If you’ve been on any social media platform in the past year, you’ve probably heard of the book “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover. I read this book during my senior year of high school and it genuinely might be one of my favorite books I’ve ever read.

It Ends With Us tells the story of a young woman named Lily Bloom. Lily is an outspoken, caring young woman who is just trying to get through life. The book begins with Lily meeting a very angry Ryle one night as they both contemplate life on the roof of a parking garage. From there, the two meet again and again until they become friends and eventually even start to date. Now, this is where our story gets a little different than most YA books. We slowly start to sense that something isn’t quite right with Ryle. The way he reacts to things is usually out of proportion and he makes comments that are off putting. Colleen doesn’t just sweep these aspects under the rug or write them off as him “caring”. She has lily acknowledge these things and even call Ryle out at some points. The two work things our, and even decide to get married. But it is far from happily ever after, as the book goes on, we see Ryle for what he truly is, an abuser. Going so far as to Push lily down the stares and then lie to her when she regains consciousness, telling her that she tripped. More and more events like this happen and we watch as lily goe through it all. This is all happening while an old friend from lilys past comes back into her life. Atlas, the sweet boy she met and took care of from her childhood. He’s returned and is now a very well known and successful chef. Atlas watches Lily as she goes through the abuse, and wants nothing more than to help her, but he knows that he can’t help her unless she wants it. Eventually, Lily leaves Ryle, only to discover that she is pregnant with her and Ryles child. She decides to keep the baby, but after giving birth, tells Ryle that she wants a divorce. She asks Ryle to look at their child, and what he would tell their daughter if she ever came to him and told him that a boy had abused her. Ryle understands, and leaves. We end the book with a glimpse of the future. Lily and Ryle successfully co-parenting their daughter, and Atlas and Lily starting a relationship.

I love this book. Not for the romance or dramatic moments, but because of the lesson it teaches. This book is a cautionary tale for young girls who view relationships through rose colored glasses. In the beginning of the book, Ryle is perfect. He’s handsome and charming, he’s funny and intentional with his time. He cares about Lily and her dreams. He is everyones ideal book boy. And then, when he hits Lily for the first time, all of that charm starts to fade away and we begin to see right through it as Lily does. This book doesn’t write off toxic behavior as romantic, a problem in a lot of YA novels, it calls it out for what it is, abuse. I also love this book for the real best book boyfriend, Atlas. Atlas not only defends Lily as soon as he realizes what is going on, he then backs off when he realizes that lily needs to make her own decisions. He understands that he can’t make the decision to leave for her. He doesn’t insert himself into her situation in order to be a hero or her knight in shinning armor. This also allows the readers to see something rare, the idea that sometimes, you have to want to be saved and you have to be willing to save yourself.