REVIEW: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover - Trigger Warnings - Abuse, Rape

Title: It Ends With Us

Genre: New Adult

Author: Colleen Hoover

Publisher: Atria

Publication: August 2nd 2016

Cover Rating: 4/5

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I have read numerous books by Colleen Hoover. On that same topic, I have read quite a few New Adult books. They ALL have something in common. No, it's not the college-aged sex. It's the horrible, abusive, painful relationships. Nope. Nope nope nope. This book is a whole lot of nope. If ANY guy ever tries to make an excuse for abusing you by telling you a fucking sob story, you leave. If you are stupid enough to stay, if you are stupid enough to believe him OR make up excuses for him then I feel so sorry for you. You can compare your situation to others and say "It's not the same" all you want, but IT IS the same. also, NO, not EVERYONE deserves a second chance. Love doesn't cause this kind of pain all the time. You shouldn't be afraid of the person you are with. EVER!

Then here comes the bullshit where people say you can't judge someone unless you have been in their situation. I have, and have the same opinion either way. 

With that being said... Lily is the protagonist. She grew up watching her father abuse her mother. She grew up hating her father for abusing her mother and having her mother for not being strong enough to leave. She fell in love with the right boy at the wrong time and she grew up to be a very strong woman. She started her own business, started and family and thrived even though some bad crap stood in her way. 

Ryle... What can I say about Ryle. Have you ever seen Grey's Anatomy? He is an abusive version of Derek Shepherd. Neurosurgeon, McDreamy, and a genuinely nice guy. But he had some dark stuff happen in his past that changed him. His dark past doesn't excuse his behavior, though, so I really disliked him either way. Also, is his nasty temper the reason he didn't want to do anything more than one-night-stands with chicks? I think it played a major role in that choice.

Atlas makes the entire story seem like two different books. Every time Lily would read her old journals we got to see the past and it just seemed weird to me. It literally felt like two different love stories. How could one woman possibly have gone through so much pain at such a young age? That is when I started understanding more about the book and realized I have been through that much pain at a young age. I can sympathize with her. 

The other big thing about all of these NA books? Girl meets boy, boy abuses or hurts girl, another guy saves girl. The guy is normally from the girls past or a new guy that she meets and then this beautiful relationship starts. 

By the time the book ended I was just annoyed. Colleen Hoover is a great author. Her writing just flows and it's always very easy to read but the content annoys me. I know she is writing these stories so some women don't feel alone so I can't entirely hate them. But the stories are horrible and painful and I can't understand why she keeps writing the same stories with different characters. The characters in this book weren't exactly the same. You could tell the book took a lot of emotion to write so I did respect that aspect very much. 

I really loved the ending though. The heart to heart between mother and daughter made me tear up because I have dealt with some of this stuff personally. Lily making the right choice and somehow having a healthy HAPPY relationship with Ryle. I am so glad she made the right choices. I am glad it ended with her the same way it ended with me...

Overall, I gave the book 3/5 stars.

This isn't exactly an afterthought but after reading the author's note something stirred inside of me. My opinions of staying in an abusive relationship still stands and always will. But I never really touched on children growing up in an abusive home. Most abusive relationships don't go beyond those two people. Most parents only hit their significant others, never their children. Most children that have to watch a parent abused learn to hate and that hate turns into rage and sometimes ruins that child's life. So if you think staying with someone for the kids is okay then please think again. Talk to some people who watched abuse happen as they grew up. I guarantee most of them will say they wish their parents would have just divorced. I can say that, I wish my parents would have just divorced.