"It Starts With Us" By Collen Hoover: An Utter Disappointment

"It Starts With Us" is the sequel to the famous "It Ends With Us" that I reviewed about 17 days ago. You can check the post here. "It ends with us" being a booktok favorite, so no surprise that the sequel is highly sought after. From the start, I always asked if there was any need for part 2. Anyways, out of curiosity and coupled with the comment I got from @event-horizon.

Have you read the sequel of this book - It Starts With Us? It just came out.
I have heard it's really bad and that's a shame considering Hoover got fame through the first book. But I will have to read it for myself to share my own thoughts.

I finally read it, and here are my thoughts.

Image from goodreads, Edited using Canva

Unnecessary Book!

The first and most important thing I'd like to say is that this book was totally unnecessary. What I mean to say is that It ends with us didn't need a part 2. To me, it ended perfectly. It had an amazing plot that is, domestic abuse and toxic relationship. It was driving somewhere and it ended how I believe it should have. Personally, I think Colleen hoover pursued a part 2 for two reasons. One to make money considering the fact that the first part got a lot of praise and secondly, to satisfy Atlas and Lily fangirls.

Do you think Collen Hoover lost her reputation trying to make more money?

It Starts With Us lacked a plot that was much present in the first one. There was a lot of repetition from the first book. It seemed almost like she just wanted to write for the fans as I mentioned previously. In short, the story was bland. I spent a week reading it. There was no push and I almost didn't finish it but I needed to see where it was headed.

Book two was basically Lily and Atlas's love story and that is exactly why I didn't enjoy it as much. The reason I enjoyed book 1 was because of the important societal issue it addressed. Lily was the only person I cares for. Her story and her freedom. I was never into Atlas. I understand that he's nice and cute but that was it. It starts with us felt more like Atlas's story, not Lily's. Colleen Hoover said a lot about him which was a lot of repetition, "he's nice, sweet, and wouldn't ever hit her" perfect but there was no depth. Some of the letters that Lily wrote to Ellen in book 1 were included here, word for word. It made me wonder if the author had nothing else to say and was trying to reach a word count.

However, I loved how this book made me hate Ryle more. In simpler terms, he's a bastard and should go to hell. And to all the people defending him, you all are just as bad. There's absolutely no reason why you should support an abuser.
I also liked Theo's character. He made me laugh. I'm not sure if including Atlas' lost brother was very necessary but it gave more depth to the story, something to look forward to. As someone who loves romance, I smiled a few times because of some cute things so you're guaranteed that, I guess.

Final Words

I don't hate this book. I simply think there was no need for it. I didn't enjoy reading it like the first book. If you are a fan of Lily and Atlas, you would really enjoy this one because it's for you. If you also love the second-chance romance trope, this works fine. This is just my opinion and it is subjective so if you have it on your tbr list, you can still go ahead and read it.

Someone said on goodreads review page that "Colleen Hoover could publish her grocery list and I would still buy it" - A big possibility that one bad book doesn't change much.

Thank You For Reading!