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bookishdaydreaming 's review for:

It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover
4.0

Despite going into this thinking there was no need for it to exist (which, to be honest, I still stand by) I did enjoy it more than IEWU.

I thought this book did a really good job of making sure to point out the abuse Lily was still enduring through Ryle, when he was gaslighting her or trying to guilt-trip her into forgiving him. Lily and Atlas' story was nice - if incredibly cringe - and I really enjoyed watching Atlas take care of his younger brother and how he adapted to that new situation.

I didn't appreciate the pages of diary entries that were copy-pasted from IEWU and I would be mad if I'd actually paid for the book and not just borrowed it. I don't know if I can pin-point exactly what it was about Alyssa in this book that felt very off to me compared to the last one, but I enjoyed her character significantly less.

A quick and easy read, and if you liked IEWU I would recommend reading this, but I wouldn't personally pay to do so (at least until the paperback is out)