In October 2022, New York Times Bestselling Author Colleen Hoover released “It Starts With Us,” the sequel to her first book, “It Ends With Us.”
The award-winning young adult fiction writer’s stories usually include common tropes such as friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, the girl next door or forbidden love.
Normally quick reads, her books have recently gotten a large amount of attention due to TikTok and Instagram.
Her new sequel, “It Starts With Us,” continues the story of Lily Bloom, the protagonist; Atlas Corrigan, her long-lost high school sweetheart; and Ryle Kincaid, Lily’s abusive ex-husband.
At the end of the first novel, Lily divorces Ryle, leaving her with a child and a business to take care of all by herself.
The first chapter of “It Starts With Us,” reintroduces Lily and Atlas to one another, and expectedly, the pair is awkward — having not been on a date in over 20 years and because Altas is partially the reason her marriage to Ryle collapsed disastrously.
However, a few months have passed since Lily and Ryle’s divorce has been finalized, so Atlas and Lily plan a night out despite her trepidation.
The novel switches to both of their perspectives, which better explains the twists and turns of their own lives.
Despite their separation, Lily doesn’t want Ryle to know she’s seeing Atlas, yet Atlas isn’t afraid of the repercussions he may face.
The storyline ultimately follows Lily and Atlas, their problems, and the struggle of balancing work, love, and family.
These complications don’t hold back the characters and the book finally gives readers the happy ending they’ve been searching for since the first book’s tearful ending.
Hoover does a fantastic job exploring ideas such as recovery and starting fresh, both major themes of the book.
My favorite aspect of the book was the underlying theme of “You have to do the things that make you happy, regardless of what could happen.”
A fresh start is a huge component of the story, especially with several of the new characters the reader is introduced to.
Lily and Atlas go through major character developments that will make readers grow to love the main characters that much more.
I praise Hoover for the character development of Ryle as well. Although Ryle is a horrible character, he gains some perspective throughout the book. It takes a while, but Ryle starts to become the person he needs to in order to be a part of Lily and their daughter Emmy’s lives.
While I loved the book, I had a good amount of criticisms.
The number of love letters in the book was almost paralyzing. It felt like every other page was a love letter and as a reader who likes action, it became a little boring.
Hoover typically creates novels you cannot put down; however, I didn’t find it difficult to put down “It Starts With Us” during those love letters.
While the love letters are irritating, they weren’t the biggest flaw of the book.
The most infuriating part is the way Hoover made Lily’s character weak — a characteristic she doesn’t normally have. In the first book, Lily doesn’t tolerate Ryle’s abuse, but the way Hoover wrote the tense scenes in “It Starts With Us” made me furious. Lily’s character would never allow herself to be thrown against a door, yet Hoover never let Lily take up for herself.
While the book has its imperfections, I’d give it an 8/10.
There are so many positive elements of the book that overshadow the bad and it was a good read.
It gives you that warm feeling to see both characters have happiness after so much conflict.
While reading, you get a sense of who each character really is and what they will do to earn their happiness. It’s heartwarming and saddening in the best way possible.
Hoover just announced that “It Ends With Us” will be made into a movie, starring Blake Lively as Lily, and Justin Baldoni as Ryle.
Hoover has also announced five new books coming out over the next five years.