What happened in It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover - Recaptains

The basics

Title: It Ends With Us

Author: Colleen Hoover

Series: It Ends With Us #1

- It Ends With Us (2016)
- It Starts With Us (2022)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Sometimes it is the one who loves you 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, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

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.

Read a full summary of It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover below. If you can’t remember what happened in It Ends With Us and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.

What happened in It Ends With Us?

• Lily Bloom is the daughter of a mayor, who was truly a terrible person. Thankfully, he has died, and Lily is now attending his funeral. Lily is wondering whether she should do a speech at the funeral but since he was terrible she doesn’t really want to.
• Lily meets a guy called Ryle Kincaid on the terrace of a building. Ryle is a neurosurgeon and tells Lily he would definitely sleep with her.
• Lily decides to look at her old diaries, which are addressed to Ellen Degeneres. idk.
• In the diaries, we read about Lily’s terrible father and the domestic violence that Lily had to witness.
• We learn that Lily met an 18 year old guy called Atlas, who was squatting in a building across the street from Lily’s house. Lily becomes intrigued by him and feels bad for him.
• Lily tells Atlas what her home life is like. Atlas tells Lily he was thrown out by his abusive stepdad.
• Atlas starts spending more and more time at Lily’s house and hides there when her parents are out of the house.
• Atlas’s uncle invites him to go and live with him so he can finish school in Boston and then joint he Marines.
• Atlas agrees to go, and promises to look for Lily in the future.
• A few months after the funeral in the present day, Lily opens her own flower shop, which has been a life long dream. She hires a woman called Allysa, who is Ryle’s sister. Lily bumps into Ryle again.
• Lily and Ryle spend more and more time together and form a bond. Lily also becomes good friends with Allysa. Lily and Ryle become engaged.
• Lily and Ryle go for dinner with Lily’s mother. Turns out Atlas works there, and he and Lily speak briefly. Atlas is also engaged.
• Lily wonders if she still has feelings for Atlas after not seeing him for eight years.
• One evening, Ryle drops an oven dish and Lily laughs at him for the mistake. Ryle doesn’t like that and explodes at Lily. He pushes her and she hits her head.
• Lily is obviously upset about what happened. Ryle apologises and helps Lily clean her wound. Lily forgives him and is sure it’s a one-off.
• Lily and Ryle go back to the restaurant. Atlas sees the wounds and tells Lily she must break up with Ryle.
• Ryle notices the pair speaking and wants to know what’s going on. This causes an argument.
• Atlas goes to see Lily at work and gives her his number.
• Lily learns that Ryle killed his older brother when he was six. It was an accident when they were playing with a gun.
• Lily and Ryle marry in Vegas.
• Ryle becomes increasingly paranoid about Lily’s relationship with Atlas. He is violent towards Lily again and almost sexually assaults her.
• Lily goes to Atlas. He takes her to hospital and she stays with him for a bit.
• Lily discovers that she is pregnant. She doesn’t share the news.
• Ryle goes away for work and training, and when he returns he learns that Lily is pregnant. He gets excited and wants to name the baby after his brother.
• Lily tells her mother about what has been happening.
• Lily realises that Ryle is the worst and decides to divorce him.
• In the epilogue, Lily now has a baby girl. She gets back together with Atlas.

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