By: Ella Sutherland & Lauren Kottke
Note: This book review details abuse in a relationship, so note this may be a trigger for some.
*Spoiler Alert* This review gives aways details about the end of the book.
‘It Ends With Us’ is a heartfelt story about a girl named Lily Bloom that grew up in a small town in Maine. She did not have a great life growing up because her dad was not a good person. Her dad abused her mother all throughout Lily’s life and she never could figure out why her mother stayed. When she grew up she ended up moving to Boston which had been her dream for so long.
One night she was on a rooftop after her dad’s funeral, where she gave a eulogy. While she was up there a man came up and he was very angry. They started talking and she learned that he was a doctor and he had lost a patient and that’s why he was angry. They had a strong connection and when they parted he took a photo of her.
They ended up meeting again when she opened a flower shop and his sister started working for Lily. They begin to get really close and started falling in love. Everything in their relationship is going good until Ryle burns his hand and gets angry and hits her. He promises he would never do it again.
A couple days later they go to a restaurant, and Atlas (her childhood love) is the chef. He notices that she is hurt and so is her hand, so he confronts her and she gets mad. He comes to her shop the next day and gives her his number in case of emergency.
Nothing bad happens for awhile and Ryle and Lily get married in Vegas. A few weeks later, Ryle finds the number Atlas gave her, gets really mad, and pushes her down the stairs. He again apologizes and says it won’t happen again.
Then Atlas comes out with an article about his restaurant called BIBS which stands for “Better in Boston”. On Lily’s fridge there is a magnet that says “Better in Boston”. Ryle puts it together that they were in love and gets so mad that he hits her and then tries to force himself on top of her. She then calls Atlas and he picks her up. In the end, she goes to the hospital and finds out she is pregnant, and she has the baby and tells Ryle that she wants a divorce.
Throughout the entire book Lily is reading her old letters that she wrote to Ellen Degeneres, who she had as a pretend friend. It goes more in depth about her past life. She didn’t have many real friends and one day she saw a boy that turned out to be Atlas. He was on her school bus and he got off at the same stop. She noticed that he took a weird route to walk home from the bus stop and saw that he went into the house that had been abandoned for a while.
After seeing him for many days and realizing that he was homeless, she left blankets and food at his doorstep. They started to become friends and would always hangout. They eventually developed more of a romantic relationship. He was Lily’s first kiss. He would go over to her house everyday after school before her parents came home from work.
One day they witnessed Lily’s dad tried to force himself on Lily’s mom and Lily saw and tried to call the police, but her mom stopped her. She was very angry at her mom for letting her dad get away with hurting her.
Lily and Atlas were getting closer and their dream they shared was to move to Boston when they were older. Atlas was leaving for the military, and on his last night he and Lily were making out in her room and Lily’s dad came in and beat up Atlas almost to the point of death. She never saw Atlas again until Boston.
Lily spent her childhood watching her father continually abuse her mother. She felt helpless in the situation because she had no power. All she wanted to do was protect her mom. But she mostly couldn’t understand why her mother would stay with such a horrible person. Her mom and dad stayed together for awhile until Lily’s dad passed away. Lily never really forgives her dad for what he did to her mom.
It is very unusual for Colleen to use real events in her books, except for ‘It Ends With Us’. The book revolves around Colleen’s own mother’s story. Her mother went through abuse and felt she was only doing justice by telling her mom’s story. In the book, the first time Lily was hit by Ryle is actually a true story. It is the exact same incident that happened to Colleen’s mom.
It was hard for Colleen to write a story so personal. Writing events that she witnessed. She took her time to depict the characters in the perfect way. She made characters that the readers fall in love with to show the heartbreak that victims go through. Colleen’s mom fell in love with her dad and went through heartbreak as he turned into a different person. This book shows how hard it is to leave someone you care so much about.
Ella give this book a 5/5 and Lauren gives it a 4.5/5
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