It Ends With Us messed a lot of people up, myself included.
I have never been so terrified by a book, yet amazed by how it addressed the issue of victim blaming in our society. It left me emotionally drained and questioning many of my thought processes, so when Colleen Hoover announced that she would be appeasing Booktok’s call for a continuation of Lily’s story, I was nervous. I wasn’t sure whether or not it would be worth continuing to read her story after how shelled out the first book left me. Nevertheless, on October 18th when It Starts With Us finally dropped, I spent nearly six hours, nonstop, reading that entire book – and let’s just say that I’m still conflicted about how I feel.
Where It Ends With Us is a deep and dark tragedy, It Starts With Us is certainly a much lighter conclusion to the story. Lily doesn’t quite escape without any new drama in her life, yet this book was still significantly more tranquil than its predecessor. I might even say that this part of her narrative was even too perfect.
In It Starts With Us, we finally get to see Lily and Atlas together, although their lives and relationships are still very complicated. Compared to how flawed Ryle is, Atlas is the ideal man. He seems to do everything right, and I only wish that men like him existed in real life because his character just doesn’t seem entirely realistic. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind while I read that Lily and Atlas wouldn’t end up together and have a perfect life. Their story seemed like something out of a fairytale.
Don’t get me wrong, seeing this complete 360 in Lily’s life makes me happy for her and helped restore some of the damage that the first book left me, however it also just seemed too easy and unrealistic. Where was the angst? I wanted to love this story so much, but ultimately, Lily’s happy ending felt rushed. Considering that Colleen Hoover hadn’t even planned on writing this follow-up to It Ends With Us but was only convinced to write it by Booktok, I suppose we couldn’t expect too much. Fans wanted to see Lily doing well after the birth of her daughter and her divorce from Ryle, and that’s exactly what this book gave them.
In the end, I am still glad that Colleen Hoover listened to her fans and wrote this sequel. After how twisted the first book was, it was nice to see Lily doing well for once. Nonetheless, as far as being a love story, it wasn’t anything special and I would even have to say that I would still prefer It Ends With Us over It Starts With Us.
It Ends With Us certainly isn’t the usual love story, so for anyone who wanted a happily-ever-after ending for Lily, It Starts With Us gives all those warm and fuzzy feelings that love stories are supposed to leave you with. I, however, sort of liked the trauma that came with It Ends With Us.
This may be the last time we read about Lily, Ryle, and Atlas, but it won’t be the last we see of them. In 2019 filmmaker Justin Baldoni announced in an Instagram post that their story will be on the big screen sometime in 2023 or 2024. Usually, I am a big proponent of letting books stay books, but I’m excited to see their movie adaptation because, while many people hated how that book made them feel, I think it portrays an important message about domestic abuse that we all need to see.