Sharon Hao/Staff reporter
It Ends With Us is a romance book written by Colleen Hoover, which tells a story about a girl named Lily Blooms, who falls in love with a neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid. This book is part of a series.
Lily has always dreamed of opening her own flower business ever since she was young, as she was always gardening in her yard. Once she moved to Boston, she began working toward that goal. She meets Ryle Kincaid, and he manages to flip her world upside down.
My favorite character in this book was Allysa, because she was Lily’s biggest supporter and best friend, and was always by her side during hard times. Lily and Allysa have a great bond and has a friendship that I hope everyone has with someone. The story kept me attentive throughout the whole book, and I was eager to read the next chapter, or think about what would happen next. Although I feel that Ryle did not treat Lily the best way, their situation feels very realistic to the things that happen in this world.
When the sad scenes were written, such as the relationship between Lily’s parents and how Lily was a witness to those scenes, it really moved me as it is a very sensitive and sad moment and lots of real emotions were portrayed during those scenes. It felt as if I could see my own parents in the book. While I was reading those moments it almost made me cry as it was heartbreaking. The cycle of abuse that was mentioned and how real it was that these situations are common in the real world is tragic and always finds a way to make me emotional.
I was glad that the ending was satisfying to me. Lily had broken through lots of different stages and become a witness to the painful things, and ended up in the cycle of abuse herself. It made me acknowledge that Lily is a strong person, and she was able to become aware of who she became and avoided becoming more of what she didn’t want to be.
The book has its good moments, and bad moments. The scenes were very emotional and portraying, but the fact that these scenes were unexpected and could potentially be triggering has put an offset. I was also disappointed that the way Lily ended up giving into whatever Ryle said since it was unrealistic, as she already had her ideals and standards put up and had stuck with it during her whole life.
This book requires a lot of understanding to be able to feel what the characters represent, and I would not recommend this book to those who are reading for lighthearted stories or for those who read the book (without warning) that have been traumatized by abuse. The storyline and the way it was written was good. I also liked how I was engaged throughout the whole book and how it appealed to me. I personally enjoyed reading most of the story, the fact that it was very deep and how it was difficult for the characters to understand their own emotions. If I were to give this book a rating, I would give it an 8/10.