#Allyssa and Marshall

[lighthousepigeons]

Atlas, to Lily: Josh pissed me off today so I burnt his dinner to a crisp.

Josh: [swallowing every mouthful out of pure spite] Is there seconds?

[mywhispersofink]

It End With Us- A Heartfelt Review

Colleen Hoover's "It Ends with Us" is not merely a novel; it's an emotional journey that depicts love and strength. Through the eloquence of her prose and the depth of her characters, Hoover masterfully explores the intricacies of love, loss, and the resilience of a woman. At its core, "It Ends with Us" is a story about strength—strength to break free from the chains of the past and the strength to redefine one's own destiny. The protagonist, Lily Bloom, shows the journey of a woman through the vivid monologues and narrations. Hoover shows her courage through her journey of vulnerability and empowerment, leading to self-discovery.

The novel speaks about a very sensitive topic; domestic violence. I applaud the writer to depicting the reality of what a woman goes through in such situations. Hoover has mentioned how easy it is to speak about certain topics until you are in the situation, through Lily Bloom’s voice. As a woman, this novel resonated a lot to me, especially the emotional and mental dilemma a woman goes through when it comes to love. Through Lily’s eyes, we had the opportunity to witness the complexities of abusive relationships such as love bombing, denial and prejudice. Hoover has beautifully depicted these complexities by portraying the conflicting emotions, the justifications, and the silent cries for help. Hoover beautifully captures the extreme highs and devastating lows of romantic relationships, reminding us that love is not always a fairy tale but a journey fraught with obstacles and heartache. This piece by Hoover is raw and unflinching, forcing readers to confront uncomfortable truths about love and sacrifice.

I have to be honest that the first half of the book lacked mystery and plot, which is unlike Hoover's typical writing style. It was like reading a Wattpad story published by an amateur and I had to push myself to read the first 15 chapters, hoping for a twist to the story. Fortunately, Hoover didn't disappoint me at all! The first half of the book was the foundation Hoover built for the rest of the story. Hoover successfully set a base of Lily and Ryle's relationship through the first half of the story with all the dizzying love gestures and some steamy time shared between the couple. In my opinion, Hoover has successfully shown us all the high of the couples’ relationship through these scenes. If you think of it, Hoover has also shown the “red flags” of Ryle throughout the first half of the book but Lily overlooked them all, just like many women in love. As Lily grapples with her feelings for Ryle Kincaid and her unresolved past with Atlas Corrigan, we are reminded of the fragility of the human heart and the courage it takes to follow it.

The second half of the book on the other hand, was an emotional rollercoaster. It is heartbreaking to watch a woman in love be abused in the hands of love. What was even more devastating was the waves of emotions that flooded Lily as she went through the hardships. I genuinely loved every single character in this story as they were realistic and had unique sets of characteristics as well as stories to tell. The one character that stuck in my mind is Allyssa. Though she was a supporting character in this book, she had so much depth to her character. She was a supportive friend to Lily despite being bearing the pain of seeing her brother Ryle go through the consequences of his actions. She has a righteous character and Hoover has subtly shown her role in motherhood. There are a million hidden meanings behind each of the characters brought to us by Hoover. Allyssa showed the power of femininity through her support towards Lily and her yearning of motherhood in the beginning of the story. Marshall showed us the importance of being supportive to friends and family and embodies the type of man every woman wants. Atlas shows us that love is unconditional and Lily represents womanhood as whole.

All in all it is a realistic story that resonates with many women all around the world. As Lily's journey unfolds, we are reminded that sometimes, the hardest battles are the ones we fight within ourselves. Personally, I enjoyed every bits of this book and as a female, it asserts the strength I hold. “It End With Us” is not just a story of abuse but it is a story dedicated to womanhood and storms we brave through in the name of love. With its powerful message of hope and resilience, "It Ends with Us" is a book that will stay with you long after you've turned the final page.

