If you’ve been on #Booktok at all for the past year and a half, you’ve probably heard of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel It Ends With Us. Praised for its emotional story and remarkable characters, Hoover’s fans petitioned for a sequel in which we get to see what happened to Lily and Atlas after the first book ends. They got their wish when Hoover announced a sequel set to be published on October 18, 2022. Of course, I rushed to the bookstore the day it was released and managed to get myself a copy. After finishing the book and sitting on my thoughts for a while, I thought I would share my opinion on the book.
Warning: this article contains many spoilers. If you haven’t finished the book, come back later!
Analysis
Let’s start by talking about Hoover’s writing. I adore her writing style in almost every Colleen Hoover book I’ve read. I know people have really strong opinions about how the writing in many of her books is not the best, but I genuinely defended them because I thought they were good. Hoover often uses elaborate metaphors and paints beautiful images to create a message. But I’m sad to say that I did not feel the same way about this one. There were some instances and chapters where I felt like it was missing something or wasn’t quite there. Not to mention that it had a few pop culture references, which really does bother me in books. In my opinion, the writing in this book was just not as good as the first one.
Moving on to the plot. Oh boy. I was so excited to see what would come next after the first book ended. Yet, I think the two main things that were important to the core of the story were Atlas’s mother coming back and Lily standing up to Ryle and threatening to take him to court. Other than that, nothing clicked for me. I thought that the conflict with Ryle would play a more significant role. Instead, Ryle threw a tantrum, like he always does, but it felt anti-climactic. Readers knew of all he had done, especially considering how much Lily worried about letting Atlas back into her life because of Ryle. However, it didn’t seem as big of a deal as I thought.
Moving on to the characters. Though I was critical of the writing and plot, the characters carried the book on their backs. I loved seeing more of Lily’s development, especially as she navigated co-parenting with Ryle. Seeing her fed up with Ryle’s manipulation and gaslighting and standing up for herself was so satisfying. As for Atlas, he was also amazing. I think he’s still one of the most memorable book characters that I have come across. I loved reading chapters from his point of view and how he recounted some of the events in the first book. His interactions with Emerson also made some of my favorite moments. I also liked the incorporation of giving Atlas a younger brother. Though I was initially hesitant because it felt a little random, I loved Josh’s humor and interactions with Theo. Theo is also one of the best characters in the book. He was so funny, and I loved how much he teased Atlas over how cheesy he had been when he ran into Lily again. His ‘therapy’ sessions with Atlas were hilarious, and I wish he’d gotten more attention. I also liked seeing Marshall and Alyssa again, but they really fell more in the backdrop this time.
conclusion
Overall, I would say that the book was not bad, but that’s not to say it was good. For the sake of the characters alone, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. Keep in mind that, again, this is just my opinion. If you loved this book and want to disagree with me, that’s totally fine!