Ok so Verity was my first Colleen Hoover read, and I thought it was half decent. I promptly put It Ends With Us on hold because I was like "Maybe she is misunderstood as an author" and "I need to read it if I wanna watch the movie" (I love Blake Lively and immediately wanted to watch it when I heard she'd star) I've seen Colleen Hoover love and I've seen Colleen Hoover hate, so I wanted to see it for myself.

I will say that this book drew me in, despite the lack of literary merit. Hoover is an author of almost pure shock-factor writing, making the reader feel the taboo and edge-of-your-seat plot events. The thing is, that's not a great way to go about writing a book about domestic abuse. It definitely gives off the impression that she "romanticizes" violence and abuse, which is one of the main criticisms of her work that I have come across. This book is clearly supposed to be about the nuance of an abusive relationship and describe the difficulty of coming to the (eventual) inspiring decision to end it. It's supposed to be a book about breaking the cycle. But... Hoover leans so hard into the "it's possible to still love your abuser" that her female lead is depicted as immensely dumb, which is exactly what she's trying to prove wrong. If she had included really anything loveable or decent about Ryle, maybe it would make the relationship more believable and give Lily a reason to stay beyond her attraction to him and a marriage certificate. I really think that Hoover wants this story to seem like it could happen to anyone, but there's literally NOTHING good about Ryle (I can't even take his name seriously) from the very start! He's a total fuckboy that deals with strong emotions violently, and that's the very first thing he straight up tells her to her face upon meeting her! The only good thing about him she can come up with on a consistent basis is how good Ryle looks in scrubs (rolling my eyes)
When it comes to Atlas, the marginally better love prospect (who I believe the sequel is about?), I am also just disappointed. An 18yo coming onto a 15yo, even if they feel real love, is not ok. Hoover also describes his character having violent tendencies multiple times, only aimed at protecting or avenging Lily rather than hurting her. This is scary because it's a lotttt more realistic to how abusive relationships start than Lily and Ryle's. To "not see it coming" (you see it coming miles away with Ryle, covered in red flags) it usually starts as violence for the partner, so that it can be disguised as caring too much or being too passionate.

This is already a long review but I'm gonna include my bookmarks and comments at stages of the audiobook because I think it's interesting lol

0:42
I HATE THIS GUY

A few minutes later...
It's not cool to pressure people into sex, even if the sex doesn't end up happening. Being turned on is not consent. Also, why is she obsessed with scrubs??

2:20
WHAT NO
NOT the stereotypical gay BFF??
It's not ok to just touch people's boob's even if you are not attracted to them!!
* this friend never shows up again and I am concerned that this character and Ellen are the main gay influences in the book bc why did u need to include that tidbit? Do u actually think this is how ppl behave

2:37
You're telling me a whole room of people just saw Ryle carrying a protesting, slightly intoxicated girl into his bedroom, and did nothing? Is this supposed to be cute?

3:04
And I quote "When he was wiping that cow shit on me, it was quite possibly the most turned on I've ever been"
...no comment. This speaks for itself.

3:40
LOVE BOMBING 101
lol @ her thinking it's her incredible charms

5:05ish
"When I'm with you I feel like I can have my cake and eat it too"
Ewww if someone tells you that they like being with you because it's easy, RUN. He has never changed his narrative on not wanting a relationship and this is further proof that he wants her around for sex and nothing more, just like he said at the very beginning of the book.
Also ewww to the stethoscope play-- how is that sexy?

6:42
Wait they actually got married? Why?
He has expressed his wishes to not marry several times and she just gave him a warning that she'd leave if he hurt her again. How are they in a good place for a spontaneous Vegas wedding? I'm confused

7:08
But how would past trauma excuse his behavior? What? If anything this shows that the pattern is extended from something that should have turned him OFF violence like why is this his response?

7:17
I CANNOT with this girl
"I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen, so that I would know his past and we'd be able to work on it together" but promptly admits that she is scared of him

7:46
I feel nauseated listening to this, it's disgusting, I hate this whole interaction and want to leave

7:51
DID HE JUST BITE A CHUNK OUT OF HWR

7:53
Nononononononononono


After that I gave up on bookmarks lol

Anyway all this to say: there is sooo much wrong with this book and not a lot to warrant praise. With Verity it was easy to say "it's not romance it's horror/thriller so of course it's got problematic themes." Most horror does lol. But this one is clearly supposed to expore a tough subject in a gentle light, and really just misses the mark on that. It definitely could be a lot worse, and I can't say whether or not it's accurate to the experience since I have not been in a physically abusive home or relationship. At the end of the book, Hoover tells the readers that her father was abusive to her mother. Her mother left him and remarried, and Hoover wanted to write about a similar story of a mother leaving an abusive marriage for the sake of her daughter. It can be hard to write about something that close to home, and I want to have grace for her especially since the details she included may be inspired by her own mom. But that doesn't mean that the book was any better. Even if you ignore the problematic stuff it's honestly just not that good of a story. It is face value in that the main plot points are extremely simple and predictable. The characters are pretty flat and there isn't much if any growth throughout the book. The main informational technique used is a journal being read by the main character (same as in Verity, I don't know if this is true of her other books as well) and the supporting characters are there but don't interact (npcs). As I said earlier, Hoover relies on shock factor to draw the reader in, which isn't bad but doesn't do anything for depth in the post-reading absorption. She also includes pretty unrealistically intense sex scenes-- might be a positive for some people but isn't my thing, and felt very unsexy in this one.
Last but not least can we also talk about the fact that Ellen Degeneras is Lily's inspiration and idol and the person she addresses her journal entries to? Of all the people to choose LOL let's pick the famous person known for being super mean, degrading, and just terrible in general. I'm not sure when all the stuff about Ellen fully came into light (before or after the publication of this book?) but she's never been likeable so I feel like it's telling that she's the hero that got picked

Note: 2.0 is so far the lowest I have rated a book because of all that goes into writing a book. I consider myself a fair but generous rater and haven't come across any books yet that I truly think make the world a worse place just by existing, which is what I would need to rate a book a 1☆
I don't think this is a good book but I can guess that if I'd read Mein Kompf I would want to be able to rate it lower than this so that is why it still gets 2☆