In the first novel, Atlas drove Ryle’s jealousy to boil to the point of assaulting Lily.Īlthough Lily and Ryle divorced, they still co-parent Emerson. Lily’s ultimate challenge, however, is facing Ryle as she pursues her first love, Atlas. Lily must navigate both raising a daughter as a single mother and running her floral business on her own. “It Starts With Us” resumes Lily’s story 11 months after the birth of her daughter, Emerson, whose father is Lily’s abusive ex-husband, Ryle. “This novel was written as a thank-you for the tremendous support, and because of that, I wanted to deliver a much lighter experience,” Hoover wrote in a letter to readers at the beginning of the novel.

As a sign of gratitude to her readers, she wrote “It Starts With Us,” a sequel to “It Ends With Us.” Hoover rose to fame through TikTok, leading to the sale of over 20 million copies of her novels. While “It Ends With Us” focuses on the darkness of the cycle of domestic abuse, “It Starts With Us” offers a satisfying conclusion to that cycle, giving the characters a definitive happy ending that fans of the first novel will appreciate. Please refer to the end of the article for on- and off-campus resources.Ĭolleen Hoover’s name is now synonymous with the romance genre her uber-hit novel “It Ends With Us” has been sitting on The New York Times Best Sellers list for 75 weeks.

CW: This article references domestic violence.

It starts with us it ends with us