It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

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.

Scribd Audio, 11 hours, 11 minutes

Narrator - Olivia Song

Published August 2, 2016 

 by Simon and Schuster Audio

4.5/5 stars

I didn't really know what to expect with this book.  Colleen Hoover has been the buzz over on Instagram these days, sometimes the buzz can be overwhelming and other times makes me curious.  I read Verity a few years back and really enjoyed it.  Part of me thought this might be something along the same lines but boy was I mistaken.

The first part was your typical romance with a little bit of com in there.  But then it wasn't and went in a direction I didn't expect at all.  I listened to the last 5 hours in one day, it was that captivating. The blurb doesn't give anything away about what happens and I loved that.  Now I really can't say anything either (spoiler!) and while it does pack a punch it should come with possible trigger warnings.

It Ends With Us is a story of love, sacrifice and strength.  It is well written, captivating and heartbreaking at the same time.  There is strong message that rings loud and true from Lily, after reading the author notes made this all the more compelling.  So glad I allowed the buzz to push me to grab the audiobook.

“And as hard as this choice is, we break the pattern before the pattern breaks us.”