Here are some of my favourite lines from It Ends With Us by Collen Hoover:

“Just because someone hurts you doesn't mean you can simply stop loving them. It's not a person's actions that hurt the most. It's the love. If there was no love attached to the action, the pain would be a little easier to bear.” Pg 218

“Fifteen seconds. That’s all it takes to completely change everything about a person. Fifteen.” Pg 186

“Lily, Atlas says just keep swimming. —Ellen DeGeneres” Pg 208

“Maybe love isn’t something that comes full circle. It just ebbs and flows, in and out, just like the people in our lives” Pg 217

“He pulls back to look down at me and when he sees my tears, he brings his hands up to my cheeks. “In the future… if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again… fall in love with me.” Pg 310

“I kiss her on the forehead and make her a promise. “It stops here. With me and you. It ends with us.” Pg 361

Link to the book review on GoodReads

[readingforsanity]

It Starts With Us | Colleen Hoover | Published 2022 | *SPOILERS*

Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil co-parenting 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 of It Ends With Us left off. Revealing more about Atlas’s past and follwoing 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. 

Told in the perspectives of both Lily and Atlas, we come to the conclusion of the first book, It Ends With Us. 

Lily has since divorced Ryle, and is learning to navigate her way through co-parenting and single motherhood. She has run into Atlas again, and they begin a whirlwind relationship with each other. 

Atlas learns that both of his restaurants are being vandalized by an unknown assailant, but he’s hesitant to press charges or make a police report as he isn’t sure who it is, and because anytime anything is taken it is usually in the form of food. Having been there himself, he doesn’t want to take away something like this from someone who may need help. After an unexpected phone call, and later, a visit with his mother who abandoned him when he was 17 years old, he learns that he has a younger brother named Josh. Now 12, he’s gone his entire existence thinking that Atlas had abandoned him. 

Atlas reconnects with Josh, and he saves him from a terrible life with Sutton like he had been accostomed too. It is a learning curve for both of them, but they make it work. 

Lily and Atlas have begun seeing each other fairly regularly. When Ryle finds out, he threatens Lily and makes her feel uncomfortable. She runs away to Atlas’ with Emerson, despite having reservations about the two of them seeing each other. Finally, Lily decides to ask Allyssa if she could be the buffer between the two of them while they discuss their custody agreement. 

Lily tells Ryle that she would like him to have supervised visits so long as Marshall or Allyssa are present, and that she would like him to attend AA meetings. Ryle and Atlas also have a discussion with Atlas’ hopes of Ryle seeing that the only reason that he and Lily’s relationship ended was because of Ryle. 

After the individual conversations he had with Atlas and with Lily, he comes to the conclusion that it is better for him to cooperate with Lily, as she is now fully prepared to take things to court if things aren’t played her way. Emerson is all she is worried about now. 

6 months later, Atlas has invited Lily to move in with him, and another 6 months later, he is going to ask Lily to marry him. 

Discussion Questions 

1. What do you think is the significance of Atlas’s family and Lily’s? Both Atlas and Lily came from very broken homes. Atlas’ mother was verbally abusive as well as physically, as was his stepfather, Tim, Josh’s dad. Lily’s father was abusive only to her mother, and never had hurt her other than one time where Lily tried to help her mother. Two people from broken families have found each other, and ultimately, saved each other. 

2. What parallels do you see between their families? Just as I mentioned above, they were both abusive. Maybe in different ways, but abusive all the same. 

3. Choices helped me to realize that sometimes the hardest decisions a part can make will most likely lead to the best outcomes. What hard decisions did Lily and Atlas have to make? Did anyone else in the story have to make hard decisions? Lily had to make a decision against Ryle in order to not only protect herself, but protect Emerson. Atlas had to stand up to his mom to protect the brother he didn’t know about. They both ended up doing the things that neither of them could do as children: stand up for the people they love. Allyssa also had to make a difficult decision to stand by Lily against her brother, something that not every sibling would be able to do. 

