‘It Ends with Us” is a book written by Colleen Hoover. It is quite popular on some social media platforms. It’s a very fast-paced book but there are a lot of questionable things that happen throughout the book. First off, the main “love” interest, Ryle Kinclaid, shows many red flags just from the beginning. He is first introduced into the story when Lily witnesses Ryle aggressively kicking a chair. He took a picture of Lily without her consent. Then that same picture was then hung up in his apartment without her consent.

When Ryle was three years old, he shot his brother. This detail is also added seemingly out of nowhere. The problem with this is that this information doesn’t correlate at all with why Ryle was so abusive towards Lily and even if it did, trauma is not an excuse to abuse someone. The author just throws it in there just for the reader to sympathize with him, maybe even forgive him even after what he’s done to Lily.

Lily Bloom had a love interest before Ryle, her high school boyfriend, Atlas. In her letters to Ellen DeGeneres, Lily states that was attracted to Atlas rubbing cow manure on her. 

The ending of the book is the most problematic because of Lily’s decision. After Lily gave birth to her daughter, she wanted a divorce from Ryle. She wanted to share custody over her daughter with him. Why that is actually a horrible idea was because Ryle still doesn’t have control over his anger, no one knows when he’ll abuse his own daughter like he abused Lily. 

Ryle wasn’t in love with Lily, he was just obsessed with her. It’s not that Ryle doesn’t deserve love, it’s just that he doesn’t deserve to be in a relationship. He can’t be in a relationship because he isn’t suited for one, if he had his anger under control, it could’ve been a whole different story. He has very severe anger issues which are shown throughout the story.

 The book did show a domestic abusive relationship through the eyes of the victim but the ending ruined it. The book is also marketed as a romance which is also slightly misleading as it is supposedly a story about abuse. Not only that but Lily and Ryle are based on the author’s parents, if she’s not romanticizing the abuse what is she doing?