It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is a powerful and emotional novel focused around the cycle of abuse. It’s written from the perspective of Lily, a woman who grew up in an abusive household where her dad constantly beat her mother. Lily witnessed her dad treating her mother horribly her entire childhood, and as time went on instead of feeling compassion, Lily began to resent  her mother. She didn’t understand why her mother would stay in an abusive situation like that until she went through a similar situation. After graduating college Lily moved, running away from her past to Boston, where she and her first love dreamed of moving.. Lily started her own business and along the way fell in love with Ryle, a charming neurosurgeon. The relationship seemed perfect in the beginning, that was until Lily fell victim to his physically abusive actions.. Lily was extremely conflicted, she said she would never allow that from a partner, but it wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be to leave him. 

This book moved me in a way no book has ever. It’s an extremely eye-opening book that makes you sad, angry, and confused all in one. From an outside perspective, you always look at people who are in abusive relationships and wonder why they don’t leave, why they defend the people who hurt them, but this book does an amazing job at making people understand why it’s not as easy as it looks. Throughout the book, the writer makes you fall in love with Ryles’s character and his relationship with Lily. Which is why when he hits her, the readers are just as shocked and hurt. It’s like going through the process of building up the courage and strength to leave a toxic relationship alongside Lily. 

There was truly nothing I didn’t like about this book, from the amazing plots, the amount of vulnerability in this storyline, the way the characters unfold, the number of emotions it makes you feel, and the important messages behind the book. It’s all of what I look for in a book. If you’re looking for a great read, I definitely recommend this book. It’s a beautifully crafted book that spreads awareness for domestic violence. It’s a powerful and eye-opening book that I think everyone should read, a book that you simply cannot put down once you start it.