If you are on #BookTok then you are aware that Colleen Hoover is one of the most popular and recommended authors. She wrote It Ends With Us and recently released a sequel titled It Starts With Us. The sequel brings in Atlas’ POV and his childhood background.
I hated this book and would not recommend it. It was a low 2 star for me! The only thing I love is that it has a great message about domestic violence and why it’s never easy for women to just leave their physically abusive husbands.
This book may have a great message but I thought the writing was pretty mediocre and full of terrible pop culture references. This is a great case study as to why authors need to stop referencing pop culture in their books! The Finding Nemo references were extremely corny, very cringey and made me hate the book.
I hated the name of all the characters. Why are you an adult naming your child after a fish? Lily Blossom Bloom is named after a flower and also has a floral business? Girl BFFR!! Where is the creativity in these names? The poor choice of trying to defend the age gap relationship between Lily and Atlas. The girl was underage and that is illegal!!
Lasty, the letters are the worst part of the book. I hate the letters to Ellen so much. Colleen Hoover does not do a good job integrating the letters. They are cringey, add no value and the writing is not the best. I feel like the novel An American Marriage by Tayari Jones is a novel that integrates letters really well. Colleen Hoover should take a note or two and learn from Tayari.
The repetition of the letters from the first book word for word, she clearly needed to meet that page count. Every time I saw italic fonts I legit rolled my eyes! This honestly felt like a quick cash grab to appeal to the #BookTok community and generate quick sales based on viral trends.
2/5 ⭐⭐