It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

Blurb:

Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. Combining a captivating romance with a cast of all-too-human characters, It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.

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Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2ar90Yl
Amazon PB: http://amzn.to/2aetWGA
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Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2aeuU5Q
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Kristine's Review:

Reviewed: August 2016.

When an author sets out to write a new book, I imagine it's often with the intention of challenging readers to throw their preconceived notions of right and wrong, of black and white out the window and embrace the story they wish to tell. In my experience not every author however is able to do that, it's instead those golden nuggets of wisdom and beauty that you stumble across that irrevocably change you, force you to reassess everything you thought you knew, thought you believed and ball it up and throw it out the window, because life isn't black and white, it's not even grey, it's a whole spectrum of magnificent vibrant hues that have the ability to turn our world technicolor.

"You saved my life, Lily. And you weren't even trying."

I could wax lyrical about every moment that tore my heart asunder, I could scream from the rooftops every moment that left me utterly breathless, I could tell you how I wrestled with my notions of right and wrong, but really all I can tell you is that It Ends With Us is so much more than I ever anticipated. It's more than women's fiction, more than contemporary romance, it's intensely personal, incredibly honest and hauntingly beautiful. It's more than just a story about Lily and Ryle, it's not just a story about the sins of the past or the dreams for the future. It's as much a life lesson as it is one woman's journey from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, it's a story about life and love, of growing up, of holding on, of letting go, of living purely and simply.

"There is so much more good in him than bad, and I'll do whatever I can to convince him of that until he can see it, too."

There comes a moment with those rare gems when you finish a book and have no idea what to do with yourself... realising the only thing left is to go back to the beginning and start it again. I beg you pick up this book the way I did, without reading too much about it, without reading the blurb, and promise me that if you're an acknowledgement first kind of reader, forgo it just this once, go in blind with an open heart and mind, allow Hoover to take you on the journey she intended, because I promise you, your life will be richer for it. It Ends With Us is thought provoking, raw, honest and hauntingly eloquent from the very first line until the very last page, it's sheer staggering beauty comes from the tidal wave of emotion it evokes, from the unity you feel with Lily in every moment where you find yourself questioning where she ends and you begin. The best type of book leaves you wanting more, but not needing more, as I turned the last page that is exactly how Hoover's story left me feeling, my advice to you dear reader is Buy it. Read it. Most importantly EXPERIENCE this book!

"In the future...if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again...fall in love with me."

About Colleen Hoover:

I write because I need to.
I review because I want to.
I pay taxes because I have to.


Founder of www.thebookwormbox.com

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November 9 by Colleen Hoover - ARC Review

 

 

Blurb:

 

Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpected muse.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day of her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

 

 

 

Purchase Links: 

 

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1kFuK7J

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1Oz1PiX

Amazon AU: http://bit.ly/1kkjUEF

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1gYxxak

iBooks: http://apple.co/1lQ7wAQ



Amazon paperback: http://amzn.to/1PknsU8

Kristine's Review:
Reviewed: November 2015.

Where do I even start with November 9? I am a huge Colleen Hoover fan...HUGE... FSOG may have been the book that got me reading again but Slammed was the one that kept me reading, I've read thousands of books since then but one I always come back to is Slammed so to say with each new release my expectations are high would be an understatement. My paperback is a mess of coloured tabs and highlighted quotes, ones that immediately stood out as something I needed to remember and revisit.

November 9 is set on the premise that Fallon a once upon a time child actor, and Ben an aspiring writer, meet as eighteen year olds on the day of Fallon's cross country move, they meet and the world seems to tilt on it's axis, they connect on a level neither has seemed to have ever experience before but Fallon is about to embark on a new adventure, one that will hopefully see her life change, they set each other tasks for the coming year with a plan to meet back up in one year's time. They block each other on social media, they don't swap numbers, they are only armed with a plan to see each other again on November 9 the following year, where they can compare notes on the year that has passed and hopefully everything they have accomplished in the time that has passed.

