Hi Everyone,

Happy Monday and start of a new week. I am determined to make this week super productive. Ever since I got back from our break in Paris, I feel like I’ve not lived normal life and I’ve not been able to get much of anything done. But I’m going to change that this week and try and restore some kind of normality to my life and my house.

Book 📖

Of course, I had to read this book. I feel a little bit like I’ve jumped onto a band wagon, but after I had buddy read It Ends With Us with my best friend, it was a complete given that It Starts With Us by @colleenhoover was going to be buddy read too.

Description 🔖

Lily and her ex husband Ryle may have been separated for nearly two years, but they have only just started to settle into a relatively easy going co-parenting routine. So when Lily bumps into her ex Atlas, she thinks it’s perfect timing for them to rekindle their relationship from years ago.

Lily’s excitement doesn’t last long though as she quickly realises that Ryle is still a huge part of her life; divorced or not and Atlas is the last man on Earth that Ryle is going to accept.

General Thoughts 🤔

I’ll start by saying that I was so excited for this book. I know there are readers out there who had waited for what feels like a lifetime for its release so I’m thankful that I only quite recently read the first book. I became invested in these characters and it was really good to catch up with them in It Starts With Us. I especially liked that the story picked up exactly where it had been left off which made me feel like I didn’t have to spend time settling in.

Now, I have to be completely honest and admit that I did go through some disappointment. The first book was like an emotional rollercoaster, so I was expecting the same (albeit potentially different emotions) from the second, but nothing much really happened. I appreciate that this was supposed to be Lily and Atlas’ love story but I think that the plot was a little bit too safe and so every chapter seemed repetitive.

Characters 👫👭👬

My love for Lily did not fade between books and I am still a Lily fangirl. I enjoyed reading a different version of her and I think that becoming a mother changed her for the good. Her love for her daughter was gorgeous to read and it was no surprise to me that she was as protective as she was. I was extremely happy for Lily’s happy ending and I did finish the book with a feeling of fulfilment on her behalf.

I didn’t connect with Atlas in It Ends With Us as much as probably 99% of the entire population, but this book very much shifted that. I really liked learning more about Atlas and I am still completely positive that he was the right choice for Lily. It was lovely to hear Atlas’ perspective on some events from their past, but I also really liked the development of Atlas’ own story, aside from his life with Lily.

Writing Style ✍️

As I mentioned above, I really liked that CoHo chose to leave no gap in time between the two books. It meant that I was able to fall straight into It Starts With Us and I didn’t need any reminders about the story or the characters. However after that was when I started to feel like not much was happening. I do enjoy a slow burn book, but I wasn’t a huge fan for this pace for these characters.

Admittedly, Colleen Hoover had no intentions of writing this book and I hate to say that I could feel that before I actually knew it. I could somehow sense that the words were being written because they had been requested as opposed to a story naturally falling out of someone’s head.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

Yes this is another review for that book, but I am not ashamed to admit that I was sucked in by the CoHo hype so I was always going to read it. I don’t think that this was would read well standalone as there wasn’t a tonne that actually happened. Because I had read the first book, I was already a little bit in love with the characters so I enjoyed sitting down with Lily and others again and reading where their lives went next. This was a decent read and I did enjoy it, but unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my high expectations. If you already know Lily and Atlas and NEED to know where life takes them, I recommend giving it a read, just be prepared for a fluffier experience.

😍😍😍😩😩