4. Do you think Lily made the right decision by not revealing the domestic abuse in her custody battle? If you were in Lily’s position, what would you have done? I’m not entirely sure it was the right decision. By revealing the abuse, she could have ended his career, and it was obvious his career meant a lot to him, and he worked very hard to get there. It’s also obvious why he chose to be a neurosurgeon after the discovery that he had accidentally shot his brother in the head and tried to put the pieces of his brain back into his head. But, it also created further issues for her in the long run until she finally stood her ground. 

5. In It Starts With Us, we see Ryle’s same anger issues, but not to the same level we saw in the first book. Do you believe him when he says he has changed? Not at all. He just wasn’t given the opportunities to do harm like he was in the first book. Now that his sister and brother-in-law, and likely his parents, know about what happened between them, he was less likely to cause her physical harm. 

6. Colleen Hoover said this novel would answer all your questions about Atlas. Do you understand Atlas better? What questions are you still left with? I do understand Atlas better. We see more deeply into his past than we did in the first book, as we finally are getting his perspective instead of just Lily’s. 

7. Do you feel sympathy for Ryle? In some aspects, yes, I did feel sympathy for him. Especially when he and Altas have their discussion with each other. But, he’s still a terrible person. 

8. But that’s the issue, Guess. We’re people. We’re human. And humans can sometimes be disappointing. While this novel is a love story, it also focuses on the love between family. Do you think Sutton will be a better mom for Josh? Absolutely not. When Atlas tells Sutton that he’d like to have custody of Josh, but that he’d very much like her to be involved, she only showed up to one of the family dinners Atlas said they’d be having, AND didn’t show up to any of his baseball games. Unfortunately it appears that Sutton isn’t going to be a mother to Josh at all. 

9. Do you think Ryle will ever be able to team up with Lily and Atlas to partivipate in efective and nurturing parenting team for Emerson? I think so. Lily understands that everything is still very new to him. A new man is in Emerson’s life, and it will take getting used too. But, I think once he is able to move forward from Lily, he’ll be able to see that Emerson is very loved no matter who she is around. 

10. Are you satisfied with the ending of Lily and Altas’s story? I am, yes, absolutely. 

11. Do you think It Ends With Us needed a sequel? While I was happy with the ending of the first book, I did enjoy learning more about the characters. 

[fionatufaha]

from my old booktwt

6:19 PM · Jan 15, 2022 i hope to get out of my reading slump soon >< i read just 3 books last year :( i know the way to get out of it is to just start reading but it’s been so long since i’ve finished a book that i’m finding the prospect of starting one so daunting TT i’m gonna get into one now, hopefully i actually finish it and don’t lose the motivation to read more books once i do

You Retweeted amanda @thecoolissue 60% of womanhood is just writing rubbish in a journal so you don't go insane 5:18 AM · Feb 2, 2022

IT ENDS WITH US

iirc, Colleen Hoover’s name showed up when I was looking for author recs on literature map. I decided to read this because I saw that people who liked The Love Hypothesis liked this book too, very excited :))11:27 PM · Feb 2, 2022

i’m done, that was heavy it’s a bit weird to me how fast allysa became lily’s best friend how come she didn’t have an inner circle before meeting these people? i know her roommate, lucy, was gone often but who else was in her life? plot device gay best friend devin? that’s it? i didn’t really feel the closeness between lily, allysa (i keep typing alyssa), and marshall. how’d she become besties with someone within like, i don’t know, a week? and start calling that person’s child her niece? we literally never see devin interacting with lily again after she invites him to allyssa’s party to make ryle a bit jealous he’s mentioned just twice after lily achieves her goal at the party and gets with ryle, but we never get more dialogue from him i do give colleen props for subverting my expectations and not making the first guy we see lily having a connection with her end love interest, there were red flags in the beginning and i didn’t believe they were serious until things got really bad. this should have been just 1 thread, i wrongly thought i reached the limit with the first one. this book was ok, i want my own atlas now. he’s not realistic either lmfao, but i want one. also, ryle kincaid is not a hot name, what was i thinking?

