As you know, I love nothing more than wandering up and down the aisles of a bookstore.  The scent of vanilla flowers and almonds tickles my nose as I open the cover of the first book. Savoring the aroma, I read the book summary and flip through the pages. I continue this several times until I can’t carry any more books and bring them to a bench or table for another round of reviews trying to decide what to buy.  It was on a day like this as I strolled through the bookstore that I realized I also needed a book for book club.   I read a lot of mysteries and thrillers and those aren’t necessarily good conversation starters. I try to have suggestions ready for our next book at our meetings. Sometimes a member requests a certain book, but mostly I choose the books. It’s hard picking just the right book you think everyone will like.  However, I think one of the best things about book club is that you read books that you would have never read on your own.   

With my books selected, I took another spin around the bookstore and picked up Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us. I liked the cover. After reading the summary, I knew this would be perfect.  Two very interesting people are introduced, Lily Bloom, independent, intelligent, running her own business and Ryle Kincaid, a handsome neurosurgeon. What could possibly go wrong?

The first time Lily and Ryle have a traumatic scene I thought okay – maybe – don’t like it, but I can overlook it. We are all flawed and make mistakes sometimes. Right? Again, I think the author did a good job with pacing in this book.  Can we all see ourselves forgiving a one-off mistake? So, life continued as it did before. Then….

Hoover’s skillful writing is key to this novel. Traumatic situations are not easy to write about and keep you reader entertained and not disgusted.

I don’t want to give away the story line, so I’ll tell you what the ladies at my book club thought. First, they all liked the book.  Second, we all agreed that we would have given him another chance, even maybe two.  Again, her pacing was excellent. Third, we talked about times in our lives when we gave another chance to someone and those outcomes. The only thing some of the women wanted to see was Lily doing what the author’s mother did.

At the end of the book, the author writes about her own familial abuse and how that helped her create such a remarkably tender but also painful look at a difficult subject most of us try to ignore. Standing alone without the benefit of someone in the wings.  Her mother is a hero.

Well done!

Rating: 8.5