Lily Bloom, grieving the death of her abusive father, meets Ryle Kincaid, a neurosurgeon, one night on a rooftop in Boston. The connection immediately became intimate in the short time they spent together.
After leaving the lone stranger that night, six months go by and Lily opens a flower shop in which Alyssa, a friendly girl who begins to work for Lily, has her brother come in one day. Ryle walks in the door and the rest is history.
Everything seems to be extremely happy at first glance. However, the story It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover entraps an abusive love at its unhealthy core. Lily undergoes tremendous turmoil while she reminisces on her history with her first love, Atlas, and while she reflects on her abusive childhood home becoming her real, present-day reality.
Hoover paints a beautiful picture of a young girl trying to deal with abuse in a romantic setting. Hoover’s writing skills absorbed me into Lily’s world and felt like I was experiencing her pain with her. It was hard to separate Lily’s life from my own for a few days.
Hoover has published 22 books and she is currently dominating the charts with 15 of them. Due to the popularity of It Ends With Us, her entire catalog grew making Hoover the #1 New York Times best-selling author.
This is one of my favorite books, and the accuracy of the details Hoover included in Lily’s back-and-forth decision-making made this book come to life.
However, with that said, I feel this book is overrated specifically due to the social media presence surrounding this book.
The popularity of the book began with TikTok beginning in 2021. “BookTok” brought the story of Lily Bloom to the surface of many readers. In the early months of 2022, every time I turned on the app I was faced with the pinkish-beige cover, covered with a picture of broken, purplish-pink flowers taking over my phone screen.
Everyone has raved about this book for months and months on end. I heard people’s opinions about it, the in-depth meanings behind symbols, and just straight-out spoilers from people primarily on social media. I practically knew the book before I picked it up only recently.
I felt like I didn’t need to read the book with these videos taking over the internet everywhere I looked. Despite everyone making the book seem unbelievably sensational, I felt that it really didn’t need my attention because I thought I knew everything I needed to know.
Despite having the control to avoid these social media discussions, it was almost impossible to consistently steer clear of spoilers. I would open TikTok and the first few videos on my feed would be about the current popular books of the season.
Halfway through these videos, I would realize that the creators of this content aren’t just rating their leisurely read, despite the title, they are reviewing it. Before I could swipe up to keep my mind rid of the plot, I would gain information that I shouldn’t have unless I read the story myself.
It wasn’t until a few weeks into moving to school that I picked up a copy at Barnes and Noble. I went home and I began to read it right away. I was excited because I honestly just wanted to read something; it had been a while.
When I tell you I read the book for two straight days, I’m not joking. The next morning I got up, grabbed the book, and read. I was hooked instantly.
Besides the occasional bathroom break and food and water to keep me alive, I read all day. I was just so invested in this book my mind completely lost touch with reality and I forgot about my night out with my friends. I was about five chapters from finishing and I didn’t want to put it down.
Spoiler alert, I did. Sadly.
I spent the whole night out wondering and pondering what Lily was going to do next, and see who she chooses. I finished the next morning. The best way to spend my weekend, I think.
Now, despite my absolute love for this book and Hoover’s craftsmanship behind it, I don’t feel like it deserved that much media attention for that long of a time. From the last few months of 2021 to the majority of 2022, It Ends with Us was on my feed no matter what.
If I have to be honest, with that much media coverage I was expecting something that was so phenomenally different. An idea so new and revolutionary, yet captivating and appealing to the younger demographic.
The book was definitely captivating and appealing, but it wasn’t an idea or something I haven’t heard before. And, I could definitely expect a story like this.
Personally, it felt like a typical young adult novel that has received a lot of attention because of how relatable the characters are.
The novel is a must-read, but the constant videos and reviews that pop up on social media might make this book seem like the next Gatsby. And that simply is not the case.
The writing and plot Hoover implements create a beautiful story, but the expectations I had going into reading It Ends with Us, were a lot higher than they should’ve been.