Tough Critic Book Reviews: IT ENDS WITH US by Colleen Hoover: Review & GIVEAWAY!

IT ENDS WITH US

BY COLLEEN HOOVER

"Colleen Hoover reminds readers that love is a fragile thing, built from courage, hope, and tears. Every person with a heartbeat should read this book."
– Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Visit www.ItEndsWithUsBook.com for teasers, tour dates and more.

ABOUT IT ENDS WITH US:

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.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. 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.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. Combining a captivating romance with a cast of all-too-human characters, It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.

MY REVIEW:
4 of 5 stars

This book will linger...

It's an ironic title, "It Ends With Us." Its fancier than ironic; its incongruous, a paradox. This story will do anything but end. This book will linger. It's like tiny grains of sand you find in random places weeks after you return from the beach. It's a thought you have as soon as you wake up, but aren't even aware you're having it. And then once you realize it, everything comes crashing down.

It will linger leaving an aftertaste of hurt, confusion, happiness, sadness. You'll want so badly to be happy. You should be happy. You're suppose to be happy. The ending was happy. It was. Right?

It was ambivalent.

From the very first scene at the restaurant, I knew where this story was headed, and I was scared. I was terrified. Some people have anticipatory anxiety. I had anticipatory emotions. However, what I didn't expect was the link created between my emotions and that of the victim. I didn't want to see the ugly truth. Even in this moment, my heart still clinches so tightly to the good, the excuses echoing in the back of my mind. It brought me to a level of understanding that I never wanted to experience. I wasn't just a reader looking in, I was caught right in the middle of wanting something that I knew I shouldn't. Those wants still haunt me, the "buts" the "what ifs." I'm weaker than Lily because I still haven't let it go. It's like being caught in a storm of desperate rationalization.

Part of me wishes I could have been more invested in the relationship between Lily and Atlas; there was so much depth to this story that could have been explored. I honestly feel they needed an entire book just to develop their foundation. It was difficult not being able to experience their story first hand. I think maybe that's why I was able to invest so much more into Lily and Ryle. Or maybe this was just how things were suppose to be. Maybe this is why it's so painful. So real.

I wouldn't call this book a love triangle, but two relationships paralleling each other. The names of the characters were a little distracting at first, but are overshadowed later by an emotionally poignant love story. Two different types of love stories. Love in a way you haven't experienced before.

This book pulled me out of my comfort zone, and won't easily be forgotten.

READ ON!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Slammed, This Girl, Point of Retreat, Hopeless, Losing Hope, Finding Cinderella, Maybe Someday, Ugly Love, Maybe Not, and Confess. She lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. Please visit ColleenHoover.com.

FIND COLLEEN ONLINE:

Grab your copy of IT ENDS WITH US:

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THE GIVEAWAY

#ItEndsWithUs

Enter the Rafflecopter to win a signed copy of IT ENDS WITH US and a limited edition Everything’s Better in Boston magnet (trust us, you’ll get it after you read the book)! (3 prize bundles in total) Contest is open until August 26^th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TOUR DATES

BOSTON, MA

Tuesday, August 2^nd

BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH

7:00 PM

279 Harvard Street

Brookline, MA 02446

www.brooklinebooksmith.com

RSVP and details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1765869680321385/

MADISON, NJ

Wednesday, August 3^rd