lily and atlas didn’t really have a foundation of their relationship (which is ironic because atlas talks about ryle and lily’s relationship this way as well) other than the fact that they both had a bad childhood. lily puts atlas on this pedestal because he was there for her at her most vulnerable. IT STARTS WITH US IS NOT THE FIRST BOOK IN THE 'IT ENDS WITH US' SERIES. That is important to know! It Ends With Us is the first book, and It Starts With Us is the second, and final book in the dualogy. i swore i’d never read another coho book, but it ends with us was the only one i could somewhat stomach so i decided to read it starts with us to see how it was.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He's also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, but Ryle's complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his "no dating" rule, she can't help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

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What I especially think is note-worthy is, like in other books, she has a way of putting things in perspective. i don’t get why this book had to exist. it just feels like she is monetizing off the weird success it ends with us got on booktok, and it definitely reads like a cash grab as well. I know people are going to be mad at how often Ryle shows up here but that’s the reality of how abusive situations are, they don’t just die or leave you alone— colleen did a fantastic job at showing how realistic this situation is, at how much of a gaslighter he is. my theory still stands: colleen hoover, ironically, cannot write a good romance. i believe every single one of her books has these terrible, wild plot twists to cover up the fact that she cannot. lily and atlas had zero chemistry apart from them talking about how miserable they were when they first met and how they were each other’s saving grace.

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, the husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. I’ll admit; the discussion around abuse in this book wasn’t AS bad as in ‘It Ends With Us’, but it still felt pretty one dimensional and pissed me off at times. I can’t for the life of me understand why this series is hailed as one about ending the cycle of abuse, since the cycle of abuse in the books doesn’t even end!This is the opening line his drunk ass choose to text after having lily in a chokehold💀 why is he so extra

For the Ryle apologist and stans: I’m so glad Colleen wrote this book because there’s NO room for y’all’s bullshit. He is an abuser. This isn’t a dark romance. This is a contemporary romance where an abuser stays abusive, continues to be abusive in the tiniest ways and the cycles are broken. He truly and will forever be a terrible person and I’m so glad that this book continuously highlighted that. Abusers don’t “change” and even if they do, the cycle should be broken forever. It ends with us was about Lily and her journey to end the cycle of abuse. It starts with Us is about Lily and Atlas navigating life after ending their own cycles. It Starts with Us shows the after effects of abuse in every form. It shows how realistic, how tragic and how even a happily ever after is still shadowed by the ache and reminder of abuse. I’ve read It Ends with Us years ago and that book made me bawl my eyes out, because it was such an honest and realistic story about a women finally ending the circle of abuse in her family. IEWU had a purpose and meaning. Whereas, It Starts With Us reads like every other second-chance romance between two past lovers that shared a connection in their childhood. Reading Lily and Atlas romance gave me n o t h i n g. This was dryer than any cactus in the dept of the Sahara. Their interactions made me yawn, I’m sorry but Atlas was better as a side character in IEWU. Atlas is (maybe) the most unproblematic Colleen Hoover Hero, but imo that also makes him the most boring one. This seems to start up about 18 months or so after Emerson’s birth and Rile & Lily are divorced. I’m disappointed to learn that Lily didn’t speak about her abuse and therefore she doesn’t have total/ solo parenting rights but I think I sorta get where her head is on this.We're cheaper than those other guys. Yep, you heard us right! Once you pay for your membership, you've got lifetime access to our entire collection, including anything we add to it in the future. atlas writing lily letters and saying “i love you” in a thousand different ways to offset ryle’s character…balance doesn’t work like that. I understand that it would be very hard for Lily to win over Ryle in court, and the ending was probably more realistic with him still being involved; but if that’s the case, it doesn’t “end” with you and your daughter! If Ryle doesn’t have Lily in his life to abuse, guess who his next victim is going to be? The only thing these stories have in common is their starting point. Each author showcased in this anthology was featured in The Bookworm Box in 2020. Each author has graciously donated their story so that 100% of profits from this anthology will be going to the various charities The Bookworm Box is able to support because of you, the readers. The Bookworm Box is proud to present Two More Days, our second anthology installment. Much like the first installment, Two More Days is an exciting and unique reading experience with contributions from several of our charity's featured authors. Each author was given the same first sentence. Where they took that sentence was completely up to them.