[whenyouknowyouknow]

Harry the Womanizer

 This thing started because I find the whole womanizer image of Harry absolutely disgusting and wanted people to see how utterly bad and wrong it was.

Please be aware that the following does not reflect Harry’s personality but it shows us the image their label wanted him to be seen as.

Some disclaimer about where the data comes from

written, digital coverage (no print,  1-2 videos, no radio)

google search “Harry Styles”, I looked through the first 20 hits each month but didn’t read all of them ( headlines usually are a dead giveaway if an article contains a new “conquest”)

I did not list every woman that was mentioned in the same article as Harry. Also not those that showed interest in him. But most of those that were said he showed interest in (I might have skipped a few in the worst years just bc it was so freaking disgusting)

Often articles contained offhand comments about his pulling power or unrelatedly recounting his latest conquests in any given article to enforce the womanizer image. These did not make it into the list.

Deleted articles are of course not included (as of Aug 2020)

Some of the women turn up again for a round 2 (or 3 or 4), I only mention them once a year tho

I put the women into the list on the date the news coverage happened/started because many articles date back things by saying  “pics have circulated since…” “They have been reportedly seen together since…” or simply tell a story that supposedly happened a few years prior

Some dates overlap. Thats either bc they pushed several woman at once (very effective to drive the whole womanizer image home) or its bc one woman was seeded in while the other was happening.

Because this is a freaking long post, I’ll put it under the “read more”

About the list

split by years

each year has Harrys age for that given year in brackets

each data set has in brackets the age, occupation and date of news coverage for the woman (if available)

winter gf get their own category as they sometimes overlap with other woman

Some of the woman get brought back up (not just mentioned in passing), those are listed at the end of each year with the dates when they where brought back up

“again” is for those who dated him again

Women linked to Harry

2010 (16)

5(?) girls from bootcamp

Cher Loyd (17, txf fellow contestant, Oct)

unnamed girl fan (13.11.)

2011 (17)

Adele (23, singer, 27.09.)

Sarita Borge (record executive, 29.11.)

2011-2012

Caroline Flack (31, txf, 23.10.-27.01.)

2012 (18)

Pixie Geldoff (21, 09.02.)

Alexa Chung (28, model, 16.02)

Alexandra Burke (23, txf, 20.02.)

Jo Wood (56, ex of Ronny Wood 21.02.)

Denise Welch (54, actress, 21.02.)

Georgia May Jagger (20, Mick Jagger daughter, 21.02.)

Sarah-Louise Colivet (24, photographer, 11.04.)

Lily Halpern (19, singer, 11.04.)

Jillian Harris (32, reality TV star, 13.04.)

Emma Ostilly (18, actor for Gotta be You MV -  22.04.) 

Ellis Calcutt (18(?), friend, deniedm, 30.04.)

Emily Atack (22, TV star, 20.05.)

unnamed girl (Article about her one night stand with H, 06.06.)

Lucy Horobin (32, radio presenter, 24.06., dated back to Aug-Oct 2011)

Caggie Dunlop (23, TV star, 12.07.)

Allyssa Reid (19, singer, 23.07.)

Blond girl with pink bag (from a night out, 26.07.)

Cara Delevingne (19, Model, 05.08.)

Natalie Imbruglia (37, singer actress 28.09.)

 2012-13

Taylor Swift (22 singer 19.10.-07.01. (fling dated back to April 2012 then getting back together)

2013 (19)

Hermione Way (27, reality star, 08.01.)

Millie Brady (18, actress, 24.02.)

Shaniece Nesbitt (fan, 11.03.)

Yvette Fielding (44, TV presenter, 11.03.)

Fia Litton (niece of Preston Mahon (security), 14.03)

Chelsea Ferguson (25, stripper, 14.04)

Kimberly Stewart (33, confirmed by Rod, 27.04.)

