It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover [BOOK REVIEW]

August 31, 2024August 31, 2024 innah962 Comments

Oh, Colleen Hoover! You only went and did it again with “It Ends With Us”. Took my heart, squeezed it gently, and then proceeded to shatter it into a thousand pieces. And I love you for it!

About The Book:

Pages: 386

Genre: Romance, YA, Young Adult

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★

SOMETIMES THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU IS THE ONE WHO HURTS YOU THE MOST

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 in Maine where she grew up – she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, and maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, but Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing.

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.

My Thoughts:

“It Ends With Us” is not a light-hearted romance novel. It’s a dark romance tale, with a domestic abuse theme, but it’s ultimately a story about a woman breaking the cycle and being free.

Lily is a floral designer and a survivor of domestic abuse. During her childhood, her father was abusive and her mother never left. Now, she falls in love with Ryle, and after a few blissful months, discovers that Ryle has a dark side to him. The story follows Lily dealing with everything and reuniting with her old love, Atlas, who will help her get free and break the cycle.

During the first half of the book, we read a few chapters of young Lily and Atlas and understand their story better. He was homeless and Lily helped him during the difficult period. He was also aware of the abuse Lily suffered from her father.

“He pulls back to look down at me and when he sees my tears, he brings his hands up to my cheeks. “In the future… if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again… fall in love with me.”

The story is raw, emotional and feels very real. We saw a beautiful love story between Lily and Atlas, until time and circumstances, and Lily’s father pulled them apart. We were also part a beautiful love story between Lily and Ryle, before he started showing his true colours and all the reg flags. It’s very well shown how quickly a situation can escalate, and see Lily’s fears, doubts and dilemmas. It’s very easy for her to take the blame and think she caused it all, but the reality is very different!

“Fifteen seconds. That’s all it takes to completely change everything about a person. Fifteen.”

I was always team Atlas, but I was warming up to Ryle in the beginning before everything kicked off. That’s how good Colleen’s writing is. I will need to grab the second book, “It Starts With Us” soon and find out how the story continues. I cannot help but recommend this book, because for all the sadness it brings, it also brings happiness, healing and one woman standing up to abuse and breaking the cycle.

“You can stop swimming now, Lily. We finally reached the shore.”

Side note: Yes, I did see the movie. No, it didn’t do justice to the book. Yes, I will see a sequel if it comes, but I doubt it, with all the drama surrounding it. 🙂

About The Author:

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty four novels and novellas. Hoover’s novels fall into the New Adult and Young Adult contemporary romance categories, as well as psychological thriller.

In 2015, Colleen’s novel CONFESS won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance. That was followed up in 2016 with her latest title, It Ends With Us, also winning the Choice Award for Best Romance. In 2017, her title WITHOUT MERIT won best romance.

Author Website

I Wish You Would by Eva Des Louriers [BOOK REVIEW]

August 22, 2024August 22, 2024 innah96Leave a comment

“I Wish You Would” was the perfect teenage love angst romance with a friends to lovers trope, that I didn’t know I needed.

About The Book:

Pages: 273

Genre: Romance, YA, Young Adult

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★★

In this drama-filled love story, private confessions are scattered on the beach during a senior class overnight and explosive secrets threaten to tear everyone apart, including best friends (or maybe more?), Natalia and Ethan.

It’s Senior Sunrise, the epic overnight at the beach that kicks off senior year. But for Natalia and Ethan, it’s the first time seeing each other after what happened at junior prom―when they almost crossed the line from best friends to something more and ruined everything. After ghosting each other all summer, Natalia is desperate to pretend she doesn’t care and Ethan is desperate to fix his mistake.

When the senior class carries out their tradition of writing private letters to themselves―what they wish they would do this year if they were braver―Natalia pours her heart out. So does Ethan. So does everyone in their entire class. But in Natalia’s panicked attempt to retrieve her heartfelt confession, the wind scatters seven of the notes across the beach. Now, Ethan and Natalia are forced to work together to find the lost letters before any secrets are revealed―especially their own.

Seven private confessions. Seven time bombs loose for anyone to find. And one last chance before the sun rises for these two to fall in love.

“Fame is proof that the people are gullible.”

My Thoughts:

Firstly, I have to admit, the cover was what made me start the book. I had other books I started reading and I immediately dropped them to make room for this one. And I am glad I did, because I devoured it in days! There is so much tension from the very start from both sides. I loved the double POV, so we knew how both Ethan and Natalia felt. But there were so many times where I shouted at the book: “Will you two just bloody talk to each other!” 🙂

“I try not to stare at her, but it’s an effort. The moody sky brings out the dark blue of her eyes, and the wind keeps lifting the tumble of her long hair away from her face. I realise with a significant gut drop that I could look at her forever and never get bored.”

