it ends with us,
by Coleen Hoover

I’m going to be honest ­– there was a lot of things I didn’t like about this book. I was apprehensive about reading it for a while, hearing a few mixed reviews from people who absolutely adored it and a handful of people who had some bones to pick. Since I didn’t love The Natural Way of Things and Where the Crawdads Sing and I know this book has similar themes, I didn’t think I’d really like it. And I was right!

So let’s get started. Right up the front, I’ll say that the best thing about this novel is how the author authentically describes how hard it is to leave abusive partnerships. Everything about Lily and Ryle’s relationship felt real, like I could have read about it on the news or watched it unfold in real time on Instagram to a girl I went to high school with in 2010; and frankly, it was devastating. At times, I found the other relationships to be realistic and relatable too which helped to build some strong foundations in the book. But that’s where the positives stop. Let’s dive in to what I hated!

1. Lily Blossom Bloom’s name. ‘Nuff said.

2. Lily’s inner dialogue. At times her thoughts sounded like a 14 year old girl written by a 30 year old man. The quote that I picked for this book really says it all…. the main character is so unfailingly boring that toast is her favourite food, and when someone knows that it makes her beyond happy. The inner dialogue couldn’t get any more dull at times.

3. The dialogue between characters. At times it just dragged on and felt so mundane, it was like I was sitting in a room with people I didn’t really like, listening to their conversations about what they were going to do during the week.

4. Writing letters to Ellen Degeneres. I just… didn’t get it? Why did the childhood Lily write to Ellen? It felt like a really childish trope and like it was trying to be different to a diary entry but, as a literary technique, it just didn’t work.

5. The voice of the audiobook reader. This may have been a massive contributor to why I didn’t like parts of Lily’s personality, because the reader had such a frustratingly shrill voice.

6. Atlas’ character. Again, I didn’t get him! I get that Hoover is showing us that it doesn’t matter how you grow up or whatever, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts and the contrast between Atlas and Ryle is how she does this, but he didn’t seem like a really well developed character. We mostly heard about Atlas when he was a teenager, and he realistically only appeared a couple of times in adulthood so I felt like there were big chunks of who he was missing, and I didn’t really have the time to grow and care for him

7. The end. I won’t say what happens in case for some ungodly reason you want to read this, but the end was just …… too, ya know. I was left pretty unsatisfied and disappointed in Lily.