*Disclaimer: The following article includes discussions of domestic violence and abuse.*
It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover was an overall catastrophe in every sense of the word. I would categorize it as one of the seven world wonders as to why it was ever popular in the first place.
This “romance” book was originally published in 2016, even though it was initially rejected by publishers (can’t imagine why), it became popular in 2021 after seeing a resurgence on TikTok. I understand that quarantine made some people crazy, but I didn’t think it was to this extent.
I say “romance” in quotes because it is categorized as so, but the book’s themes consist of domestic violence and emotional abuse, along with its drama and plot twists that make it more romanticized than anything. Mislabeling it as romance is a tone-deaf action with and of itself. Not to mention I’ve seen better writing on Wattpad. It really is a wonder how this book became what it is today let alone Colleen Hoover herself in the relevant realm. Watching her downfall with this was an absolute joy.
It Ends With Us is the story of Lily Bloom, a florist, who had a rough childhood and is forced to navigate adulthood quite isolated. On her journey to success, she meets the neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid, who turns her life around in more than one way. Ryle has a “no dating” policy, which intrigues Lily (It’s giving “I can fix him.” Don’t do it girl. Just run). This book follows the journey of Lily as she navigates romance, business, exes, and (TW) abuse. Their relationship ends up with a baby and emotional and physical abuse. Lily contrasts her relationship with her childhood, bruised from domestic violence. It concludes with Lily’s first steps to breaking the cycle of generational trauma.
While the book may handle generational trauma and abuse stories quite well, it cancels all of that out with the tone-deaf action of passing this off as a romance book. Not sure the reason why it was decided on that genre, but I have a couple of guesses.
With that said, It Ends With Us was adapted into a film this year starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni as Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid. Not sure what they were going for here, but the amount of PR that went into this was a nightmare. They tried to recreate another Barbie movie press tour, a major successful film, and great press etiquette, with an overwhelming amount of florals and hair care promos. No one mentioned the underlying cause of this book, domestic violence, but Baldoni. This is insane to me (not really because he’s an amazing guy and advocate) but because he plays the abuser!
Lively misunderstanding or not caring that her character is a victim of domestic abuse and instead trying to give the press tour a silly goofy Barbie movie moment while Justin Baldoni is using his press time to talk about the importance of stopping the cycle of abuse is absurd. Baldoni went as far as hiring the same PR crisis manager from the Depp vs. Heard case, Melissa Nathan, amid the release of this film.
This comes from the speculation on TikTok about alleged rifts between Baldoni with Lively and Colleen Hoover. His absence from these press tours does not go unnoticed, including the lack of group photos from their New York premiere at the beginning of August. They also do not follow each other on Instagram or other socials.
The hiring of this Agency Group comes as Baldoni has been the subject of negative headlines over allegations that he made Lively uncomfortable on set.
Blake Lively emphasized to “grab your friends, grab your florals and come see the film!” on the movie’s press TikTok, and it sparked a lot of controversy. Even though Lively produced and starred in the film, as the press tour went on it seemed like she never read the book OR the script for the movie she was starring in. It focused more on Lily’s job as a florist than her journey as a survivor.
Lashback for the promotions surrounding this film circulated after It Ends With Us nail polish line was released in Target stores. It’s genuinely hard to believe that AGAIN Hoover wants to release some cute products that are based on domestic violence books that should not even be categorized as romance.
After the coloring book fiasco in 2023 I thought that she learned her lesson, but apparently not. It is so misleading to release a product like that, which makes you think the book is a fluffy and cute romance, especially when the trigger warnings are not even listed because she doesn’t believe in them. It’s ridiculous that this is a common occurrence from Hoover.
One right after another the interviews with Lively kept being trampled with her tone-deaf one-liners. During an interview with Lively and her other co-star Brandon Sklenar, Emmy winner Jake Hamilton asked what was the best way for viewers who relate to Lily Bloom to talk to Lively about their stories, to which Lively responded “Maybe asking for, like, my address, or my phone number. Or, like, location share? I could just location-share you and then we can…” Just a completely inappropriate and snarky comment to survivors and fans of the movie. A slap in the face, honestly. If you watch the interview even her body language is straight-up disrespectful. Many people online related her to Jennifer Lopez and said she was having a “full J-Lo moment.”
