Review: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (audio)

Title:It Ends With Us

Author:Colleen Hoover

Narrator:Olivia Song

Published:August 2016, Simon & Schuster Audio / Atria Books

Length:11 hours 11 minutes / Paperback, 384 pages

Source:Personal copy via Audible / Publisher

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 awriter. 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.

My thoughts:

This is the first book I’ve read by Colleen Hoover and I really enjoyed it. I have another book sitting on my shelf by her that I just haven’t had time to read yet, but I can definitely say I will be making a priority to pick up her other books – especially if they are as good as this one! 

This is such a powerful, profound, emotional read…one that found me laughing, crying, getting angry, getting sad – you name the emotion and I probably felt it! I haven’t gone through such a range of emotions while reading one book in such a long time and yet this book made me do just that…and then some. This is a story about true loveand having the strength to make tough decisions in what seem like impossible situations.

I loved the characters in this story. Lily, in particular, might go down as one of my favorite characters ever. She is such a strong character with incredible conviction and vulnerability. She’s the type of character that will make you think about yourself, realize things about yourself that you may not have thought about before.

This is not a light read by any means. This is a heavy, deep read, but such a great story. It will leave you thinking about so many different things and will stay with you long after you have finished the book. This book is a keeper and possibly even worth a reread in the future, just to savor the beauty of this story, for though it is an emotional, heavy read, it is a beautiful story! 

Audio thoughts:This is the first book I’ve listened to Olivia Song narrate and I thought she did a great job with it. This was a tough one to listen to at times, because it was so emotional, but I thought she handled it so well…she infused just the right amount of emotion when needed – sadness, happiness, anger – you name it and it came across as if it were a real conversation you and I were having. As heavy as this book got at times, this really was a great audio book and I did enjoy listening to it!