It Starts with Us is a romance novel by Colleen Hoover, published by Atria Books on October 18, 2022. It is the sequel to her 2016 best-selling novel It Ends with Us. The sequel was first announced in February 2022. It became Simon & Schuster's most pre-ordered book of all time.

In short, ‘It Starts With Us’ is nothing but an extended epilogue that could’ve been a bonus chapter. Everything about this book annoyed me; from lack of plot and bland characters, to commentary devoid of nuance and whole sections of the first book copied and pasted into the text. Something smells like a cash grab…

I’ll admit; the discussion around abuse in this book wasn’t AS bad as in ‘It Ends With Us’, but it still felt pretty one dimensional and pissed me off at times. I can’t for the life of me understand why this series is hailed as one about ending the cycle of abuse, since the cycle of abuse in the books doesn’t even end!

SPOILERS

I understand that it would be very hard for Lily to win over Ryle in court, and the ending was probably more realistic with him still being involved; but if that’s the case, it doesn’t “end” with you and your daughter! If Ryle doesn’t have Lily in his life to abuse, guess who his next victim is going to be?

Not to mention the fact that Lily’s closest friends are Ryle’s sister and his best friend; it is close to impossible to heal from abuse when you are still in such close proximity to your abuser. The way Allysa and Marshall talk about Ryle as if he’s a little kid who just gets mean sometimes, instead of the violent wife beater and attempted rapist that he is, is so strange…. Maybe I’m the weird one, but if someone I “love like a brother” were to push their partner down the stairs and bite them so hard they bled, I simply wouldn’t love them like a brother anymore!

Allysa in particular was extremely annoying in this book. “Why would Ryle hate Atlas if you didn’t cheat on him 🥺🥺” idk girl maybe it’s because he’s abusive, which you have known for years now! The whole “me cheating on my husband doesn’t count because I was 19 ✨” thing was also???????????

Idk man. Everyone in every Colleen Hoover book sends off massive alarm bells in my brain.

“Problematic” aspects aside; ‘It Starts With Us’ was just plain bad a lot of the time. I feel bad for anyone who was looking forward to seeing Atlas’ perspective since he has about as much depth as a paper plate. We get it; Lily saved his life and he loves her! Fascinating. Now stop talking about it every 30 seconds and grow an actual personality, for the love of God! Pages of love letters and wedding vows don’t make up for an absence of depth, and certainly not lack of banter and attraction between characters.

I don’t know if CoHo needs to go back to school or something, but there’s a biiiiiig difference between history and chemistry, and our main characters are missing the latter. News flash! Trauma bonding doesn’t mean you’re soulmates!! These people need therapy, not each other. I honestly think the story would’ve been more powerful had Atlas and Lily just been friends. Love cannot cure the trauma of an abusive relationship, no matter how strong it is.

Rapid fire nitpicks from yours truly include; Ellen Degeneres, confusing time jumps, this being categorized as romance, the fact that only Atlas’ wedding vows were shown, and Emerson Dory being named Emerson Dory!

Do yourself a good old favor and don’t waste your time and money on this ❤️