Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us is a book with a strong message that will undoubtedly win your heart. It also features themes of power, decision, depth, individual strength and emotional sway. And for this reason, I cannot not recommend this book enough.

I was hesitant to review this novel because it is the most popular book on BookTok and Instagram. I was concerned that how I felt about this book might influence how I feel in the future about other books I might discover on social media. Additionally, this book discusses difficult issues that some readers may or may not identify with. But I do hope that by bringing these issues up and shedding some light on them, it might perhaps be of use to others.

Lily Bloom is a 23-year-old recent college graduate who is searching so desperately for a new, uncomplicated life in Boston, Massachusetts after leaving her old life in Plethora, Maine. Everything in her life seems to be going just as she wants it to, until one night while she’s on the rooftop of a building clearing her mind after her abusive father’s funeral, she meets neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid, who’s first impression was him kicking a lawn chair out of anger. After several peculiar encounters, they slowly but ultimately fall in love over time. However, things between Bloom and Kincaid get tense when she rekindles with Atlas Corrigan, her first love, with whom she had fallen out of touch years before after her father found out about their secret meetings that they regularly had in their home.

In many interviews, Hoover has stated that many of the incidents that happened in the book were based on real events in her and her mother’s lives. She wanted to show us all how morally questionable domestic violence can be when true, passionate love is at issue. I think that Hoover created this book with the intention of introducing this viewpoint into the new adult category. In works with a lot of emotional turmoil. I constantly needed some additional information to fully understand every fine distinction of the protagonist’s thought process. However, by keeping the characters close to the protagonist throughout the book and utilizing few specifics, Hoover was able to win my love and trust for the characters.

This novel is ultimately a tale of a broken relationship between two characters. It’s a love tale about putting one’s needs before those of someone they genuinely care about, and about making the decision to stop a cycle of violence that causes much more harm than good. This book helped me understand how women and men experiencing domestic violence could feel troubled about choosing between the safety and well-being of themselves and the person they made a commitment to protect. I hate to admit it, but while reading this novel, I experienced the same kind of troubles that Bloom did with the abuser. I kept rationalizing with him and kept on telling myself, “Just give him another chance, Lily.” Even when deep down, I knew that he wasn’t going to change because he simply didn’t want to. This astute author also dives into Lily’s world, providing us a clear understanding of the emotional suffering, conflicted emotions, and shifting feelings that this woman was experiencing throughout the entire novel.

Before you think about purchasing this book, I would strongly recommend searching up its trigger warnings just in case! For me, it was worth the emotional investment and I’m glad I took this troubled journey with the characters.