In today’s post, I will talk about one of the books of my favorite romance author of all times. Am I allowed to say I have read ALL of her work? You can say I am a fan. I hope you enjoy this recommendation!

Lily didn’t always have an easy life, but that never stopped her from working hard to achieve the life she dreamed of. She has come a long way since childhood in a small town in Maine: she majored in marketing, moved to Boston, and opened her own store. So when you’re attracted to a handsome neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything seems too perfect to be true. Ryle is confident, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He is also sensitive, bright, and attracted to Lily. However, his great aversion to relationships is disturbing. In addition to being overwhelmed with questions about her new relationship, Lily is unable to get Atlas Corrigan out of her head – her first love and the link to the past she left behind. He was her protector, someone with whom she had a great affinity. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily built with Ryle is at risk. With a bold and extremely personal book, Colleen Hoover tells a devastating but also innovative story, which is not afraid to discuss topics such as abuse and domestic violence. An unforgettable narrative about a love that costs too much.

It Ends With Us is Colleen Hoover’s best-rated book on both Skoob and Goodreads. No wonder: the novel published in Brazil by Galera Record is one of the author’s works that most empathize when dealing with a serious and painful theme such as domestic violence.

Lily grew up in a troubled home, but that didn’t stop her from battling for her conquests as an adult. After moving from Maine to Boston, she opens her own business and meets Ryle halfway. Were it not for the neurosurgeon’s aversion to relationships, he would be perfect. But the attraction between them seems to be stronger, which promotes an ever-closer relationship… Until the appearance of Atlas, Lily’s first love, capable of changing the whole dynamics of this new relationship.

As usual, Colleen Hoover’s narrative skill engages the reader from the first pages and effortlessly engages him. In this case, in the first person, we know Lily’s story little by little from her adult perspective, sometimes alternating with her 15-year-old version through her teenage diaries. In this way, we gradually learn about the facts that shaped her at the same time that we follow the transformation of her emotions after meeting Ryle. And the novel, too, is typical of the author: there is a mixture of chemistry and sweetness, overwhelming passion and pain.

However, what screams in It Ends With Us is the deep emotional conflict in which Lily ends up facing, making her question everything she knew about herself, life, and her parents, and, here, Colleen Hoover was brilliant. We live with the protagonist each of her agonies and, above all, we understand each of her doubts, something so necessary about the subject addressed. By putting ourselves in Lily’s shoes, we get closer to understanding other people in similar situations and we move away from judgments a little more – which really prevents help in many of these cases.

I believe that Colleen Hoover’s asset was the fact that he lived much of what was narrated. This is an extremely personal story for the author, who forced her to put herself at the center of the facts, changing her perspective until then. So, It Ends With Us brings, above all, truth is what is told, what makes the book so true and impactful.

For some reason, It Ends With Us was not among my favorites by the author, even though I loved reading it. At the same time that I got involved and read practically without interruption, I also did not suffer emotional shock with reading, except for certain passages. In this way, I loved the book, but I was not impacted as other works by Hoover impacted me. Still, I applauded the author for having touched on such a relevant topic in such a sensitive and empathic way. And if I practically didn’t shed tears as I read, your final note touched me deeply and then it destroyed my floodgates. Feeling his account and sharing his thoughts was essential to see how much he bases the structure of It Ends With Us and I admired Colleen Hoover even more for his courage in allowing himself to develop something so deeply painful.

Sources:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27362503-it-ends-with-us