After reading It Ends With Us and experiencing the extraordinary emotional and feelings throughout it, this sequel was a bit of a let-down. I whole-heartedly understand that everyone that read IEWU wanted Lily and Atlas’ happy endings (as they deserved) but, this book felt forced and ironically fake. IEWU felt real – there were real issues dealt in a painful and true manner and relationships with lines blurred and complex realities within them. Yet, It Starts With Us had none of that except Lily and Alyssa’s friendship and sisterhood which I deeply respect. The rest of the novel was a romance blossoming between Lily and Atlas whilst Lily attempted to balance motherhood and co-parenting with her abuser. I respected this narrative, until Atlas became the inevitable hero and saving Lily from her abusive ex with a simple conversation with some deep metaphors attached… predictable and degrading for a strong protagonist who has overcome hell on her own to be saved by a guy who waltzed into her life after a decade. I enjoyed it overall, but I felt let-down and honestly would have preferred for the story to end with IEWU so that Lily kept her strength, power and energy after taking it back from her abuser rather than being saved by another man.