K. Z. Richards

It Ends with Us is a romance novel that is ultimately about domestic abuse. Lily has just lost her father when she meets Ryle, a handsome doctor who does not want a relationship but is nevertheless drawn to Lily. As the two of them begin dating, another man reenters Lily’s life—Atlas, who she hasn’t seen since they dated in high school and who puts her new relationship into question.

I have not read many romance books, and this isn’t a book I would’ve picked for myself, but it was chosen by one of my book clubs, so I decided to give it a chance. As a work of fiction, I did not enjoy it. It’s just too cliché that the muscular, handsome, genius doctor is so obsessed with Lily, an average woman by all indications, that he abandons his allegiance to one night stands for her. I also thought that Lily’s diary entries, written in the form of letters to Ellen DeGeneres, were unrealistic because they were written in the same style as the book’s narration and not like a fifteen-year-old recounting events.

However, in terms of its exploration of the difficult topic of abuse, the book brings up some interesting points. Hoover based Lily’s relationship on her parents’ relationship which makes a lot of the details pretty realistic and heartbreaking. As the plot progresses, the book provokes questions about how someone finds him or herself in an abusive situation and why it is not so simple to leave such relationships, which makes the story more worthwhile.

Overall, though, I would not read the book again and prefer to read books that skew more literary than commercial. If you enjoy romance or have personally faced abusive relationships, then this book is probably a great choice, but if you’re looking for beautiful prose and complex characters, I would look elsewhere.