It Ends with Us
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Book snob alert– the writing in this book is just so obviously bad. She lazily glosses over significant plot points in order to focus on completely unrealistic coincidences. The dialogue is often cheap, like it’s a caricature of a meet-cute (if I read the phrase “naked truth” one more time, I was unfortunately going to have to resort to book burning). Every chapter has a new flavor of dumbness; just when I suspend disbelief and accept the idiocy of a previous chapter, I’m confronted with a new form of idiocy.
BUT FINE, I LIKED IT A LITTLE. Was the storyline completely predictable? Yes. Did I want everything to happen the way it happened? Also yes. Is Colleen Hoover gaslighting us with juicy smut so that we ignore her bad writing? Yes. Did I like the juicy smut and ignore the bad writing? Also yes.
It’s hard to truly talk about this book without spoiling things, but I have to present a passage as proof that the writing is poor. Exhibit A: Prior to marrying a particular someone, Lily, the narrator, says, “Then we cleared the air about a lot of other things that might cause problems down the road. I told him I wanted separate checking accounts, but since he makes more money than me, he has to buy me lots of presents all the time to keep me happy. He agreed. He made me promise him I’d never become vegan. That was a simple promise. I love cheese too much. I told him we had to start some kind of charity, or at least donate to ones. He said he already does, and that made me want to marry him even sooner. He made me promise to vote. He said I was allowed to vote Democratic, Republican, or Independent, as long as I made sure to vote. We shook on it. By the time we landed in Vegas, we were completely on the same page.”
I think that passage speaks for itself. Onward.
My only other Colleen Hoover experience was with Verity, which was trash but in a different way. It Ends with Us is more emotionally honest. Colleen’s author note section at the end is actually very powerful and I wish that I had known her intent in writing this book from the get-go. In terms of actually recommending this book– I would never in good faith go out of my way to recommend this to someone; however, unlike Verity, I don’t regret reading it. If you are in the mood for something smutty that you can get sucked into really quickly, this does the trick. It’s low quality, but you will be entertained. If you’re looking for actual good writing, check out my top picks. It Ends with Us receives 2 out of 5 flames.
