It Ends With Us

 

 

This is a book that I had read almost about a year ago from today, when I am writing this post. When I had first started the book I was very hooked on to the storyline, and mind you, I'm the kind of reader who never had any hard feelings towards a book, but the perfect portrayal of Ryle, especially all of those "naked truths" had me so bad, i had butterflies through every single act of Ryle's. Part 1 of the book especially was filled with such lovely, beautiful moments between the two, they were my perfect ship and even after a long line of incidents happening throughout the book, I could never gather myself to leave the idea of Ryle and Lily alone. But not soon after i was completely hooked with their love story, the heartbreaking part of the book came around 

The love story of Ryle and Lily is so spectacular it had me simping so bad over Ryle. This is one of those books that will very easily steal your heart away and you'll be left very broken if you shipped Ryle and Lily, but the main objective of the book as the author Colleen Herself says was to share the experience of many women and how as simple as it looks on the outside, it's just as hard to pull oneself away from such situations when we're involved ourselves.

Their was one aspect, or feature of this book that specifically caught up to me and that has to be how complex the scenarios were, and how deep the plot went, while also at the same time staying in connect with the reader's mind. The strength portrayed by Lily through the story truly inspires the reader.

The backstory of Lily and Atlas is also equally heart touching, where the reader learns about Atlas and Lily as teenagers, and how they found comfort in one another through the thick and thins of this cruel world.

It Ends with Us is a book that tells the story of Lily, a girl who had just came to the city seeking freedom from her pasts. She meets a guy named Ryle, and she falls for him almost instantaneously, all thanks to his charming nature. The story follows Ryle and Lily falling in love and Lily making a very good friend in Ryle's sister, Lily has finally moved on from the toxicity of her childhood that she had left behind, and her first love, Atlas. 

"There is no such thing as bad people, we're just people who sometimes do bad things"

But her world seems to start crashing when she starts noticing that Ryle has anger outbursts at times and may be suffering from anger issues, on the very first incident of Ryle hurting Lily, she easily forgives him, seeing how much he loved her. But soon after Lily's discovery about Ryle, she meets her first love, Atlas again, and has mixed feelings as she tries to navigate through her life with Ryle, and through the start of Part II of the book, Lily marries Ryle and continues her life with him as his rightful wife, but not soon after, Ryle's behavior gets out of hand and Lily has to approach Atlas when she feels herself getting helpless against her situation. Atlas is by her side through the whole thing, supporting her all along, as she deals with her relationship with Ryle.

Lily is very affected by the ongoing incidents, even more so because she starts to slowly feel herself falling into the same trap that she had seen her mother fall into, the trap of continuous abuse, and torture, which her mother had let herself get into by forgiving her father every time he'd hurt her, the same way that Lily felt herself doing. Lily consults her mother on the matter and her mother advises her to leave Ryle, and so Lily plans on leaving Ryle but she is flooded with emotions when she hears the news that she is pregnant.

"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."

Throughout her pregnancy, Lily tries to distance herself from Ryle seeing how Ryle's outbursts could be triggered, she's hurt every time she thinks of how she may be taking the right of being there for his wife and child through her pregnancy from him. But Lily reminds herself of she's taking a step in the right direction by walking away from Ryle. 

When she finally gives birth to her child, Lily decides to name her daughter 'Eleanor' after Ryle's lost sister. But she simultaneously announces to Ryle that she has finalized on her decision, and now more than ever, she wanted to divorce Ryle, for the better of her daughter, so she could have a normal relationship with her father, instead of suffering the way Lily did as a child. 

Another aspect of the book that may not have discussed as much is the story from Lily's childhood, of how Lily and Atlas bonded as teenagers, finding comfort in one another, through the world's cruel tests. Lily helped Atlas through his lows when he was homeless while Atlas on the other hand stood by Lily's side through every time her parents had fought. He offered her the love and comfort that Teenage Lily missed out on from her parents.

"In the Future if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again... fall in love with me" He presses his lips against my forehead. "You're still my favorite person, Lily. Always will be."

Lovies, 

Rashima ♡