It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover Series: It Ends With Us #2
Published by Atria Books on October 18, 2022
Pages: 332
Genres: Romance
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Before It Ends with Us, it started with Atlas. Colleen Hoover tells fan favorite Atlas’s side of the story and shares what comes next in this long-anticipated sequel to the “glorious and touching” (USA TODAY) #1 New York Times bestseller It Ends with Us.
Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.
But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.
Switching between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas, It Starts with Us picks up right where the epilogue for the “gripping, pulse-pounding” (Sarah Pekkanen, author of Perfect Neighbors) bestselling phenomenon It Ends with Us left off. Revealing more about Atlas’s past and following Lily as she embraces a second chance at true love while navigating a jealous ex-husband, it proves that “no one delivers an emotional read like Colleen Hoover” (Anna Todd, New York Times bestselling author).
It Starts With Us is Colleen Hoover’s love letter to fans of her wildly popular book, It Ends With Us. She heard the cries of readers who begged to know all the details of Lily and Atlas’s happily ever after, and she answered their calls for a follow-up in spectacular fashion. It Starts With Us picks up immediately after the end of the previous book, and the mood is so much lighter.
We see Lily struggle to pursue her own happiness while taking Ryle’s feelings and sometimes volatile moods into consideration. Even with those challenges, Lily is stronger than ever, and I think it’s wonderful that she is able to create boundaries while maintaining compassion. I loved seeing Lily as a mom.
It was so insightful to finally get Atlas’s point of view. His unconditional love for Lily, and his limitless patience and understanding made me admire him even more.
Ryle’s complexity is one of the things that drew me to him in the last book. It’s a shame that Ryle is painted with just one color in this story and exhibits little character growth. Lily and Atlas are magic together, though, so it’s difficult to be too disappointed. This epilogue to It Ends With Us is another CoHo must-read.
Recommended for fans of:
Second chance romance
Survivors
Chefs
About Colleen Hoover
Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty two novels and novellas. Hoover’s novels fall into the New Adult and Young Adult contemporary romance categories, as well as psychological thriller.
Colleen Hoover is published by Montlake Romance and Atria Books. Colleen also has several indie titles, including her psychological thriller, Verity.
In 2015, Colleen’s novel CONFESS won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance. That was followed up in 2016 with her latest title, It Ends With Us, also winning the Choice Award for Best Romance. In 2017, her title WITHOUT MERIT won best romance.
Her novel CONFESS has been filmed as a series by Awestruck and is available on Prime Video via Amazon and iTunes. Katie Leclerc and Ryan Cooper star in the series.
Colleen founded The Bookworm Box, a charity subscription service and bookstore, with her family in 2015. The Bookworm Box is a subscription service that provides readers with an exciting opportunity to receive signed novels in the mail each month from authors all over the world. All profits from the subscription service are donated to various charities each month. To date, The Bookworm Box has donated over $1,000,000 to help those in need.
Purchase books here.
I read your thoughts on Ryle, and I disagree. I’ll explain why. This wasn’t his redemption story. He WAS complex and had a magic that drew the reader to him, but I don’t think he deserved anything here. He was painted with one color because that’s the person he was to Lily, Atlas, and this story. He’s an abuser. Being charismatic and complex is what drew Lily to him. He’s not going to change his colors until he undergoes mental health and anger management counseling. That would be another story completely and not part of Lily and Atlas’ romance. I honest wish he had LESS impact on their romance. I was mad about so many of the things Lily let him get away with still. That’s just my opinion, though. I know Ryle has people divided. I guess maybe you’re also thinking of this as an epilogue to a women’s fiction book while I’m thinking of it as an entirely new romance novel.
Great review! I’m glad you enjoyed this one for the most part.
You raise some valid points. I agree that Lily let Ryle affect her too many times. I was just disappointed that he hadn’t grown much by the end. Didn’t he wind up taking anger management classes? I guess I wanted to see some results at the end.
I think that was a condition at the end of this book for him to continue to see his daughter, after he lost it at the end.
I loved this book. It’s not as intense as It Ends With Us, but I liked the lighter tone too. Terrific review.