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It Ends with Us
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us and All Your Perfects, a “brave and heartbreaking novel that digs its claws into you and doesn’t let go, long after you’ve finished it” (Anna Todd, New York Times bestselling author) about a workaholic with a too-good-to-be-true romance can’t stop thinking about her first love.
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 where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems 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.
An honest, evocative, and tender novel, It Ends with Us is “a glorious and touching read, a forever keeper. The kind of book that gets handed down” (USA TODAY).
This discussion guide was created by Bookclubs.
Book club questions for It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.
Discuss the title of the book. What does Lily mean when she says, “it ends with us?” Why did Hoover choose this line as the title?
If you were Lily, at what point would you have left Ryle? Why do you think Lily did not leave him earlier?
Allysa convinces Ryle to open up to Lily about the traumatic events of his childhood. In what ways does this knowledge change Lily’s perception of Ryle? How did it change yours? Why do you think Hoover chose to give Ryle this back story?
Do you agree with Lily that “there is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things"? Is Ryle a bad person, or just one who did some bad things? Building on the previous question, would your answer be different if Ryle weren’t someone contending with childhood trauma?
Aside from Lily, Ryle and Atlas, Allysa is the other main character in the novel. Why do you think Hoover chose to make her have such close connections to both Lily and Ryle? Do you think that Lily and Allysa will be able to continue their strong friendship?
Lily and Atlas had a strong bond, but one forged over a relatively short period of time when they were teenagers. Do you think that can be a sufficient basis for an adult relationship? What do you think the future holds for Lily and Atlas?
In her author’s note, Colleen Hoover reveals that “It Ends With Us” was inspired by her family’s story. Her father physically abused her mother, who left him when Hoover was two. Hoover also reveals that she was able to re-forge a relationship with her father as an adult, after he achieved sobriety. In a similar situation, do you think you’d be able to forgive?
It Ends with Us Book Club Questions PDF
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