A REVIEW OF IT ENDS WITH US BY COLLEEN HOOVER
“That’s what fifteen minutes can do to a person. It can destroy them. It can save them”
Oh my, what did I just read? In the hopes that any reader would feel like I do right now, this review will and indeed must be spoiler-free.
In most romance novels, I’m used to the overtly graphic imagery of a hot, steamy romance which usually hits me right between the eyes, right from the start or maybe after the first couple pages. For others, it could be a more subtle process, but ultimately, hot and steamy is usually the landmark. So, where exactly does Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us fit into this thermal meter? I would say right on the ‘absolutely nothing like I expected’ mark.
Let me begin this with an apology. If at any point during this review, my writing appears incoherent, I can’t help it. This book left my mind in a heap of emotional fragments, and I’m still trying to piece them back together.
The story follows young Lily Blossom Bloom, an aspiring florist, with dashing rosy red hair and gentle as a flower (I promise you, this is not a pun). She’s the type of girl that stands on a ledge, twelve stories over the streets of Boston, in search of fresh air. Don’t get me wrong — she’s anything but suicidal; I mean anyone would be offbeat too if they’d also just lost a parent. On an average day, she is every bit sensitive, caring, hardworking and probably one of the strongest heroines you’ll see in a book, who has come a long way to get the life she deserves. Enter Dr. Ryle Kincaid, a passionate and thriving neurosurgeon, with an arrogant determination to become the best in his field. His handsomely-chiselled manly features, as visualized in scrubs or practically any clothing he’s found in, are easy on the eyes, but, as with all near-perfect men, he has a problem: a strong aversion to relationships. Somehow, this young couple bond over the strangest of shared truths, ranging from a complicated past to an unstable present, all laid bare before each other as they learn to love amidst their naked truths. One truth however lingers, Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s first-ever love and link to a past that threatens everything she has ever worked for.
Although this book highlights trickles of love in all its cliché forms — from where our protagonists meet, chat, flirt, wink at each other, sleep together, fight, makeup and of course, profess undying love — I hesitate to describe this book as just romantic. It simply will do it no justice. Amidst the flurry of emotions is a powerful message, cleverly woven in from the very start of the book and with such incredible depth that it grips you just as intimately as any passion piece, leaving you with that lasting mark, long after it has been put down. I mean, it is wonderful how a book drags you into a love story with characters you can resonate with but does not spare you the individual baggage they may have, buried in their closets. You’ll be hanging on the edge of your seat, bed, roof…whatever, to uncover every bit the characters’ unique stories and, I must say, you’re in for quite a show.
Colleen’s writing style seamlessly combines a traditional love story with modern-day realism, blurring the edges in a way that highlights that special place where stories and real life meet. It Ends with Us creates relatable protagonists in Lily and Ryle, whose personal growths do not erase their faults. The couple’s willingness to thrive, despite their flaws, is admirable and it is an utter pleasure to accompany them on this physical and emotional journey, with a fitting end to its memorable title, It Ends with us.
I thoroughly enjoyed the relationships built in this book and was intrigued by the depth of all the secondary characters; but, most of all, finding out how particularly important writing this book was for the author made all the connections even more worthwhile. The Author’s Notes at the end are just as brutally honest as the entire book and definitely deserve a look.
If you enjoy a solid background story, with a satisfying character pool and without the repetitive intense romantic scenes, you just might enjoy this book as much as I did. It is definitely a book that needs not just to be read but be felt by everyone, and I would recommend it a hundredfold.
Obinwanne Enemuo
600L, Medicine.
