Trapped in a pressured and guilty relationship, “It Ends With Us” follows an amazing plot line with even better personas to tie it all together. The reader travels through three-hundred and eighty-four pages of Lily Bloom’s life, starting with her encounter with her future lover and husband, Ryle Kincaid, who the reader learns to love and trust. Hidden and concealed behind the false reality of perfection, the two’s relationship stumbles with the first sign and occurrence of domestic abuse. 

Lily grew up around domestic abuse and even experiences it herself from her father at an early age, her mother receiving horrible treatment from her husband, Lily’s father. From a young age she swore she would never let herself be treated like her mother was, and although she still is as confident and bold, which she reflected in her newly opened flower shop, she finds herself falling into the same habit of forgiving as her mother.

Ryle suffers from anger issues due to a traumatic experience he had as a kid, using his trauma and mental issues as an excuse for abusing Lily, which in turn so did she. Bloom kept telling herself that he was mostly a good person and it wasn’t his fault the way he acted, but finally, she drew the line when he interrogated her and assaulted her over her first love, Atlas Corrigan.

With anger and lack of communication, Ryle was hurt over multiple encounters with Atlas or things tying back to him, feeling as if Lily would leave him for her first love. Many factors contributed to why Ryle was angry with Lily such as lack of answers and his own ego. 

Kincaid is a very self-obsessed man who desires to be the best in his field, being a neurosurgeon who is primarily focused on his career rather than his marriage with Lily. When he sees Lily has left after he sexually assaulted her, he realizes it’s over between them even if he doesn’t want to believe it.

Luckily, Lily had Atlas’ number from a previous meeting with him, Atlas telling her to keep it and call him in case she ever needs anything due to the fact he was aware Ryle had abused her once before, but Lily blew it off saying it was an accident. She wanted to believe in Ryle and believe he would stop like he said he would, but deep down Lily knew better, so she kept Atlas’ number in the back of her phone which in turn led to a blowup from Ryle. 

With the help of Atlas and her friend/coworker Alyssa, she was able to pull herself out of her situation and grew independent again. She had given birth to Ryle’s child and thankfully, Ryle stepped up and became a father for their daughter, the book ended off with Lily and Atlas embracing, implying a future relationship between the two. 

“It Ends With Us” is arguably one of the best books of the century as it tackles serious issues and shows the reader what it’s like to be in an abusive relationship. A great read for young adults and especially young women, it encourages people to stay true to their boundaries and understand their worth. 

Many people may wonder, “why not just leave?” when confronted with the idea of domestic abuse, and the author, Colleen Hoover, explains it very simply: love. People don’t seem to understand that in most cases, the relationship starts off fun, exciting, sweet, fresh, and new, just like Lily and Ryle.

Being in a domestic abuse relationship is often focused on the word domestic, but many seem to forget the connection between the two is love. Lily loved Ryle wholeheartedly and though she knew he was hurting her, she took him back every time due to her feelings.

It’s easy to judge when you’re outside of the relationship, but when you’re involved you see both sides: one is upset with the other or upset at the world and takes it out on their significant other and one is so deeply enthralled with them that they will slowly let things go.

The novel puts a lot of emphasis on boundaries and the reader can really see Lily’s boundaries slowly fade over time. What once was a strong woman who wouldn’t let any man so much as look at her off became one who thought, “it could’ve been worse.”

Teaching readers what a toxic relationship looks like might help someone wake up and notice they’re being taken advantage of, and It Ends With Us does exactly that. You may still love your abuser and hope for the best, but relationships are a two-way street, if they’re abusing you in any way then it’s not true love.

At the end of the book, we as the reader can finally see Ryle leave Lily alone which shows his maturity as well as progress in becoming a better person. A rough childhood is no excuse to give someone an even rougher time, and Ryle realizes this. If Ryle truly loved Lily, he would let her go.

I give this book 5/5 stars; the characters, the plot, the setting, and even the smallest details are all large contributors to the rating. Nothing in this story made me feel let down or bored, but instead kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through and brought more perspectives than I had originally thought of. 

With her troubled mind at ease and open to love again, Lily Bloom’s life took a turn she hadn’t expected and although it was completely horrible, she would not be the person she is today without those experiences. Shedding light on domestic abuse through this novel has helped others seek help, and one method of help is this hotline: https://www/thehotline.org/. If you or someone you know is in danger, please seek help.