Camilla Foss (18, fan in oslo, 09.05.)

Kara Rose Marshall (22, model, 03.07.)

Alexis Allen (19, fan, 21.07.)

Cara Delevingne (20, model, 11.09.)

Paige Reifler (17, model, 30.09.)

Sjana Earp (18, model, 25.10.)

Samantha Armytage (36, TV presenter, 27.10.)

Daisy Lowe (24, model, 01.12.)

Caroline Flack (brought back up, 01.02./11.09.)

2013-14

Kendall Jenner (17, model, 21.10. - 23.02)

2014 (20)

mystery brunette (20.01.)

Alison Mosshart (35, singer, 07.03.)

Daisy Lowe (25, model, 11.04.)

Larissa de Macedo Machado (21, brazilian popstar, 08.05.)

Lou Teasdale (30, hairdresser, 26.05.)

Sinitta (45, Smons ex, 22.07.)

Paige Reifler (18, again, model, 25.07.)

Meghan Trainor (20, singer, 27.08.)

blond woman (at Coldplay concert, 18.09.)

Katy Perry (29, singer, 01.10.)

Erin Foster (31, 08.10.)

Kate Moss (40, model, 03.11.)

two blond woman (leaving a club in LA with H, 30.11.)

Taylor Swift (brought back up, 12.02./02.03./20.08./14.10./04.12.)

Emily Atack (brought back up, 23.03.)

Caroline Flack (brought back up, 26.03.)

2014-15

Nadine Leopold (20, model, 20.12.- 12.03.)

2015 (21)

Emma Watson (24, actress, 14.01. dated back to 26.12.14)

Suki Waterhouse (23, actress, 05.04.)

Joy Muggli (23, talent agent, 12.05.)

Sara Sampaio (23, model, 15.06.)

Georgia Fowler (22, model, inspiration for Kiwi, 15.10.)

Nicole Scherzinger (34, singer, 17.10., dated back to 2013)

Taylor Swift (brought back up, 15.01./13.02./10.03./08.05./13.10./28.10.)

Caroline Flack (brought back up, 24.05./11.10.)

2015-16

Kendall Jenner (again, 30.12.- 31.01.)

2016 (22)

Pandora Lennard (28, model 31.01.)

Lindsay Lohan (30, actress, 10.03., dated back unspecified)

Kendall Jenner (again, 05.09.)

Kara Rose Marshall (brought back up, 07.10.)

Suki Waterhouse (again + dated back to 2013, 11.11.)

Taylor Swift (brought back up, 01.02.)

2017 (23)

Tess Ward (26, food blogger, 09.05.)

Townes Adair Jones (20s, 17.05., dated back to 2014)

Camille Rowe (31, model, 31.07.)

Sjana Earp (22, again, 05.12.)

Taylor Swift (brought back up, 18.04./12.05./03.09./09.11.)

Kendall Jenner (brought back up, 31.01.)

2018 (24)

Delta Goodrem (33, voice coach, 27.04.) 

Camille Rowe (ends 31.07.)

Kendall Jenner (brought back up, 15.07./12.12.)

Taylor Swift (brought back up, 21.03./)

2019 (25)

Kiko Mizuhara (28, denied by K, 12.01.)

Camille Rowe (brought back up, 22.11.)

Kendall Jenner (brought back up, 11.12.)

Taylor Swift (brought back up, 23.08./04.11./13.12.)

2020 (26)

Daisy Lowe (brought back up, 20.06.)

Taylor Swift (brought back up, 02.03./24.07.)

data from here on is not included in the graphs, I will keep adding when things happen

Tracee Ellis Ross (48, actress, 28.10.)

