It Ends With Us Book Review

I was blown away by this book! Clearly my expectations were pretty low, but I was proven that you can’t judge a book by its cover. This didn’t read like a typical romance to me. It had depth and incited perplexing emotions.

Lily, the protagonist, was strong-willed yet pliable. She had convictions that she stood by firmly and convictions that wavered with love. This was relatable; she was human.

Ryle, the hero or the antagonist (?), was magnetic and intense. I spent about half the book being charmed by him and the rest of the book being disgusted with him. I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone, but hindsight is 20/20 and he is the epitome of “show me your true colors and I’ll believe you.” This is why I struggle to consider him the hero of this book.

Atlas, quite possibly the true hero of this book, was Lily’s first love. Where Ryle was loud, Atlas was quiet. Where Ryle was arrogant, Atlas was humble. He respected Lily and wanted to protect her despite her choice to continue seeing Ryle.

I found the story itself to be so beautifully complicated. I caught myself having incongruous emotions throughout the book; much like I imagine Lily was feeling. The conflict in Lily and Ryle’s relationship was blindsiding and very realistic for many people.

“It’s easy when we’re on the outside to believe that we would walk away without a second thought if a person mistreated us. It’s easy to say we couldn’t continue to love someone who mistreats us when we aren’t the ones feeling the love of that person.”
— Lily

The ending was so bittersweet. While it felt appropriate given Lily’s journey, it wasn’t the ending I would wish for anyone. The sweetness was in the glimmer of possibility of better days ahead for her.

Overall, I loved this book. Once I picked it up, it was hard for me to put it down. I’m even more excited to see how they adapt this story for the big screen after reading this book.