It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover is the second book in the It Ends with Us series. This sequel was brought to you by booktok! Colleen Hoover wrote in the acknowledgments that she intended It Ends with Us to be a standalone book. But with the overwhelming response and requests from TikTok, she decided to give the people what they want: a happy ending for Lily.
My Rating for It Starts with Us
Genre: Romance; Length: 336 pages
“It Starts with Us” by Colleen Hoover gets 3 stars for this perfectly fine book. It was a nice follow-up to It Ends with Us, but has little significance on its own. If you read the first book, I definitely recommend reading the second.
I love that the fans literally made It Starts with Us a reality! Before diving in, read the first book in the series and my book review of “It Ends with Us”. Trust me, nothing will make sense if you don’t read the first book.
Once you’re done, check out the literary bake I made based on this book: Coconut Shrimp Bay Biscuits. Inspired by Atlas’ mom’s favorite dish, this recipe pairs buttery biscuits with savory shrimp and crispy coconut. Topped with a sweet and spicy glaze, this will be the recipe of your summer!
Synopsis
“It Starts with Us” picks up exactly where “It Ends with Us” left off. Lily Bloom, new mother and recent divorcee, has just made contact again with her first love, Atlas Corrigan. After a year and a half of silence, Atlas learns that Lily has left her abusive partner, Ryle, and is ready for him to reenter her life.
This kicks off the awkward yet exciting phase of Lily and Atlas’ rekindling. They must learn how to date each other as adults while balancing other commitments and tense relationships in their lives. Although Lily thinks she’s out of the woods with Ryle’s anger issues, she is still managing their co-parenting relationship, which is exasperated by Atlas’ reappearance. Meanwhile, Atlas is faced with an unexpected visit from his abusive and neglectful mother. They both try to model better relationships for the next generation.
My Take on “It Starts with Us”
Spoiler Alert!!!
“It Starts with Us” is told from both Lily’s and Atlas’ points of view, alternating in each chapter. I’m so happy we got to read more from Lily because I really enjoyed her voice. We also get to hear Atlas’ inner thoughts and learn more about his upbringing.
At first, I wasn’t that into Atlas. In the first book, I wasn’t sure why Lily liked him (other than the fact that he was her savior). To me, he was very meh. Too perfect. But in “It Starts with Us”, Alyssa, Ryle’s sister, constantly describes him as the “Greek god”. Now, I imagine him as everyone’s favorite hot chef, Jeremy Allen White from The Bear. He’s a little scruffy, used to be homeless, but turned his life around and grew muscles.
Ummm…yes, chef.
This book felt indulgent. By itself, it wasn’t that great of a book. It was a perfect ending for Lily and Atlas. They get everything they want with little conflict and live happily ever after. The plot was pretty predictable, and I’m not mad about it because after reading “It Ends with Us”, I think we can all agree that predictable and perfect is exactly what Lily deserves.
The first third of the book was engaging, as Lily and Atlas’ relationship develops. Hoover captures the feeling of familiarity between them while also evoking the excitement of experiencing new things as their courtship unfolds in a string of firsts. This is hard to do and I appreciate that they didn’t just instantly revert into a state of comfort that would have made their romance quite boring.
I like that the author held back information about each character so that they would see each other’s apartments for the first time over video chat, go on a first date, spend the night for the first time, as if they didn’t have a history.
Parenthood is a huge theme in this book. We meet Atlas’ mom, Sutton, who is the complete foil to Lily. She is an abusive and neglectful mother, while Lily is selfless and self-sacrificing when it comes to her daughter, Emerson.
Sutton comes back seemingly to ruin Atlas’ life as we get a deeper understanding of his rough childhood. In fact, she informs Atlas that he has a little brother. This is Atlas’ time to shine as he not only saves his brother, Josh, from his abusive parents, but also treats Lily and Emerson with the same compassion, thus further setting him apart from bad-guy Ryle. When Ryle and Atlas get in a fight, Atlas even gives him advice on how to be a better father!
Despite being so complex in the first book, Lily and Atlas are archetypes here, for sure.
Weird Stuff
A few things that were not my favorite in this book:
1. Atlas is Still Too Perfect
Again, I’m not that mad that everything in this book is close to perfect. But Considerate Atlas kills me when he asks about the appropriate timing of major relationship milestones as if he’s just going through the motions. Lily relays the conversation:
“How long do I have to wait before I can ask you to move in with me?”
Heat swirls in my stomach. “Six months, at least.”
He nods as if he’s taking mental notes. “And how long before I’m allowed to propose?”
A thickness forms in my throat, making it hard to swallow. “A year. Year and a half”
…
“Good to know”
-It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover
Clearly, this makes Lily swoon but makes me roll my eyes.
2. Ryle is Still Around
Still a villain, Ryle is a necessary part of the story because he lends some of the only conflict to the plot. At this point, he and Lily have a too-close-for-comfort co-parenting relationship. He shows up to shared family events, he comes over unannounced, and even has a key to Lily’s apartment.
Witnessing how much anxiety he brings Lily evwn after their divorce is heartbreaking. This is her major hurdle throughout the book, which culminates when she finally sets some boundaries for him, with the support of Alyssa and Marshall.
3. The Shower Scene
What is supposed to be a very exciting first sex scene gets drowned out by the unsexiness of Atlas pulling Lily into the shower, fully clothed. That’s just annoying. Taking off wet jeans is the worst! And when Lily’s wet shirt “plops” onto the shower floor, that sound just ruined everything for me.
On a more positive note, I do appreciate how Hoover seamlessy works in conversations about consent and contraception.
Conclusion
Three stars because I liked but didn’t love “It Starts with Us”. As a standalone book, I probably wouldn’t have liked this because it was a bit too straightforward. But as a sequel, it was just what I and booktok needed.
