It Starts with Us: A Novel

by Colleen Hoover

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

If every ending has a new beginning then here's what you've been waiting for.

This riveting sequel to the “glorious and touching” (USA TODAY) #1 New York Times bestseller picks up where It Ends with Us concluded and shares what happens next for Lily and Atlas.

Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.

But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.

Switching between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas, It Starts with Us picks up right where the epilogue for the “gripping, pulse-pounding” (Sarah Pekkanen, New York Times bestselling author ) bestselling phenomenon It Ends with Us left off. Revealing more about Atlas’s past and following Lily as she embraces a second chance at true love while navigating a jealous ex-husband, it proves that “no one delivers an emotional read like Colleen Hoover” (Anna Todd, New York Times bestselling author).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668001226
Publisher:	Atria Books
Publication date:	10/18/2022
Series:	It Ends with Us , #2
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty-three novels, including It Starts with Us, It Ends with Us, All Your Perfects, Ugly Love, and Verity. Colleen lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. For more information, please visit ColleenHoover.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/07/2022

Hoover breaks hearts all over again in this stunning sequel to her bestselling It Ends with Us. After Lily Bloom finds the strength to exit her abusive relationship with Ryle, her ex-husband and the father of her child (the adorable Emmy), she’s reluctant to let anyone else capture her heart, even her childhood crush, Atlas Corrigan. Atlas has past trauma of his own: he grew up in an abusive home and was forced to live on the streets as a teenager. Now he’s a successful restaurateur while Lily runs a flower shop—and they’re back in each other’s orbits. Their chemistry is even stronger than it was in their earlier years, but their budding relationship is complicated by Ryle. He’s still in the picture as Emmy’s father—and he wants Lily back. Meanwhile, Josh, the half brother Atlas never knew he had, enters Atlas’s life, and Atlas takes him in, hoping to finally have a real family. The author’s talent for creating nuanced and empathetic characters is on full display, and fans will be especially excited to finally hear Atlas’s side of the story. Hoover is as unafraid as ever to explore the darker and more vulnerable aspects of love, expertly demonstrating the soul-deep trust required to reach happily after ever. The author’s fans will be thrilled. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

This sequel to BookTok phenom It Ends With Us stands on its own, a portrait of the dynamics of domestic violence.

People

This romance delivers on all the goods that has made Hoover such a sensation on TikTok: frank sex scenes, high-stakes twists, ingenious plotting and capital-D DRAMA.

New York Post

"The queen of the bestseller lists."

USA Today

"The queen of the bestseller lists."

USA Today

This romance delivers on all the goods that has made Hoover such a sensation on TikTok: frank sex scenes, high-stakes twists, ingenious plotting and capital-D DRAMA.

New York Post

2022-07-27
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.

Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.

Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.

Kirkus Reviews

If every ending has a new beginning, then here’s what you’ve been waiting for.”

Barnes&Noble.com

Narrators Colin Donnell and Olivia Song deliver Hoover’s highly anticipated second-chance-at-love sequel. Both Lily and Atlas are finally free of other entanglements and in the same place. Now the only obstacle to their romance is Lily’s violent ex-husband, Ryle. There is a mismatch between both narrators’ calm, professional narration and the disturbing verbal and physical behaviors Ryle displays. The audio struggles to achieve emotional intensity. Otherwise, Song’s narration is understated and contemplative as Lily pieces together her past and present feelings about Atlas. Song uses a lighter, sweet voice for Lily’s best friend and differentiates male voices in conversation. Donnell makes Atlas’s unswerving devotion to Lily seem realistic and uses age-appropriate voices for Atlas’s half brother and his 11-year-old “therapist,” Theo. C.A. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

Narrators Colin Donnell and Olivia Song deliver Hoover’s highly anticipated second-chance-at-love sequel. Both Lily and Atlas are finally free of other entanglements and in the same place. Now the only obstacle to their romance is Lily’s violent ex-husband, Ryle. There is a mismatch between both narrators’ calm, professional narration and the disturbing verbal and physical behaviors Ryle displays. The audio struggles to achieve emotional intensity. Otherwise, Song’s narration is understated and contemplative as Lily pieces together her past and present feelings about Atlas. Song uses a lighter, sweet voice for Lily’s best friend and differentiates male voices in conversation. Donnell makes Atlas’s unswerving devotion to Lily seem realistic and uses age-appropriate voices for Atlas’s half brother and his 11-year-old “therapist,” Theo. C.A. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2022 - AudioFile