Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover

25 reviews

gmbooks11_'s review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

issyd23's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Surprisingly enjoyable after detesting the first book 3🌸 

NB I picked up this book expecting to hate & make fun of it, but ended up liking the story. I found it really satisfying & empowering to see Lily call out Ryle’s abusive behaviour & get a second chance of love with Atlas. There are still Ellen DeGeneres diaries but thankfully not as much as book 1 + the inclusion of Atlas’ perspective was a good addition. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

kaynic22's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

ellaticonstellation's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Yay! It's Lily and Atlas' time. I love how considerate he was and also respected Lily's decisions. It's just so sweet. There are problematic parts still like Ryle, the walking red flag. Sutton, a weird name, but she's a horror show as well. Atlas hugging Lily's mom when they were younger was a sweet gesture. They were meant to be together, but I thought a year after a divorce was too soon. Not that she doesn't deserve to be happy or anything, but it was fast. I also liked that she's not letting Ryle get to her in the latter parts, because it was obvious that he had a hold on her in the earlier parts even if she was pointing out that he won't let him, he did. I'm just so happy for Lily and Atlas being together finally with Emmy❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

worldofv33's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

crystal83087's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

roo_coniam's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

hiraeth_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

tbh i've only read this bc i hate to not read every book of a series. i actually lent this from my library bc i didn't want to give CoHo any more of my money lol. 

i must say it wasn't as atrocious plot-wise and i felt like the whole domestic abuse topic was presented in a more reflective way. every time someone brought sth up, it was immediately put into context. 

as CoHo said herself, there wasn't any continuation of the story planned and she only wrote this bc 'it ends with us' blew up on tiktok again and that's exactly how it comes across. the whole point is to have more atlas and lily content and that's what it is, not more but also not less. 
it wasn't complex, it wasn't as dramatic as usual, there were a few funny moments followed up immediately by the most cringeworthy shit i've read in a while (but shouldn't surprise me with CoHo). the characters were flat as usual and generally i liked the idea of getting both lily's and atlas' point of view but i couldn't imagine i would agree with ryle one time bc when he called atlas pathetic or sth like that i felt that. i haven't read a character that's so much wrapped around their own hero complex and tbh besides that his only personality trait is that he loves lily. which is cute but like... you know. and that's not so say that they aren't cute together or that atlas' character is bad, it's just a lot and CoHo could've shortened it to a 10 page summary with maybe some key scenes and that would've done the job.

glad i didn't spent any money on this or her. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

ellie_murdock's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

_rae6021's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Overall alright read, not as good as the first one. Was quite long winded and seemed at a loss for storyline at times it seemed like they were just tryna keep the book going when it didn’t need to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Abuse retelling snot as graphic as first book. 3 chapters of soft smut give or take a bit.