The age differences

The graph shows clearly how

the age gaps are very big in the beginning, likely to attract an older audience in addition to the usual target audience of teenage girls

the amount of woman linked to Harry gets smaller each year because in later years, articles could just reference his history with woman

the amount of woman linked and mentioned in regards to Harry gets significantly lower after hiatus started

A rough timeline of women that where connected to Harry over the years

Why give Harry the womanizer image?

Would the image of a womanizer not damage the image of 1D?

If they’d portrait him as a sleeze it would have surely damaged the overal image of 1D. But Harrys image portrait him as charming, a bit quirky and overall an airhead that likes people and doesn’t want to be tied down. Thus giving the illusion of being potentially available to every woman and showing them a good, no strings attached, time. Which is a massive selling point for boybands to increase the age range of their fans.

In addition, all his conquests would be used to stir up drama or simply generate attention at crucial times to get 1D in the press without mentioning their current promo focus in every headline.

The winter girlfriends had a special role as they were the only ones actively worked as continuous dating. To build some attachment, have a continuous storyline that could be tied to the just released album and bridge the holiday pause, and when the relationship ended generate more drama to be used for promo.

Harry did keep on using his womanizer image to promote both his solo albums but in a very controlled manner. The numbers of new woman linked to him declined to 1 in 2019, for now we are at 0 (1) in 2020

HS promo used 3 woman as inspirations for songs (Towns, Fowler, Swift) and a tour gf (Rowe)

FL promo only uses the previous tour gf as now ex to push the storyline of a breakup album

He is very visibly changing his image while still maintaining a level of connection to his old image. Whether that's due to contractual restrictions or a strategy to not alienate to many fans is unclear

Jeff Azoff

For what I’ve seen Jeff and Harry seem close (the Azoff family having him on family pictures, posted by Jeff’s brother)

Looking at the timeline of Jeff and Harry

2014-03-25 first mention of Harry at Azoff family home in an article about Irvin

2014-04-23 first pics of Harry and Jeff at a sports event (Jeff named as a friend, no name or position yet)

2014-12-22 Jeff not named yet but identified as his agent

2015-01-10 first time Jeff being named and being the link between Harry and a woman

2016-03-07 Jeff leaves CAA as a music agent and launches his own company Full Stop Management

2016-03-11 Harry confirmed to have joined Full Stop Management

Jeff likely took over as Harry’s agent in early 2014. In 2015 Harry’s image change starts to become aparent and changed drastically after hiatus.

Harry choosing Jeffs management firm as soon as he left Modest is a clear indication that he feels Jeff will represent him how he wants

The Timeline - Women connected to Harry and Promo

I started the visual timeline in end 2011 when his womanizer image started to take off

The instances before where likely used as seeding for this image (first instance was a segment in txf where he was linked to 5 of the girl contestants and funny enough one older guy)

purple - women from the entertainment industry

pink - fans/no-names

lilac - winter gf

dark burgundy - thos who date him again

dusky pink - brought back up

light blue - single release

royal blue - album release

mid blue - other releases

dark turquoise - tour legs

Adendum: a few numbers analyzed,

[readingforsanity]

It Ends With Us | Colleen Hoover | Published 2016 | *SPOILERS*

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

Lily hadn’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 college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. 

So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kindcaid, 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. 

After the death of her father and delivering the eulogy she didn’t want to do, Lily Bloom finds herself on the rooftop of an apartment building overlooking the Boston Harbor. She’s relishing in the quiet when it is disturbed by a man who begins beating up a lounge chair placed on the rooftop, and eventually Lily makes her presence known. She is introduced to Ryle Kincaid, a young neurosurgeon resident just finishing his last year at Mass General Hospital. 

They spend time together, sharing truths with each other until Ryle is pulled away back to the hospital. Lily leaves and goes back to her own apartment building. 

6 months later, Lily has left her job at a reputable marketing firm and bought a storefront that will eventually become her floral shop, which she said was one of her naked truths to Ryle so many months ago. Her mother has since moved to Boston as well, and Allyssa walks in looking for work. Allyssa is a bored housewife, and tells Lily that she will help clean out the store and decorate it for the opening as she too loves flowers. 