Lively continued her “mean girl” attitude towards all the interview questions on domestic violence.
Unsurprisingly, Lively put her needs first, as she killed four birds with one promotion: her new haircare line Blake Brown, her drink company Betty Buzz, her husband Ryan Reynolds gin with an It Ends With Us themed party featuring the product AND pointing to her new husband’s film Deadpool Vs. Wolverine during an interview.
It’s insane that she would host a post-premiere party with aesthetic beverages from Betty Buzz considering that the World Health Organization estimated that roughly 55% of domestic abuse perpetrators were drinking alcohol prior to the assault. She promotes alcohol for a movie about domestic violence.
From that same party, one of the cocktail drinks was named “Ryle You Wait,” and inherently romanticizes Kincaid’s actions.
After all of these sh*t-show shenanigans, many fans and critics were aware of where Lively’s true intentions lay. Mistakes happen in Hollywood where drama and rumors are most prevalent. But, Lively made one too many for the fanbase and others for them to still believe in her “good intentions.” This ongoing controversy takes away from survivor’s voices and the movie’s actual message- hope.
And while Lively and Reynolds’ marriage usually takes the media by storm, hidden behind that is a mean girl mentality that is finally coming to light.
Back in 2016, Kjersti Flaa was interviewing Blake Lively and Parker Posey about their new film Cafe Society. During the interview, Flaa casually congratulated a very obvious and public pregnancy of Lively and her “little bump.” This is what you do when someone is obviously pregnant and is public about it as an interviewer. Lively, however, would not stand for it. Instead of a quick ‘thank you’ Lively shot back with a “Congratulations on your little bump,” flipping the comment on her and making the entire experience awkward and uncomfortable.
What would possess you to even say that? You don’t know this person or what they might be going through. And what Blake didn’t know, but Kjersti shared, was that she struggled with infertility. It’s like a slap in the face especially from a woman of such high standing and influence. Lively’s sarcastic jab affected people and made her want to quit her job as noted recently, but overall just a complete train wreck as Kjersti said they made her feel completely invisible and like a failure. She is supposed to be a professional and goes and acts like a character from Mean Girls. It is ridiculous.
But, Lively is not the only one who is in bad standing. Colleen Hoover is a monster in and of itself.
In 2022, Colleen Hoover made headlines for her controversial and thoughtless actions. News leaked that Hoover’s eldest son, Levi Hoover, sexually assaulted a minor. She took no responsibility for his actions and only attempted to salvage her fame. In her novel, her character Lily escapes her toxic relationship in the story, but Hoover’s actions show nothing of the messages she delivers in her books. Hoover neither announced that she wanted distance from her son nor did she say that she felt sorry for what he did. Instead, she forgave her son as if nothing happened and no consequences were made. On Instagram, she continues to post pictures with her son and captions of how she cares and loves him while all readers rage inside.
Readers, honestly, can do so much better. There are many romance writers out there that are not these controversial and horrible human beings. Besides, her writing is atrocious and not creative at all. I swear an AI wrote that was having a bad day. I do not recommend this book or anything by her and Blake Lively. They are both disappointments to the feminist movement they claim to be a part of but we do not claim them. We as book lovers can break away from the hype norms and find better reads.
Try reading Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, where the number one book boyfriend, Aaron Warner, is waiting for you. For something spicy try the Twisted Series by Ana Huang. No book comes without its controversies, but at least it’s not written by an SA sympathizer or a mean white girl who got married on a plantation. There are many options out there, don’t settle.
For those survivors out there, you are seen and heard. I apologize that our trauma has been used for tone-deaf and insensitive entertainment.
Everyone deserves healthy relationships. Here are some resources:
Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFERAINN: 1-800-656-HOPE