It's an exciting premise, one born out of a greater need to find out who they truly are, to find their place in the world, and figure out who they want to be. Fallon citing her mother's advice as her reason for leaving this connection behind, the theory that you change exponentially from eighteen to twenty three, Fallon wants to find herself again before falling in love, before being lost in someone else, leaving her with five years to find who she is and what she wants to be.

"You'll never be able find yourself if you're lost in someone else."

November 9 isn't just a date that these two will continue to reconnect over the course of the coming five years, nor is it just the title of this book, November 9 holds special relevance as the day Fallon's life changed dramatically as and as result it's a date that holds a darker meaning for her, but with this new and exciting connection with Ben pushing her to test her boundaries, he's succeeding in replacing her sad memories with something to look forward to.

There's so much beauty here in this story, in true Hoover fashion I was instantly swept up in her words, making me forget everything going on in the world around me and truly lose myself in the world she created.

"I missed you, Fallon...A lot. And screw it if I'm not supposed to admit that, but I tried the whole alpha male thing for two seconds, and I just can't do it. So you don't get alpha Ben today. I'm sorry."

With lines like these it's hard not to be swept up in their albeit unconventional romance,  a friendship born out of the unlikeliest of meetings, one that transcends time, one day a year to spend together, a handful of hours to say everything they've both been thinking and feeling never quite feels like enough and yet every moment they share seems better than the last, and as I sped through the pages I didn't once question their connection, because I could feel every emotion seep though the pages, I could feel it hammering through my blood, telling me that what they'd found in that restaurant on the first day was real.

But as with time, life moves forward and as much as every year they meet up and their bond strengthens, them having to say good bye again becomes more and more difficult. I felt myself dreading their goodbyes as much as they did, and I kept repeating over and over in my mind that they should just void their plan, they should stay together, they should be with one another, and they could write whatever story they wanted together.

"I thought I was tougher than a word. But I just discovered that having to say good bye to you is one of the hardest things to do."

Nothing about November 9 ever felt forced, there was never a time that I felt like the author threw in angst for the sake of it to fill the story, there were moments that I was wearing my biggest swooniest grin, other's when my heart seemed so full I almost expected it to burst out of my chest, and there were moments of pure and unadulterated heartbreak, because as Fallon so eloquently described not all romances mean that the hero and heroine have to end up together, as long as they are happy whether it be together or separate that's all that matters.

"Your hands touch someone who isn't me. Your lips make promises against skin that isn't mine."

Lines like that is why I read, it's why I get so lost in a Colleen Hoover book, it's lines like that that have goose bumps prickling my skin, setting fire to my heart, causing me to stop and just breathe in her words, it's those moments that I crave when I read, to be totally lost in a book and it's characters.

I was head over heels with Fallon and Ben, with their journey, with their torment of being apart despite it being of their own doing, of them both battling their own pasts to find a way to be whole on their own and then together, and there were so many moments that truly stole my breath, and left me wanting more, but the last thirty per cent felt rushed, I wanted more, I wanted more from Ben, I wanted to recreate that swoon worthy feeling he gave me in the beginning, I wanted to feel his desperation more keenly. I didn't want to put this book down at any point, sitting at a family party on Sunday afternoon, when my husband noticed my forlorn appearance, he urged me to pick up my book so I could keep reading, I dove back in immediately needing to know more, I know this book will hit all the right notes for so many readers, I loved the pacing, I loved the way we didn't get bogged down in everyday life for Fallon and Ben instead focusing on their time together each year, but in the end the final quarter didn't finish as strongly as I had hoped. Without a doubt Colleen Hoover continues to excel as so much of this showed her growth as an author, as always I'm excited to see what's next for her.

 

About Colleen Hoover:

#1 New York Times bestselling author of books that make you feel good. And bad. But mostly good.

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