The other part that really annoyed me was when Natalia would believe everything Claire says…

“Thank you for helping me understand that no matter how good the education, some people are doomed to be ignorant. You’re such a lost cause, I bet your parents change the subject when their friends ask about you.”

I really liked the idea of the ritual for kicking off senior year. Pouring your heart out into a piece of paper and letting it go. The whole message of the book was bravery, and it made me think of what I would do if I was braver.

“I don’t want to be the kind of person who has to live up to everyone else’s opinions of me. Who even are you, then, if you’re constantly giving pieces of yourself away.”

Very short and sweet, it was a lovely novel to read. It has a great potential to be made into a movie, and I hope to one day see it on the big screen, and take credit for the idea. (just kidding) 🙂

“Akira Kurosawa was the first director to use slow motion as a turning point in his movie Seven Samurai. Somehow, he figured out before anyone else that there are moments in life when time slows down just long enough for you to realise that nothing will be the same once it speeds up again.”

It gave me a Nicholas Sparks vibe from “The Last Song”. I would definitely recommend it if you are a teen/YA romance fan, and especially if you are a fan of the “friends to lovers” trope.

About The Author:

Eva Des Lauriers is a California girl who became a diehard romantic when she married her best friend, the boy she sat next to in eleventh grade Calculus. She holds both an MSW and BA in Psychology. As a clinical social worker, she had the privilege of working with the vibrant and complicated teens for whom she now writes. When she isn’t writing, you can find her wandering through the redwoods, staring at the sea, or pretending she’s in a music video. She lives with her husband, their two children, and her collection of kissing books in Northern California.

Author Website

Book Review · Books

The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim [BOOK REVIEW]

August 3, 2024August 3, 2024 innah96Leave a comment

The Eyes Are The Best Part was quite an intriguing read. It only took me a few days to finish it, and I strangely enjoyed it.

About The Book:

Pages: 274

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Publisher: Brazen Books

Format I read it in: Hardcover

Rating: ★★★

We meet the two sisters, Ji-Won and Ji-Hyun, as well as their mother, Umma. Their father just left them for another woman, and Umma is struggling emotionally. Ji-Won and Ji-Hyun, although they have different personalities, get along very well. Their Umma is having a hard time after her husband left, and the sisters, especially Ji-Won, are trying to be supportive and look after her, despite them both also losing their dad. Their Umma wants things to change for the better, which explains her eating fish eyes every day, as they are supposed to bring good luck.

Then Umma meets a man and everything changes. She’s happier, and when the girls finally meet him, it turns out he’s a walking and talking red flag. The way he treats Umma and talks to the girls, his fixation with Asian culture, him refusing to pronounce their names and calling the girls JW and JH, because it’s easier, and a few other things I will leave out here.

My Thoughts:

Ji-Won starts to have a fixation with his blue eyes and this is where the book starts to get interesting. Every chapter from now on was intriguing and fast-paced, and I was eager to see what unusual thing Ji-Won will do next to soothe her hunger and fixation.

I also liked the moments during her life at school, her meeting the new friends and also us learning about her previous friend group. Ji-Won’s behaviour with her old friends is sinister. She doesn’t like being left out, and will do bad things to break the group apart. She also doesn’t feel emotion or remorse and accountability. It all adds depth to her character. I have to say, interestingly enough, I feel Geoffrey shares some similar personality traits. The problematic ones. It was interesting to see their dynamic and to see Ji-Won not like these things about him, when she is sometimes doing the same thing, but maybe without realising.

I didn’t quite enjoy the ending, and it is probably the reason why the review ends with only 3 stars. I won’t reveal anything, because anything I say will spoil it for people that haven’t read the book, but I think the book should not have gone in that direction in the end, even if temporary. ling like this book could have been so much more, but just was not it for me. A shame, but on to the next…

About The Author:

Monika is a second-generation Korean American living in Los Angeles’s Koreatown. She learned about eating fish eyes and other Korean superstitions from her mother, who immigrated to California from Seoul in 1985.

Author Website

Book Review · Books

The Divorcées by Rowan Beaird [BOOK REVIEW]

July 22, 2024July 22, 2024 innah96Leave a comment

The Divorcées was a very unique read, and although I enjoyed it whilst I was reading it, the ending completely underwhelmed me.

About The Book:

Pages: 253

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Publisher: Manilla Press

Format I read it in: Hardcover

Rating: ★★★

We’re in 1951, in Reno, Nevada, at the Golden Yarrow, the most respectable ranch for divorcees. Women have to spend six weeks in a place like this, so they are able to get divorced.

My Thoughts:

It was quite strange reading about these times, even though I read this book right after finishing Anna Karenina. If only she could spend six weeks in Nevada. Oh well, we digress!

