Read: It Starts with Us (#78-2022)

It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover

(sequel to It Ends With Us)

Following up from It Ends With Us, Hoover follows the interaction of Lily and Atlas, as they navigate what a new, adult relationship could be like while dealing with all the baggage of their lives without each other. 

Thankfully, this novel was not as emotionally draining as the first of this duo.  I picked it up solely because I wanted to hear more from Atlas.  Lily is not really of interest to me; I often find myself wondering about the intensity of her reactions. I have no doubt that Ryle was abusive, that was very clear.  But the way Lily's perceptions were written, versus how an event actually happened sometimes left me confused. And that left me not trusting anything about Lily. 

I did enjoy that this was a supposedly slow build back to a comfortable, lovely relationship for both Lily and Atlas. Of course, there was drama along the way, but the drama was low-key and had suitably realistic and reasonable resolutions. I wish I had picked the books up as a set, in order to have this as a soothing resolution to the first. 

(#78-2022)