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 where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true. I fashioned Ryle after my father in many ways. They are handsome, compassionate, funny, and smart - but with moments of unforgivable behavior." I know some of you are probably sniffing out a love triangle and freaking out. In my opinion, that is NOT what this is. Some may call it a love triangle on a technical basis, but it really is not and I urge you not to skip this one for that reason because that term is to cliched for what this book actually is. 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. Even after almost being raped, leaving him and being mad at him, she can't help but want to be with him even though she knows it's not right.

Lily hasn’t lived the easiest life. After graduating from college she moved to Boston where she opened her own business. Things were finally looking up for her. All of her hard work had paid off. She runs into a local neurosurgeon and immediately feels a connection with him. Ryle, especially wearing his adorable scrubs, is easy on the eyes and such a charmer. He’s also a player and only wants one-night-stands. He refuses to get into a relationship for several reasons, one of them being he just doesn’t have the time outside of being a doctor to be in a real relationship. The sparks start flying and Lily realizes she’s quite interested in Ryle… that is, until a blast from her past, Atlas, reappears, and brings up allllll kinds of confusing feelings. As the story progresses, we start to see little things here and there that makes us, or at least made me, see why she loved him. Until the bad moments outbalance the good ones, they can't leave, because how do you leave your person, the person you love with you whole heart?Eventually when she does leave him she decides to tell her mother what happened and there's this thing that her mother said to her that moved me.. she said "I know you believe he loves you, and I'm sure he does. But he's not loving you the right way. He doesn't love you the way you deserve to be loved." The there's also the fact that he tells straight away that he doesn't want a relationship and is only looking for a one night stand but then ends up pressuring her and manipulating her into having sex with him. He begs her for it because he says he can't concentrate at his job so he just wants to get it over with so that he can get her out of his head.

Becca: Oh these characters… where do I begin?! I absolutely loved Lily! She had been through so much in her life, yet she persevered and followed her dreams. She was strong and fought for what she believed in. I loved learning about her past and being with her in the present. I felt as though I knew her, I understood and empathized with very thought and every emotion. There are times I am angry and times I am sad. And then I'm both. And it's the worst because there is a war raging inside me, and the winning side keeps changing. How is it possible to switch from denial to sorrow to fury to acceptance in a heartbeat?" Becca: I know some of you may think that I always say this and yes I am a true CoHo fan, but this is by far her best work ever. It Ends With Us is so raw and full of emotions, but most of all it is honest. I cried… A LOT! And I am not talking a few tears or a quiet wimper… I am talking ugly crying that I couldn’t contain. The message it delivers is a powerful one and I know that this is a book that will stay with me forever. Please make sure that once you are done you read the Author note at the end, it will give you an even better view of this book afterward. This story actually touched so close to home, I grew up in an abusive home and all I can say is that it wasn’t pretty, unlike this story though, my monster was my mother, the one person that should be protecting us. (Absolutely not looking for sympathy I’m just sharing that I can understand the fear that this book portrayed) Finally, I liked that despite all the tragedy throughout the story; we were left with an optimistic end. It's the kind of story that normally ends with ambiguity as far as what the future holds. This gave us a direction to consider, and I liked that.

As she gets to know him, she starts falling for him and it gets harder and harder to leave. Even when he pushes her down the stairs or pulls her hair with the intent to hurt, she can't just leave because by that point she loves that man. Her heart makes excuses for him and she forgives him again and again. Your authors note was just about as heart breaking as the story. I’m with you when you said you wanting to delete and start again. That you fell in love with Ryle. It was heartbreaking so read what he was doing. I felt the pain for both of them. But I think you were right in writing their story the way you did. The more these things are talked about, the more someone who hasn’t been in that position and start to understand, the more help there will be from normal everyday friends and family for people who end up in Lily’s position. And hopefully over time we can all help to break the cycle of things like this. The author's note was even more heart breaking than the entire book. Colleen tells us a little bit about her and her mother's experience with domestic abuse. It Ends With Us was beautifully complicated. It was hot and cold. Up and down. Good and bad. Beautiful and ugly... I'm still trying to figure out how I really feel about it all because I'm genuinely torn on how I want to perceive this storyline. I loved it but in all honesty, I really do think I hate it as well. Not the "I-hate-you-Colleen-Hoover-stop-writing-books-and-find-a-different-career" t