3 Sentence Summary
“It Ends With Us” continues from the ending of “It Starts With Is” and shows Lily embarking on a new chapter of her life after college. When she meets Ryle, their connection grows, but the reappearance of her first love, Atlas, challenges their relationship. Colleen Hoover’s gripping novel explores Lily’s journey from an abusive past to finding strength and making difficult choices in matters of the heart.
Summary Read Time: Less than 6 minutes
Actual Book Length: 385
First Published in: 2016
Below is the detailed yet quick It Ends With Us book summary:
Part 1
The novel is based around 2 main characters Ryle Kincaid and Lily Bloom. Both of them form a very unlikely couple from the very start. Ryle is very focused towards his career of becoming a neurosurgeon and is not very interested in a proper relationship while Lily wants more out of it instead of just a one-night stand.
But after sometime, Ryle admits that he wants to have a relationship and cannot live without her. Lily was very happy but she never though this may turn into an abusive relation later.
Lily’s father, Andrew was very abusive towards Lily’s mother Jenny and that’s the reason for Lily’s hate towards her father. When her father passes away, she meets with Ryle on his funeral and ends up with one of the worst obituary because she could not think of anything positive due to the past.
Andrew had also got into a fight with Lily’s first boyfriend and made him visit the hospital when he found the guy and Lily together in bed. Andrew was strict on Lily and told she has brought shame to the family by being with a homeless guy.
Lily starts reading her past journals which she wrote as a teenager, especially the one’s she wrote when she was together with Atlas, her first boyfriend. Atlas was a senior to Lily in high school. Atlas was homeless because his stepfather had kicked him out of their house.
It was then when Lily helped him as he had nowhere to go. He provided food to him and allowed having shower in her home as well as letting him sleep in her room when it was too cold outside.
Part 2
Lily fell in love with Atlas but was heartbroken when she got to know that an uncle of Atlas wanted him to come Boston and live with him. Atlas then was looking to join Marines and told Lily that she will be going but will be looking for her when he returns. He didn’t want Lily to wait for him.
It was the same night when Lily’s father, Andrew beat Atlas with a baseball bat. Lily knew that Atlas was alive but she never got to hear from him since then.
Coming back to present, Ryle keeps on giving mixed signals to Lily about the relationship. Sometimes he says, he cannot commit anything and then he sends flowers to her and show unexpectedly at her apartment. Ryle decides to test the relationship.
During a date at Lily’s place, Ryle hits Lily. Both of them were drunk. Ryle had burned his hand and Lily could not help but laugh. Ryle apologizes to Lily just like her father used to do to her mother. Lily warns Ryle that if he ever hit her again, she could leave him.
That same evening, Lily & Ryle went to a restaurant where Atlas worked. Lily knew about him and was hoping she does not see him that evening. But Atlas comes to their table to ensure everything. He sees a mark around Lily’s eyes and spots a bandage on Ryle’s hand.
Atlas assumes that Ryle had hit Lily and later confronts Lily for the same. He asks Lily to leave Ryle but she makes excuses. Atlas tells her she is behaving like her mother and saves his number on Lily’s phone in case she ever needs help.
Ryle founds Atlas number in Lily’s phone and angrily hits her again. He accuses Lily of lying to him and hits her so hard that she falls down the stairs. Lily shouts at Ryle and asks him to leave her place. The next day, Allysa, who is Ryle’s sister comes to Lily and explains about the past of Ryle. She tells her that Ryle had anger issues due to a traumatic event in his childhood.
PART 3
As a child Ryle somehow found his parents gun and unintentionally shot his older brother. Since then, he is struggling with anger issues. Allysa asks Lily to get together with Ryle again as she believes with her, Ryle can get better.
They both get together again but soon Ryle hits Lily again. He gets to know that Lily is still in love with Atlas as he reads some of the Lily’s journals. He gets to know that the Boston magnet placed on refrigerator is also a gift of Atlas.
Ryle also realises that the heart shaped tattoo is an acknowledgement of the impact Atlas had made on Lily’s life. Ryle tries to rape Lily in anger and bashes her head against his when she bites his tongue.
Lily then calls Atlas as she cannot think of someone else for help. In the emergency room, the doctor tells Lily that she is pregnant. Atlas allows her to live at his place till the time the time Lily gets healed and tries to figure out the next step in her relationship.
When Lily leaves, Atlas tells her that he is unable to keep a casual relationship with her and asks her to come back to him if she feels love for him again.
Meanwhile, Lily tells Ryle that she want to wait till their baby is born to decide the next step in their relationship as she is not in her right state of mind. As soon as the baby is born, Lily asks Ryle for a divorce.
Lily wants a better experience for her daughter instead of an abusive father and she realizes that she deserves better treatment. After a year, Lily meets with Atlas on a street and soon decide to start a relationship.