They get to work, and it isn’t until Lily rolls her ankle trying to move some crates that she realizes who Allyssa is: she is Ryle’s sister. She calls her husband Marshall and Ryle over to the store to assist Lily. Lily is shocked to run into Ryle again, and finds herself still overwhelmed by his presence like she was that first night. Her ankle is only sprained, and she’s told by Ryle to stay off of it for a week. Allyssa promises to continue working in the shop while she rests. 

When Lily returns to the shop after a week, she is shocked to see how much of shop has been changed by Allyssa, but in a good way. Together, they work hard for their soft opening and eventual grand opening. When Lily attends Allyssa’s birthday party one Friday night, Ryle tells her that he is unable to stop thinking about her, and while he was never the relationship type before, he’s willing to give it a trial run with Lily. Lily accepts, and embarks in a whirlwind romance with Ryle. 

Out to dinner with her mother at a new restaurant, she introduces Ryle to Jenny, and is given the shock of her life: Atlas Corrigan, the young homeless boy she helped when she was 16 years old and whom she had spent a whirlwind 6 months with before he left for Boston, is their server. They immediately recognize each other, but Atlas doesn’t make it known that he knows her. Lily excuses herself to the restroom where she and Atlas have a small reunion in the hallway. They part ways, and Lily returns back to the table. 

Lily realizes that she’s happy with Ryle, and their romance continues. When her roommate becomes engaged and is going to be moving out, Lily is thrilled at the thought of Ryle being able to come over whenever they want without interruptions. 

One of those first nights together, Ryle makes his first mistake: after drinking some vintage wine, and cooking, Ryle goes to take their ruined casserole dish from the oven without the help of pot holders and scalds his hands. Lily takes the situation lightly even though Ryle had just told her that he was assisting on an important surgery on Monday, and his hands are his career. He becomes angry and knocks her down. Lily is shocked. Is she really in a relationship reminsicent of her parents? Her mother never stood up for herself against her abusive father, and she swore she would never be the same. 

Ryle is sincerely apologetic, and tells her that she simply reacted because she was laughing, and he had hurt his hand that could harm his career. Lily chooses to forgive him, wanting to believe that he is nothing like her father and this was a one off situation. 

But it isn’t. The second time it happens, they’re not married and living in the apartment and Ryle finds Atlas’ number on a piece of paper behind her phone case, which he placed there in the event that she needs to call him. Lily tries to explain, but Ryle takes off running down the stairs, and Lily follows him. The next thing she knows, she is coming too back in their bedroom and Ryle is telling her that she fell down the stairs, but she knows this isn’t the case. 

It’s now that we learn what has stemmed Ryle’s anger. When he was younger, he found a loaded gun and accidentally shot his older brother, Emerson, and he was killed. It has destroyed him, and he has spent a lot of time in therapy, but despite this, when he gets angry sometimes, he blacks out and doesn’t realize what he is capable of. Lily doesn’t forgive him for what he did but she has a better understanding. 

The next day, Allyssa has her meet them at her apartment, but only to find out that Ryle has purchased an apartment on the 7th floor of the building. Over a few days, they move in until Allyssa goes into labor. Ryle and Lily are both excited to meet their niece, whom Allyssa names Rylee after her brother. When they return home, Ryle once again becomes a different person, and this time, takes things too far. 

Lily escapes, and calls Atlas, and he comes to help her. She finds out at the hospital that she is pregnant, and she finds herself in a situation she never thought she would be involved in. This begins an internal battle of what to do, and how to handle it. She stays with Atlas for a few days, and finally returns home after Ryle leaves for England to begin a three month course. 

