Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - It Starts With Us

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover

229 reviews

anilourengo's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

En esta segunda parte conocemos mejor a Atlas, mientras que Lily sigue lidiando con Ryle mientras sigue adelante con su vida.

Una buena muestra de todos los desafíos que enfrenta una madre soltera al momento de querer formar una nueva pareja y más considerando que la relación que tenía con el padre de su hija terminó por malos tratos.

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thesetofu's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

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jjyork's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

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ali1004's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

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hannahelizabeth765's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

It’s a decent book, but could’ve been so much better in my opinion.

In the author’s note, Colleen writes that she wrote it for the fans who just wanted to see Atlas and Lily happy together, if I had known this beforehand, I might not have read it. I loved It Ends With Us so I was intrigued as to what she would do with a sequel, but disappointed when there wasn’t much tension or build-up, romantic or plot-wise.

About halfway through I lost any real connection to the book because it just felt like a money-grab. Lily seems magically ‘over’ everything with Ryle in terms of dealing with the abuse (she still has moments of anxiety and stress due to it, but it feels superficial) and knows everything about a being an abuse victim. Don’t get me wrong, there are great messages to abuse victims in there, but they feel placed and forced instead of flowing.

Another thing: because Atlas is so perfect, it feels almost like there’s nothing to him because he doesn’t go through any character development, the only development we are simply told about occurring during his time away from Lily. There’s no stakes because he is so perfect.

In summary, it’s a fluff book about Atlas and Lily with some troubles but nothing that they don’t handle quickly or at least make seem so small because of their love for each other and because Atlas knows her so well so he knows how to cheer her up so easily instead of there being a bit of tension between them at any point. Overall, it’s a decent book and did make me cry at some points and would be a good read for someone who just wanted closure from the first book.

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ninaleeray's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

4.5

An inside look on how a woman regains her life and hope back after with an ex abuser husband with a shared infant child.

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telepathyjmin's review against another edition

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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

3.5

Decent book, but not nearly as good as the first in the series. Loved to see more of Atlas's relationships, with the other characters, especially Theo and Josh.

Just a few complaints about this book:

1. Repeating word for word the letters Lily wrote in book one. I guess if you read the books when they came out, instead of reading them directly back to back, it might be fine. But felt very unnecessary to me. Really could have just included a summary of them.

2. As a few other people have pointed out, really didn't like Alyssa + Marshall in this. If you were friends with someone who was abused physically + mentally by your brother/best friend would you still continue to be on good terms with them? I know i sure as hell wouldn't.

Took them until the very end of the book to get their act together and side with Lily instead of Ryle, EVEN THOUGH she went through abuse from this dude for over a year(?)

Last small critique is that i noticed quite a few typos throughout the book, with the words 'me' and 'my' being used interchangeably at times for some reason.

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