Justme...'s Reviews > It Ends with Us

Naked truth?
I can't believe this book is rated so high

First of all, the writing is extremely childish without any real descriptive language, poetic techniques or any power. There wasn't a single quote that would make me stop and think. I highlighted just one quote in the entire book which is very unusual for me. Especially in a book about such a strong and emotional topic. 

Some examples of terrible writing:
"Ugh! This day! Perfect!"

"Yeah.
Best.
Day. 
Ever."

Secondly, the characters are so stereotypical, act so juvenile, and are extremely boring.

Lily Blossom Bloom, what the hell even is that name. She sits on rooftops, has ReD hAiR and FaIR sKiN and owns an edgy flower shop for people who hate flowers. She is obsessed with Ellen Degeneres and believes donating to charity automatically makes you a good person.

Ryle Kincaid is a neurosurgeon and the author feels the need to remind you on EVERY FREAKING PAGE. She even goes as far to make him walk around town in scrubs and a stethoscope, which is so incredibly stupid and incorrect. He is wearing scrubs, he has neurosurgeon hands, he has a scheduled operation on monday, he has money because he is a neurosurgeon, he is a doctor, did I mention he is a neurosurgeon yet? It was the most annoying part of the book, rivaled only by the letters to Ellen Degeneres.
Okay more about Ryle, he is a total douchebag, wattpad level BaD bOY. Mr "I am too selfish for a relationship" "I don't do girlfriends only one night stands"
Seriously I don't get how people can like the romance part of this book, its just idiotic and borderline creepy.
But don't worry guys, he isn't a bad person he is just damaged 🙄 

Atlas Corrigan has the misfortune of being almost exclusively mentioned in the letters to Ellen part, which was dumb. 
Okay I feel the need to explain why I hate the letters to Ellen. They are not done well. They are too detailed for a recollection, too eloquent for a teenager. They simply do not feel like letters a person would write since they are narrative and feature entire conversations in direct speech. This is just a lame excuse to flash out the backstory without any real thought or effort put into it. Its not something a published professional writer should resort to. Oh my book needs a backstory, no need to worry I'll make the MC pick up the letters and read them! Wow genious!🙄
Aside from that, Atlas is fine I guess, maybe a bit too perfect and a bit boring. But at least he is not toxic as hell. The bar is that low.

The pacing was also off. There were periods where nothing happened and then everything was rushed into a few pages. I'll talk more about the plot now, so:

**************Spoiler alert*********************
From this poing forward the review will include spoilers

The plot is basically divided into two parts: the romance and the abuse.

The romance part is so clichè and so wattpady. They meet on a rooftop and immediately tell each other their deepest secrets only to never meet again. Jokes on you they *randomly* meet because her new best friend is his sister! Seriously? And she twists her ankles so he has to help her because, if you didn't know it already, he is a NEUROSURGEON. This douche is clear about not wanting a relationship and only viewing women as sex objects yet with Lily it is diFfeRent since she is not like other girls I guess. He offers her a freaking trial run. What a kind man! He proceeds to be obsessed with her, framing her photo even before they started dating (after their first meeting), he is constantly pushing her boundaries, stalks her and begs her to have sex with him to "cure" his obsession. I mean really?! And the worst part is that we are supposed to like him in this part of the book! How can an adult woman write such a love interest?

And now the epic plot twist, Ryle is abusive! What a shocker, never could have guessed that Mr. "You must have sex with me" is a douchebag. But the predictability aside, this was actually the part of the book which I kind of slightly liked. The abuse was written realistically and the situations at the very beginning of it were ambigious and not as black and white, though clearly abusive. The parts of him apologizing were great descriptions of the cycle of violence and I feel like it gave me some insight into how the victims feel and I gained sympathy for those that stayed rather than judgment. The fact that both Lily and Atlas were from abusive household also gave the book more depth.

As for the ending, I liked Lily's strenght in leaving. But the pregnancy trope was so useless in terms of the plot. It was thrown in towards the end and felt rushed and for me, it destroyed the message of the book. The author tried too hard to get her point of "there are no bad people" across and it devalued the theme and topic. The ending was all about "but Ryle is a great father!" "And he accidently killed his brother!" Aw poor Ryle. Nevermind that he gaslighted Lily, nearly killed her and tried to rape her. He still has a legal right to be a father! Bitch, he doesn't. He lost it when he proved he was a dangerous person who can't control himself, so no, he shouldn't be around your child. And guys, she freaking named her child Emerson Dory. Sure, name your child after Ryle's excuse for being violent and after a fish.

The epilogue was...what the readers wanted but not what we needed. Not what Lily needed. But at least she did something for herself not for Emerson Dory. 

So, overall, the book just didn't do it for me. I guess I am glad to have learned more about the topic but that is all. I am in no way devalueing what the author went trough and I really appreciate the personal note she left about her own experiences. But still, I don't think Colleen Hoover is an author for me. We didn't really click. But given her history and the "romance" books she wrote, I can't help but be thankful that at least I picked out the book where the abuse was acknowledged and written intentionally.

*end of review*


Favourite quotes (in this case just a quote):

"And as hard as this choice is, we break the pattern before the pattern breaks us"