As with many people, Colleen Hoover is a topic of controversy and hesitance for me. Having watched the recent film version of It Ends With Us, I was interested in how it converted to film from the book version. 

I was engaged throughout reading and found it really insightful to read the author’s note after finishing to hear about Hoover’s personal experiences of domestic abuse, leading her to write this book. However I’m struggling to decide my opinions on Ryle and the way he is presented. 

On one hand I hate how much of a positive light he is still put even during Lily’s experiences of

his abuse and after she has chosen to leave, continuing to talk about how much she loves him, how attractive he still is, and genuinely debating taking him back. However equally I wonder how true to life this actually is and part of the reason why people struggle to leave situations such as this. It just felt a little too pro-abuser at times.

The romance and spice was ok, but not incredible either.

But I have to mention that I absolutely adored some of our side characters, especially Atlas and Alyssa, who brought so much joy and relief to this story. They were written excellently and I loved every part of the book where they featured. I am still planning on reading the sequel to this book purely for more of the Lily-Atlas content which I was able to see some hints of from the end of the film. 

Overall this was a bit disappointing but I wasn’t expecting too much from the author unfortunately due to past experiences and other reviews, both online and from personal sources. I still happen to have a number of physical copies of some of her other books so I would return to her writing purely because of that, but wouldn’t really seek out anything further. Just not for me, too many points of contention!