BEING quarantined for over two years compelled many to pay attention to their dust-plagued bookshelves and start reading to ease pandemic-induced anxieties and boredom, reviving people’s love for books.
Colleen Hover, an American bestselling author, became significantly prominent in this reading renaissance era.
Hoover, or CoHo as her fans Cohorts often call her, is a Texas-born romance and young adult fiction author. One of her most loved books is the 2016 novel It Ends With Us.
Goodreads’ most read
It Ends With Us was number one in Goodreads’ Top 60 list of most read books in the platform’s 2022 Reading Challenge. Nine other titles from her were included in the catalog.
The other Hoover novels in the Top 60 list are Verity (2018), Reminders of Him (2022), Ugly Love (2014), November 9 (2015), All Your Perfects (2018), It Starts with Us (2022), Regretting You (2019), Heart Bones (2020), and Layla (2020).
It Ends With Us in a glance
It Ends With Us’ plot circles on the newly-wed Boston-based couple Lily and Ryle, who both had traumatic childhood experiences.
While Lily grew up witnessing her father’s physical and sexual abuse on her mother, Ryle accidentally shot and killed his older brother when he was six.
Both haunted by their past, the main characters went into an immensely toxic relationship, with the male lead exhibiting violent acts against his wife. Despite the maltreatment, Lily stayed with Ryle.
This provides readers a perspective on how violations inside a marital relationship often blinds victims of their unhealthy situation.
It Ends With Us concluded with Lily divorcing Ryle, and them co-parenting their child.
Reviews of It Ends With Us
CoHo’s name is all over the internet for a variety of reasons. One is mainly because a substantial number of people are obsessed with her works.
In Goodreads, It Ends With Us has a rating of 4.35 and has 171,543 reviews.
Praise for the book
It garnered the following comments with five-star reviews:
“HOLY WOW! It Ends With Us is one of the most powerful books of 2016 and one of the most raw, honest, inspiring, and profoundly beautiful stories I’ve ever read.” — user Aestas Book Blog
“Phenomenal! This book will make you fall in love, rip your heart out and force you to reconsider your preconceived ideas about abuse. This is the most moving book that I’ve read in a LONG time. It was absolutely addicting, but so difficult at times. I don’t cry very often, but this one had me crying big, fat tears.” — user Candace
“I don’t think this book could have been written more perfectly. from the writing, the plot, to characters…nothing is fabricated. It is raw emotion and realistic.” — user Ayman
Criticism
While many praised Hoover’s intricate writing style, there are also several bookworms who found her novels disturbing.
“She made the conscious decision to pit romance and abuse against each other, packaged it with a pink cover, a synopsis free of any mention of abuse, and marketed it to impressionable young adults. However well intentioned this cathartic passion project was, its reception as a work of fiction is devout of nuance, the white knight message of It Ends With Us completely undercut by its blatant romanticism of abuse.” — user olivia
“It ends with us contains a lot of dark elements such as abuse, toxic relationships, and attempted rape… There’s absolutely no justification for abuse and why Lily continues to stay is beyond my comprehension.” — user vicky
“This is a dangerous book. This is a harmful representation of an abusive relationship. It is a particularly damaging message to send to girls and young women.” — user Madigan Likes to Read
Hoover’s explanation
The continuous cycle of abuse, rape, grooming, and toxic relationships in general have been a frequent element of Hoover’s novels.
Hoover explained in the book’s Author’s Note section that what she intended to do was make people understand what women like Lily had undergone to break the cycle of abuse.
But some critics say the novel gave the impression that extremely violent behaviors are forgivable.
It Ends With Us was originally published in August 2016. In 2021, Hoover’s work gained immense popularity because of the #BookTok community in TikTok. The contemporary romance novel sold 925,221 copies during the first half of 2022.
Hoover released the novel’s sequel It Starts With Us in October 2022.
Photo credit: Colleen Hoover Instagram
