It Starts with Us (Paperback, 2023)

It Starts with Us – Colleen Hoover

After the success of It Ends with Us, one of the most talked-about novels of recent years, Colleen Hoover received countless requests from readers who wanted to know what happened to Lily Bloom and Atlas Corrigan. It Starts with Us is her answer, a sequel that shifts the focus from pain to healing and new beginnings.

The novel opens soon after the end of the first book. Lily, now separated from her abusive husband, Ryle, is raising their infant daughter and running her flower shop in Boston. A chance meeting on the street with Atlas, her teenage first love who once gave her shelter and comfort, rekindles feelings neither of them ever lost. Atlas, now a successful chef with restaurants of his own, has always cared deeply for Lily, and both of them are ready to give their relationship a chance.

But their path is not simple. Lily must handle co-parenting with Ryle carefully, knowing that his jealousy could flare when he learns about Atlas, and she struggles to protect herself and her daughter while keeping the peace. Atlas faces his own challenges, as trouble at one of his restaurants and the reappearance of his mother, who abandoned him as a teenager, bring painful memories, and lead him to a young half-brother who needs help.

Told in alternating chapters from Lily’s and Atlas’s perspectives, and including letters Lily writes in the style of her teenage journal, the novel is tender and hopeful.

It Starts with Us is a satisfying sequel for fans of the first book and should be read after it. It contains references to domestic abuse and sexual content.