It Starts With Us Book Review

While I do think It Ends With Us was better (as I predicted), It Starts With Us really is a close second. I felt like Lily matured due to everything she went through in her marriage and being a new mom. I would expect anyone who goes through what Lily went through to be forced to grow up faster than someone who has never experienced trauma. She did still have that girly giddiness that women get when they’re falling for someone, but she also withheld a lot for the sake of her daughter, Emerson. She didn’t want to move too quickly and I found that to be very appropriate for a single mother.

Atlas was the same “considerate Atlas” (as Lily likes to call him). He respected Lily and her decisions about Emerson and never pressured her to move faster than she was ready. I can’t help but compare the differences between Atlas and Ryle in regards to how they courted Lily. Ryle was aggressive and tried to pressure Lily into bending her convictions for his sake while Atlas was patient and went at Lily’s speed. Atlas was even patient when it came to dealing with Ryle who had absolutely no patience for Atlas. Although Atlas had his own stuff going on, he never took his frustrations out on anyone (even when they deserved a little push back). It was so obvious that this is the type of man that Lily deserved that even Ryle’s sister and brother-in-law were rooting for Atlas and Lily.

“This kiss is hope. It’s comfort and safety and stability. It’s everything I’ve been missing in my adult life, and I am so happy Atlas and I have each other again, I could cry.” — Lily

As far as the romance between Atlas and Lily, it was so much more tame than it was with Ryle and Lily. The tension between Atlas and Lily wasn’t as palpable. Their chemistry was more like steady electricity than a zap of electricity. But they had a lot to overcome in order to just be physically together.

This book resonated with me on two levels: as a woman who has gone from a bad relationship to a good one and as a big sister. Without giving too much of the story away, the safety and security that Lily felt with Atlas is exactly how someone should feel in a stable relationship. Additionally, the need to protect a younger sibling (or siblings) from a home you know is unstable is very much a real scenario. I appreciated the realism of the story even though I typically prefer to escape from reality when I’m reading books.

The ending of the book felt a little rushed to me as it jumped forward in time pretty significantly. It was definitely one of those happily-ever-after type endings and the last line was intentionally cheesy (which almost felt like an inside joke with the readers since we know the reference and Lily won’t unless Atlas explains it to her), but there was a lot packed into that last chapter that signaled a finale and an ending that Lily deserved.

As a whole, I really did love this book and the emotions it evoked that were different from It Ends With Us. The pace of this book was just as fast as its predecessor (in my opinion). I hope that this book also becomes a movie so we can visually see the differences between Atlas and Ryle.