A review by sush1ri
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

4.25

i understand that there are polarizing thoughts of this book and CoHo in general. since the movie comes out in three days, i decided to give this a read and i ended up really liking this book. there were definitely some things, like names (a few of them), that made me cringe but my focus was on the overall message and story of the book. i’m an emotional person that cries very easily but my eyes didn’t well up once. though i was shook and had strong opinions on what was going on, i think some of the situations resonated with me too much that i felt almost numb to it or read it as matter-of-factly. 

some notes on common critiques for It Ends With Us: yes, things were cringe and that’s one of the reasons i didn’t give this book 5 stars, as well as the writing itself not being the best, age gap in teen years, and some bland descriptions. however, i didn’t allow this too take too much away from the important point of the story
i thought the Ellen Degeneres journals were necessary. it adds to her youth and i loved reading her backstory through these notes. my favorite movie as a toddler was Finding Nemo, so i adore the reference. do i like Ellen Degeneres? no, but Hoover wrote this 10 years ago and she at least gave Lily an outlet and i don’t think we should take away from that.
i genuinely liked this read and i don’t agree that this specific book (i dont know about her others because this was my first CoHo book) glorifies abuse. i believe the author portrays DV well and appreciate that she notes that every DV relationship is different (and to know she based it off of her parents relationship gives it a little more credibility.) it sheds light onto the *very real* hardships, confusion, and desperation that comes with DV and trauma that many people go through behind the scenes. readers need to ensure they read TWs before going into this book because it can be heavy. 
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