Over a matter of several hours, I slowly woke up from surgery and at one point I remember sitting there and just staring at the wall paper in my hospital room. I’ve rewritten this review three times now, and each time I’ve felt it necessary to lower my rating. I don’t intend for this to be a hot take. I’m not trying to be unique or quirky for disliking a popular book but every day I grow more and more concerned with the number of people who misinterpret and romanticize this book. There will be spoilers in this review. Unfortunately, I was too far gone and too far in love with the idea of Ryle and Lily to make room for Atlas and because of that, I'm not sure if I'll ever be fully satisfied with that ending. I was happy that Lily was no longer a victim of domestic abuse. I'm glad that after all that happened between them, Lily and Ryle parted on good terms. I'll forever be heartbroken over the idea of what could've been. And I feel indifferent to Lily and Atlas. Sorry not sorry, Atlas. That basically sums up all my feelings in a nutshell. There's an incredibly powerful message in this book that is very subtly woven in from the start. It begins in the first chapter, but you don't yet realize how significant each of these moments truly are... and as you read more, these pieces of the story come together forming a scenario that gives such a raw, honest portrayal of an incredibly relevant issue. I'm not mentioning it on purpose because I don't want you to expect it. The fact that it's unexpected for you as the reader is very important because it's also unexpected for the heroine. As she begins to realize what kind of situation she's in, so do you. And this realization very much allows you to experience her journey with her. The story was chilling, realistic, unpredictable, and a roller coaster of emotion. Whereas, I tend to like a lot of action to move the story forward, the emotional interactions between the characters, combined with action was something hard to put down. There were so many times that I found myself tearing up, but had to know what happened next.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true. my only critique was i desperately wanted more of atlas and his story. he was such an interesting character and i didnt feel like i got enough of him to be satisfied with his storyline. Update: One of my Goodreads friends brought this article to my attention: an article by domesticshelters.org that outlines the harmfulness of this book. Definitely worth the read. I read this book years ago when it first came out, and I remember thinking highly of it, though not much else. So when I read it again this time, I admit I was shaken by how hard it hit me. I think it's because I'm older now and have more experience with love and relationships, so I'm able to appreciate this story even more.

i don’t think this book could have been written more perfectly. from the writing, the plot, to characters…nothing is fabricated. it is raw emotion and realistic. Let’s start with the obvious annoyances that seem to be in nearly every NA book that drive me batshit before getting to the real nitty gritty. First, the character names. Ryle, Lily Bloom and Atlas??????? I am in awe of Lily. Her strength and conviction blew me away. I don't think I would've been strong enough to do what she did. She was an amazing character.

On Friday I had a hysterectomy. It wasn't the worst day of my life, but it certainly wasn't the best. One chapter of my life--quite possibly the best chapter--ended. The surgery itself took twenty minutes. Twenty minutes. Can you believe that? Twenty minutes to take out the uterus that carried my three beautiful babies for a total of twenty eight months. Twenty minutes to change my life. Don't feel bad for me, that's not what I want. The offending organ had to come out, I knew this. But it didn't make it any easier. It didn't make the finality of the situation any easier. In all honesty, for a couple of minutes I didn't just feel like a chapter was ending, more like an entire flipping book. Maybe my life isn't made up of chapters, maybe it's part of a duet, or a trilogy? Either way, part of my story was over.

Rather than trying to sugarcoat my thoughts, I'm just going to be completely honest. I was 100 percent team Ryle from the very first time we met him. Just like Lily, I fell in love with every word and every gesture that rolled off of his body. I. WAS. HOOKED. It also didn't help that I kept fantasizing Doctor Mike as Ryle Kincaid. *heart eyes emoji* I loved his ambition. His personality. His confidence. To be honest, I think I might've loved Ryle even more than Lily did but that's another story for another day. That more than likely explains why I took the second half of this book like a blow to the gut. Sometimes, I read a book and it’s so beautiful, influential and emotional I will cry just thinking about the characters and their story. Not in a bad way necessarily, I just get that moved and that emotional while thinking about it. That is this book. Trying to find the words for this review is bringing me to tears. It’s hard to explain the story completely spoiler free, but this isn’t a ‘sad’ book. It’s a strength book. Because dealing with the issues in this story took so much strength. It Ends With Us has the bones of a powerful story but reads like a low budget Hallmark movie pushed forward by ridiculous plot revelations. Hoover’s attempt to make Ryle into a three dimensional character completely flops. At first, I thought the accelerated relationship between Ryle and Lily was meant to emphasize how witnessing abuse in early age might make you less likely to spot red flags in others; however, it turns out Hoover was really trying to create a deep relationship between these two. Her use of “Naked Truth” to build their relationship was a lazy ploy to circumvent true development and simulated an unsatisfying and unearned intimacy. I also found the use of teenage diary entries in the form of letters to Ellen DeGeneres to have aged really badly, and comes off as a corny device to tell rather than show readers about Lily’s relationship with Atlas.