Review – It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

People who are meant to be together find their way back. They may take a few detours, but they’re never lost.

There is something special about second-chance love that summons the soul. Soul mates who have always loved each other are granted another chance. Their hearts, cut in half from being apart, find their way back to each other and become whole again. Second-chance love stories call to me like a kindred spirit. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover was my kindred spirit too.

NAKED TRUTH: This second-chance romance immediately became my obsession…my heart…my soul…my drug…my kryptonite.

It Ends with Us is a heart-pounding tale of second-chance love that bleeds angst and burns the soul in a firestorm of feels that touches every part of you.

I wanted to wait…taking my time to soak up every powerful and poignant word of It Ends with Us. I wanted to rush…tearing through these pages as the adrenaline from this thrilling yet tender tale coursed through the story straight to me.

NAKED TRUTH: With my heart beating out of my chest with the extreme excitement of my first Colleen Hoover book, I dove in and barely surfaced for air, almost completely ignoring everyone and everything, until the end. I WAS ALL IN.

It Ends with Us quickly became my adrenaline…my ache…my addiction…MY EVERYTHING. The words pounded from the pages to my already-pounding heart as I FELT EVERY WORD I READ. This soul-searing story sucked me in like a hurricane, whirling me around in a merry-go-round of emotions that entangled around my heart and soul, never letting go.

NAKED TRUTH: I knew that It Ends with Us would be one of the most gripping and gut-wrenching stories I’ve ever read…and that it was. The intensity of this heart-wrenching story burned through me like fire…pulse-pounding and powerful.

“There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.”

Beautiful red-haired and blue-eyed Lily Bloom has seen utter devastation in her young life, but like a flower, she’s blossomed into a successful business woman. Lily bonds over grief one night with a handsome neurosurgeon, Ryle Kinkaid, who ignites a spark from the start. However, Lily doesn’t need nor have time for a relationship or any involvement with a man right now.

“I am a brave and bold businesswoman with zero f**ks to give for men in scrubs.”

Ryle is all alpha—assertive, cocky, and stubborn—traits Lily avoids in men as she never had a good example of a good man. She doesn’t want to be attracted to the gorgeous doctor because he’s a player who wants Lily for maybe just a night.

“Oh, I want you, Lily. Make no mistake about that. I just don’t want to want you.”

Ryle wants Lily but doesn’t do relationships. Lily is trying to focus on her new business and doesn’t do one-night stands or flings so it’s best to get Ryle out of her head before he creeps into her heart. It’s hard to ignore Ryle when Lily keeps bumping into him. Add that to the undeniable chemistry that surrounds them, and Lily is putty in Ryle’s surgical-wielding hands.

“When I’m with you, I feel like I get to have my cake and eat it, too.”

Oh did Doctor McDreamy make me swoon with his sweet words to Lily. A new relationship develops between Ryle and Lily on shaky ground, one that formed fast where they are wading into new territory. The deeper Lily and Ryle’s relationship gets, the more Lily’s thoughts surface back to the past to her first love, Atlas Corrigan, the man who owned half of her heart since they were teens.

“How do you tell your brand-new boyfriend that you’re trying to avoid your first love?”

When Lily’s first love collides with her current love, past to present, the relationship waters get murky. Atlas has always been her kindred spirt and protector. Their teenage love story was supposed to last forever but abruptly ended, leaving two broken hearts along the way, perhaps three if you count mine.

“In the future . . . if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again . . . fall in love with me.” He presses his lips against my forehead. “You’re still my favorite person, Lily. Always will be.”

Oh how did my heart race for Atlas! This beautiful man make me swoon and melt to mush. Atlas is pure perfection with a heart of pure gold. I loved this hero so much! I was owned by Atlas. I was owned by It Ends with Us.

“Heaviness follows and it presses down on every part of me. So much gravity, pushing down on my emotions. Everything shatters. My tears, my heart, my laughter, my soul. Shattered like broken glass, raining down around me.”

Chills ran through me. My breaths were bated. My pulse raced. My heart quickly broke as tragedy struck…again and again. Tears streamed down my face as waves of despair crashed through Lily, crashing through me.

“Five minutes. That’s all it takes to completely destroy a person.”

I was shocked….gutted…destroyed.

“It stops here. With me and you. It ends with us.”

NAKED TRUTH: I began and ended this story in tears.

NAKED TRUTH: It Ends with Us is one of the most profound books I’ve ever read, one that danced itself into me deeply, straight to my soul, where I felt naked inside.

This story is so personal that it felt like an invasion upon reading. Deep. Dynamic. Devastatingly beautiful. It Ends with Us connected to me from the start, one that tore at my heart. I was rendered powerless to this story’s power, its force, which awakened everything inside of me: body…mind…heart…soul.

NAKED TRUTH: I regret sitting on Colleen Hoover’s books and hoarding them for so long…I’m embarrassed that I did not jump on all this CoHo book bliss sooner.

I finally met a Colleen Hoover book and oh what a roller coaster of a romance it was! My soul was slayed and my heart was hit hard…one hurricane of feels and a soul storm that won’t leave me! I FELL FAST. I FELL HARD. I FELL IN LOVE WITH EVERYTHING IN IT ENDS WITH US.

I don’t know why I waited so long to meet Colleen Hoover’s wonderful writing, but I was a fool to procrastinate. This author is one of my new favorites: those who write from the heart where their hearts are poured into those beautiful and brilliant words. You live and breathe these authors’ stories where you can feel their hearts imprinted all over their wondrous words.

It Ends with Us is not simply a broken and beautiful romance; it’s a story about LIFE AND LIVING. It’s a story of STRENGTH and SURVIVAL. It’s about taking that LEAP OF FAITH and FOLLOWING YOUR HEART. I quickly learned that EVERY WORD MATTERS that Colleen Hoover writes, those words that instantly come to life…so meaningful, mesmerizing, and magnificent.

Those devastatingly beautiful books that authors pen like paint to a canvas, so vivid and valuable…THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT STEAL MY SOUL AND OWN ME FOR LIFE. Colleen Hoover is one of those writers who pour their hearts and souls into their stories that tear at the reader’s heart and soul, these stories that break you, bind you, and brandish themselves to you in a bath of beauty where you’ll remember them forever.

NAKED TRUTH: It Ends with Us is one of my top romance reads of 2016 and ever.

It Ends with Us is heart, heartbreak, hope, and happiness in a story with a huge hit that you won’t see coming. This book?!? THIS BOOK WILL BREAK YOUR HEART IN THE BEST WAY! OH DID I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH!

NAKED TRUTH: It Ends with Us stole a piece of my soul that will remain stuck in this story forever.

“All humans make mistakes. What determines a person’s character aren’t the mistakes we make. It’s how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses.”

★★★★★ ‘but worth 10’ broken and beautiful ‘naked truth’ stars

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Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. Combining a captivating romance with a cast of all-too-human characters, It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.