I’m going to get hate for this one, but it needs to be said: It Ends With Us by Coleen Hoover is a terrible book. I have plenty of unpopular Booktok opinions. They Both Die at the End reads like a John Green novel if John Green novels were slow and boring, and One of Us is Lying is a cringe-worthy, cliche, poorly written knock-off of one of the best movies that came out of the 80s, The Breakfast Club. However, no Booktok book evokes a stronger feeling of anger out of me for its popularity than It Ends With Us. I’ve read fanfiction on Wattpad that I would classify as better literature. I’m no longer biting my tongue to keep myself from expressing the absolute let down reading this book was after having such high expectations for it. So if you are curious about my hot takes on Booktok’s most popular book, read on.
Warning: This review will contain spoilers, but if you are reading this article to decide for yourself whether to add the book to your amazon account, I will answer that for you right now: no. If you hold the same opinion for this book and want your thoughts validated, or if you are curious why there is hate circulating for this book amidst all the hype, then read on.
I enjoy everything I read or watch for the most part because I believe that some entertainment is meant to be consumed solely because it is entertaining, and don’t get me wrong, reading It Ends With Us was certainly an entertaining experience. Despite there being plenty of moments throughout the book where I viscerally cringed, I read most of the book in one sitting because I didn’t want to put it down for the sole reason that I was just tempted to keep reading along to see what happened. While I found Hoover’s writing mediocre at best, she gave some quotes that were gut-wrenching and thought provoking, yet I cannot remember a single one because all I think about when I remember It Ends With Us is how much it annoyed me.
I understand why It Ends With Us is popular, I do not understand why people think it is good. The problem I have with It Ends With Us, though, is that it is marketed as this absolutely remarkable, revolutionary young adult novel, when in reality it is filled with so many cringe-worthy plot-lines that it takes away from the very serious themes of the book. While Lily and Alyssa were a great representation of a meaningful female friendship, the fact that Alyssa willingly offered up her time to work for Lily for free out of pure boredom was so unrealistic for a story set in contemporary times that it irked me too much to really appreciate their friendship. While I thought of Atlas as a very lovable character and his and Lily’s love story very shippable, their past being narrated through letters she wrote to Ellen Degeneres was such a weird and unnecessary addition to the storyline that I was laughing more at the fact that that was the medium Hoover chose to tell their story than crying over the fact that Atlas’ and Lily’s relationship was so heart-wrenching.
I am angry at Tiktok’s algorithm for recommending me this abominable book time and time again until I caved in and picked it up, but don’t let that dissuade you from picking your next book based on Booktok’s recommendations. There are plenty of popular booktok books that are 100% worth the hype, my personal favorites being A Court of Thorns and Roses, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, and Six of Crows. So if you just happened to be looking for another book recommendation, I recommend those three to start with. But no matter what, save yourself the time and energy and don’t pick up It Ends With Us.