Colleen Hoover - It Starts With Us (It Ends With Us #2)
4.5⭐
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Pages: 224
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: 18th October 2022
Book Blurb:
Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil co-parenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.
But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.
Switching between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas, It Starts with Us picks up right where the epilogue for the “gripping, pulse-pounding” (Sarah Pekkanen, author of Perfect Neighbors) bestselling phenomenon It Ends with Us left off. Revealing more about Atlas’s past and following Lily as she embraces a second chance at true love while navigating a jealous ex-husband, it proves that “no one delivers an emotional read like Colleen Hoover” (Anna Todd, New York Times bestselling author).
My Review:
I enjoyed It Ends with Us and
although it wasn’t my favorite from Colleen Hoover, I was really excited about
the sequel, as I wanted to know what is going to happen with Lily, Atlas, and
Ryle. I honestly think It Starts with Us was the first book that I ever read so
quickly. I devoured it in a few hours because as you know I really love Hoover’s
writing and I really needed to know the fate of all the characters as It Ends with
Us left it all quite open.
The book continues right where It
Ends with Us left off…When Atlas runs into Lily and her daughter in the park
and when he professes that he is ready to have Lily in his life and fight for
her. This story is from both Lily’s and Atlas’s points of view and during Atlas’s
POV chapters, we got to learn more about years when Atlas wasn’t in Lily’s
life, about his family, and see him more in-depth as a character. In Lily’s POV
chapters we got to explore her day-to-day life of being a co-parent with Ryle,
running her business, and trying to mend her heart from the divorce with Ryle,
as well as see how her relationship and friendship with Atlas grows.
I really enjoyed It Starts with
Us. It was less drama and surprises in this book than I used to in CoHo’s books
but it was interesting and easy to read. I loved it more than the prequel but
there was something that was still missing from it to be that crème de la crème.
There were parts in this book that felt super rushed and the book itself felt quite
short in terms of the plotline. Also, the ending…It just felt rushed and not
really fully explained. I wanted to know more about Ryle and if he agreed to
Lily’s terms about Emerson and I wanted to see Allysa’s and Atlas’s relationship
grow, as well as a few other little things like what happened between the last
two chapters as it was a quite big time jump between them. Also, I felt that
Lily in this book was a bit different, at times I missed the strong Lily that
was in It Ends with Us. In this book, it seemed she was also softer and more
lenient to Ryle, which surprised me the most, especially after what he is done
to her.
What I liked was that there was
more Atlas and that the reader got a chance to know him better, as he was in
the first book but most of what was written about him was from Lily’s POV. I
also liked how Ryle was in this book, although not as much but it made the whole
situation of co-parenting and Lily moving on from the abusive relationship with
him more real. It gave that natural continuation of the story from the first
book and didn’t just jump exclusively into Lily’s relationship with Atlas. Putting
Ryle in this book really, showed that Ryle is not a good guy and he is and
going to be an abuser until he seeks help about it. Also, it highlights that It
Ends with Us was not a dark romance, it was a book about abusive relationships
and breaking that cycle of abuse once and for all.
Overall: I loved this book more
than I did It Ends with Us but it was still not the best from Coleen Hoover.
There was that wow factor missing and parts of the book felt rushed. Although,
as always, I loved the writing and I am glad I got to know Atlas's character
more and learn about what happened to Lily and Atlas after It Ends with Us.
About the Author:
Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-two novels and novellas. Hoover’s novels fall into the New Adult and Young Adult contemporary romance categories, as well as psychological thrillers.
Colleen Hoover is published by Montlake Romance, Grand Central Publishing and Atria Books. Colleen also has several indie titles, including Heart Bones.
In 2015, Colleen’s novel CONFESS won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance. That was followed up in 2016 with her latest title, It Ends With Us, also winning the Choice Award for Best Romance. In 2017, her title WITHOUT MERIT won best romance.
Colleen founded The Bookworm Box, a charity subscription service and bookstore, with her family in 2015. The Bookworm Box is a subscription service that provides readers with an exciting opportunity to receive signed novels in the mail each month from authors all over the world. All profits from the subscription service are donated to various charities each month. To date, The Bookworm Box has donated over $1,000,000 to help those in need.
https://www.colleenhoover.com/about-coho/
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