I really enjoyed the beginning and middle of the book. Lois coming to the ranch and meeting the other women staying there. Getting into the routine, and learning new things, making new friendships.

“Because of Rita, I can say with certainty that there’s a path for every girl who comes here. You just need one light to turn on to show you the way.”

But then the new lady comes, Greer, and she changes everything. She is wild and free and pushes Lois to her limits. And despite knowing that Greer sped up the pace of the book and added action and tension, she is also the reason I ended up with a sour taste in my mouth after finishing the book. I just didn’t like that toxic friendship and it ruined it for me.

“As awful as it is, marriage is the only way for a woman to get any freedom.”

I loved everything else – Lois’s character at first, the ranch, the other ladies and their stories. Honestly, I thought they all had more stories to tell and Greer stole all their thunder and the book’s attention was focused mostly on her. I have a feeling like this book could have been so much more, but just was not it for me. A shame, but on to the next…

About The Author:

Rowan Beaird is a fiction writer whose work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, and The Common, among others. She is the recipient of the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart. She has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and StoryStudio, and she currently works at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Divorcées is her first novel.

Author Website

Book Review · Books

The Last Summer (The Wild Isle #1) by Karen Swan [BOOK REVIEW]

July 15, 2024July 15, 2024 innah96Leave a comment

Another Karen Swan novel, and another book that entirely gripped me. The Last Summer is the first book in the Wild Isle Series, with the Stolen Hours being published this year (2024). Set in the remote Scottish island of St. Kilda, it was the perfect blend of wilderness and romance.

About The Book:

Pages: 400

Genre: Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★★

Summer on St Kilda – a wild, remote Scottish island.
Two strangers from drastically different worlds meet . . .

Wild-spirited Effie Gillies has lived all her life on the small island of St Kilda but when Lord Sholto, heir to the Earl of Dumfries, visits, the attraction between them is instant. For one glorious week she guides the handsome young visitor around the isle, falling in love for the first time – until a storm hits and her world falls apart.

Three months later, St Kilda falls silent as the islanders are evacuated for a better life on the mainland. With her friends and family scattered, Effie is surprised to be offered a position working on the Earl’s estate. Sholto is back in her life but their differences now seem insurmountable, even as the simmering tension between them grows. And when a shocking discovery is made back on St Kilda, all her dreams for this bright new life are threatened by the dark secrets Effie and her friends thought they had left behind.

My Thoughts:

Life at St. Kilda is very remote, and we get to find out more through Effie’s adventures. When the island has some new guests, one in particular is about to catch Effie’s eye. After a few days of adventure, and what seems to be, the start of a love story, the islands receive the news that they are to be evacuated for a better life on the mainland.

“I don’t know what you’re so worried about. A girl’s perfectly safe flirting with a man she knows can never marry her, especially the son of an earl. It’s the men who can marry you that you should be wary of.”

The book is split into two parts, before and after the evacuation and the change of tone and atmosphere is evident.

“But I’m not poor, sir.”, she replied, with sudden defiance. “That’s just it. I have everything I need here. A poor man needs what he does not have, but I want nothing more.”

People find it hard to adjust and I couldn’t help but feel for them. I know it doesn’t compare, but it reminded me of me coming to the UK for the very first time. Thinking I know English, and yet, not quite capturing the accent and asking people to talk slowly to me. Not fully understanding the culture and humour, and not quite fitting in.

“I know it’s hard. Hardest of all on the two of you. In a couple of months, our lives are going to change forever. We’ll leave here and everything we know will be different. Every single thing. Some will be better, some will be worse. But I also know a day will come when we’ll look back on this moment – on the three of us sitting on the grass, with feathers in our hair and dead birds by our feet – and there’ll be something of it that still remains.”

This book was a bundle of emotions, but I enjoyed every moment of it. It made me really want to visit Scotland, and especially St. Kilda. I am now quite intrigued and excited to continue this journey and also read The Stolen Hours.

“Their gazes locked again and she had it again – that sensation of falling, far scarier than anything she’d ever known on a rope; a tension seemed to exist between them that paid no need to barriers the factor had warned must keep them apart.”

About The Author:

Karen Swan is the Sunday Times top three bestselling author of twenty books and her novels sell all over the world. She writes two books each year – one for the summer period and one for the Christmas season. Previous summer titles include The Spanish Promise, The Hidden Beach and The Greek Escape and for winter, Midnight in the Snow, The Christmas Secret and Together by Christmas.

Category: Book Review

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover [BOOK REVIEW]

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I Wish You Would by Eva Des Louriers [BOOK REVIEW]

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The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim [BOOK REVIEW]

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The Divorcées by Rowan Beaird [BOOK REVIEW]

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