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If Six Flags Were a Book...
Fiction
Simon and Schuster
August 2, 2016
384
"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 ... 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"--
Wow. I just read one of the best books of 2016.
It is 1:45am and I just finished the emotional roller coaster that is It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. I debated waiting until the morning to write this review because my feelings are raw. I decided against that recourse, concluding it was better to share this with you, fresh and unabashedly emotional.
IEWU is not the first CoHo book I’ve read. In fact, I have reviewed others on this site. But this book is unlike any other I have read by this author. Hoover routinely takes the reader through an emotional cleanse; this book is different because it was clearly personal and meaningful to her.
It was meaningful to me as a reader as well, and if you so desire, you can read why here.
Lily is portrayed from the beginning of this book as strong and thoughtful, driven and haunted. She carries remnants of her past with her throughout her life, holding on to the things that matter most – the elements of people and experiences that shaped her.
But like many of us in love, we often overlook what is glaringly obvious.
There will be times in this story where you will want to shake her. Indeed, you will close the book and throw it, power off your Kindle or turn off Audible. It can simply be too much to take.
Thinking back on our lives, I am sure many of us can relate to people or situations we should have left sooner, instincts we should have trusted, fears we should have adhered. The reality is that reason is often outweighed by emotion, at the peril of our wellbeing.
Welcome to IEWU, a story that is so compelling you can’t put it down, nor can you stop thinking about it – but so painful you can’t bear to read another word. In fact, to the very last 20 pages, we are unsure how this will end, and what ends exactly…
Ms. Hoover remains true to the characters, and the life cycle they need to experience. Whether you agree with Lily’s decisions – or Ms. Hoover’s for that matter – has no bearing as the mold was cast before the first words were typed.
It Ends with Us will leave you emotionally raw, exposed and in the end, hopeful that somehow things will work and life will go on. It’s hard not to be changed a bit after reading this book – it is the kind of story that stays with you. But like Lily, will remember that through the worst moments, if we just keep swimming, we will reach the shore.
Just keep going, fishies, because this is indeed one of the best books of the year, if not the decade. <3
Don’t delay. Start reading here and get this incredible book while it’s on sale this week!
Meg, AKA the Queen Bee (QB) founded LitBuzz in 2015 as a way for her favorite authors to more-readily provide books to a legitimized reviewer. At the time, she never thought it would grow to include a dozen people, hundreds of authors and thousands of reviews.
Most of the time, you can find her with a bulldog at her feet in her home office in Pittsburgh, writing content or developing brand campaigns for clients – or sneaking a quick read of a new release.
She’s married to a great guy, has two amazing grown daughters and more animals than sense. 😉