Over time, Allyssa is told about what happened, and tells Lily that as her best friend, she’s telling her to leave Ryle. When he returns suddenly from England, he finds out that Lily is pregnant, and wants to be involved but Lily isn’t ready to allow him back. Over her pregnancy though, she allows him to stay with her while she is close to labor, and together, they welcome a daughter they name Emerson into the world. Lily realizes that she needs to end the cycle of abuse. While her father never harmed her, she wasn’t sure that Ryle wasn’t capable of doing the same thing, and asks him for a divorce. 

11 months later, Lily is on her way to take Emerson to her day with Ryle, and she runs into Atlas again. They speak for a few minutes, and she drops Emerson off with her dad. She returns to Atlas, and a new love story begins at the end. 

Disucssion Questions 

1. Lily Bloom gave an uncomplimentary eulogy for her abusive father. Was Lily right to give the kind of eulogy she did? What might have you done - what kind of eulogy might to have given had you been in Lily’s shoes? Or perhaps you have been in her shoes. I think her eulogy was brilliant. Her father was absuive, and while not toward her and nobody knew it in their hometown in Maine, she and her mother knew, and she did what she thought was right. She spent years terrified of the one man who shouldn’t have been terrified of, and she felt this was the proper send off for him. 

2. Why is Lily hesitant at first to become involved with Ryle? Is it his name: is it just too damn perfect to be true? Or is there something else that makes her hold back initially? Lily wasn’t looking for a relationship and neither was Ryle. They didn’t know each other, and even Allyssa was hesitant for the two of them to get involved. Ryle also made it clear that he wasn’t the relationship type, and Lily isn’t the “one-night stand” type. She felt they were doomed before they even began. 

3. Talk about Atlas and Lily’s young relationship. What drew them together? What happens when they reconnect in Boston? Atlas and Lily were two children from broken homes who came together to help each other. Lily helped Atlas with his homelessness under her own roof without her parents knowing. It was unspoken at first, but their love slowly grew over a short period of time. Atlas and Lily remember the love they had, Atlas never having forgotten, when the reconnect in Boston. 

4. Why does Lily agree to marry Ryle after having rediscovered Atlas...and especially after witnessing Ryle’s displays of anger? Is her decision understandable? What would you have advised had she asked you? Lily wanted to believe the best in Ryle. At this point, it had only happened once, and he was very apologetic. She kept telling herself that he wasn’t like her father. Lily loves Ryle, and it’s clear that he loves her too. I probably would have told her to go ahead and marry him, given that she wasn’t forthcoming with what was going on. 

5. No spoiler here: In the end, does Lily make the right decision? What did you want to have happened? What would you have done? Or, again, if you have been in Lily’s shoes, what choices did you make? Lily absolutely makes the right decision. Ryle always jumped to conclusions, and didn’t really trust her. She felt that she was holding on to Atlas, which she was, but that’s because he was her first love and they went through a lot with each other. They were connected in a way not many people would understand. She did what she had to do to protect her child. 

6. How did learning about Hoover’s own family histroy affect your reading of her novel? I never did learn about his family history, as I didn’t read the acknowledgements or the Notes from the Author portion of the book. 

7. What message have you taken away from this book? Does Hoover overly humanize Ryle, make him too attractive? Or does she give him voice and depth so that we come to understand him? I don’t think she humanized him. Anyone can be abusive, even attractive successful doctors. It had nothing to do with how he looked. She did try to get the author to sympathize with him, see his side, but this is difficult to do significantly after the last bout of abuse Lily endured. He took things too far, and Lily finally wakes up and you cheer for her. 

8. What does the title mean? Lily says It Ends With Us at the end of the book when telling Emerson that the abuse they endured at the hands of her husband would be ending with them, as she would never allow herself or Emerson to go through what her mother went through, and what she went through. They were ending the cycle of abuse right then and there. 

This book took some time to catch my interest, but I’m glad I read it. I’m on the fence about CoHo has an author, but I did enjoy this book. I gave it 4/5 stars. Ryle is reminiscent of Christian Grey, until you begin to hate him. 

Questions provided by LitLovers.com