abusing his victim. Hi gaslight, isolation and cold treatment gradually turns into physical abuse. Like testing watters in a way that the victim gradually doubt of her perception. That’s why victims have trouble to leave these situations. I don’t think this aspect were well described in the book. To me Ryle Kinkaid was not manipulative enough, his abuse is more graphic to cause impact on the reader. That’s why people addresses questions about Lily lack feminist empowerment. Because it was poorly constructed, in a second biased perspective disguised in a first person point of view.
I think that Lily Bloom was the worst thing that happened to Ryle Kincaid. He put his guard down and she pushed all his triggers. He became the worst version of himself by her side and give up of his career dream’s for her. What she did in return? Read her teenager journals with melancholy, keep a magnet on the friedge and a relationship ghost inside her closet. Although that is not an excuse for his violence, she destroyed and hurt him too in a passive-aggressive way. Both of them needs therapy and follow separate ways in life.
I just finished it and literally googled “I hated IEWU” and it led me here. The moment I checked out forever is when a Dr CASUALLY tells her that she’s pregnant and there’s not a single follow-up question. No “I see from your reaction that you didn’t know”? No “here are some OPTIONS (wink) for you to consider? No “how do you feel about that?” Is the father the same man who did this to you?” Nothing. I’m sorry to pick such a stupid hill to die on but that was it for me.
Also I agree they told too much and showed too little. At literally no point was I on Lily’s side. At no point did I understand where she was coming from no matter how much the author tried to exhaustingly explain it.
I also hated this book so much that I had to come here to feel validated that other people hate it too. For me, the entire birth story was ridiculously simplistic, and it’s clearly written by someone who has never actually gone through labor.
Yessss thank you. I’m a little late, but reading this bs got me getting up and walking around because it was that cringe sometimes. This is one of the worst books I’ve ever read. The actions of the characters were so unrealistic, it was gross, but i hate leaving a book unfinished, so I’m pushing through T-T
never have been this happy when someone trashed a book. damn i hate that book.
Is it just me who was rubbed REALLY wrong with the way that Alyssa didn’t cut Ryles out of the family? Like, if my bother litterly RAPED his wife who was also my BEST FRIEND, he would be out of the family IMMEDIATELY. Hell, I would be the one who would report him! That was just something that pissed me off in this book. And I understand that hes family, but he’s an abusive rapist who hurt her best friend. Where is the rage against him?????
I’m definitely in love with you for making this post. Just finished this book and I woke up crying because of how BAD it is
OMG, such trash. I’ve never been in an abusive relationship with my spouse but having been a rape survivor and being abused in all ways as a child by my parents, I was ANGRY. Survivors of abuse and violence definitely have conflicting feelings. I think many, like me, desire to have normalcy if they have never had that or regain that sense of normalcy once it’s been disrupted and may ignore red flags/warning signs at the beginning. For those that are in the midst of abuse, they will not see the signs at all. CH set us up with Lily who is resentful of both parents for the abuse she had to witness. Lily is so resentful that she has no good things to list about her father at his funeral and moreover indicates that she wouldn’t be in a relationship with an abuser or stay in one like her mother did.
Then proceeds to enter into a relationship with a violent abusive AH. CH really doesn’t give her characters any true depth and as you mentioned CH doesn’t choose to show us readers why we should care about them other than Atlas and that is a half-hearted attempt.
Other than the softcore sex scenes and the “woman rising up out of the ashes” cliche, I see no appeal. And yes I used softcore because while most softcore doesn’t have abuse or rape it does have plenty of sexual type scenes and that is what this has. Plenty of “sex” but no details, much like the characters and their interactions with each other.
I absolutely despise how some people are thinking that: 1. This is a solid, well written story. It’s not the book plot is as gaping as a meth addict’s mouth. 2. That this is a decent portrayal of domestic abuse. That this somehow opens people’s eyes to how a victim of abuse survives, thinks, and overcomes. Although, some abuse victims may follow Lily’s path, I think those that truly overcome the situation, don’t. And thank the flying fracking gods for that. CH never has Lily go through therapy to gain skills that ensure that she DOESN’T keep repeating this toxic behavior that was learned in childhood. CH doesn’t bother to ensure Lily’s child, Emerson, (which yes, that is F’d Up to name your kid that with so much horrible backstory involved) would be safe and that Emerson wouldn’t be easily able to continue the abuse cycle.
Lily is a shallow, self-absorbed character, that has NO empathy for her mother, but somehow finds empathy for her abusive partner, despite her realizing that she is continuing the cycle (hence the It Ends With Us, title). Lily doesn’t want to leave Ryle and takes his completely bullshit excuse that he can’t control what he does because of the accident when he was a kid and that he goes to a therapist so Ryle’s explanation must be solid. Ummm…nooo….that’s not how that works. If something you accidentally did as a child is still affecting, you so badly that you become violent and blackout and are constantly distrustful of everyone, you either AREN’T seeing a therapist or you are seeing the worst therapist in the world. How is this guy even a neurosurgeon? I mean how has this blackout/violence thing not popped up in other scenarios in his life? Like seeing a small kid, he needs to operate on doesn’t trigger him, but he doesn’t really know his triggers? Why would Lily be chill with a guy like this co-parenting with her? Like he could be triggered and kill a second Emerson.
Look I love me some Hallmark movies. I get to watch true love, cry, and the plot was made up of writers throwing darts at ideas, but they don’t have many (if any?) that focus on domestic violence cycles and the damage it does. Hallmark has shallow characters, shallow plotlines, and happily ever after at the end. This book is a lot like those movies, except CH decided that she should focus on domestic violence. We shouldn’t be trivializing that. People say that this book makes it easier to understand a victim’s thoughts, while debatable, could be true. The ending is the worse. No realization that maybe she needs outside help to overcome this cycle. No realization that Ryle may not be stable, safe person to leave her kid with. Nope, just a happily ever after. I’d love to see how that all looks in a flash forward in 10 years. Is Lily still alive? Is baby Emerson still alive? Did Atlas encourage her to go to therapy? Did Atlas marry her? I mean if I was Atlas the first thing, I’d do is encourage her to get therapy and then the second is to file for 100% custody of baby Emerson with only supervised visitation with Ryle. If she refused either, I’d probably peace out personally. Too much of a risk to invest in a person who won’t invest in their own safety or that of their child.