I noticed that the characterization of POC in this book was a tad stereotypical too.

Me too! With a little bit of Marylin

It’s on my nightstand 😍!

I’ll admit I was a tad naive lol. I hoped to live outside of the bubble and here it comes biting me in the butt

You’ll stop after “Tarnish me Hades” I guarantee it lol

It was a page turner, and it wasn’t bad I think I got sidetracked about it being a masterpiece the reviews said it was.

And I think your opinion weighs as anybody else.. you enjoyed it, great! You know what you like, it’s a starting point.

I think it’s valid, your rant I mean. I had clsssified that book as a fluffy harmless read that was predictable and non very deep but that resonated on some level. And I didn’t consider the biggest picture. So thank you.

Also I think there is difference between having a “fantasy about abuse” and mistaking romance with actual abuse and, from what you are telling me, the author and marketing team are making bucks on morally gray area. It’s a dangerous game for younger generations.

Have you read Neon Gods? It’s really bad. Like reaaaally bad, but was based on consent to the point you were reminded every ten seconds since I think it was marketed to a younger audience.

I agree. I liked that part of the story actually, the need of being categorized can feel claustrophobic. It made a lot of sense and resonated.

That part was good, not everyone wants to fit in a box or even label themselves.

Agree. It goes into the fun books category. Did people say this was life changing? Wow.

I was expecting a big emotional delivery and I was just “what’s wrong with me?” So I came here to see I’m not the only one.

I think it matters you are an English mayor. It means you are an educated reader.

I have a degree in economics so a lot of things are not obvious to me and I have to study and get informed. And I agree about the cringe: the name and the rest.

About the book being labeled as romance: what? Seriously? I didn’t know the backstory of the book. I thought it was popular because was abuse and getting help, ending the cycle and all that. Not that was romantic. At all. When you read it you know the guy is a giant red flag. He is introduced by kicking chairs and forcing her to go near him. She tells him she doesn’t want a night stand and he keeps pushing. I could go on and on. All the signs were there from the beginning.

I also didn’t know that teenagers think this is “hot”. And that’s the problem. Abusers are usually very charming in the beginning, like in this case. I thought the ratio behind having a naive character was to use it as a device to tell a cautionary tale not to send messages like “he shoved me down the stairs but sex is hot and he has a six pack!”

Knowing this I can see where you a coming from and I agree. There is a sort of deception from the author to call this a love triangle and a love story when it’s blatant abuse. Especially if she writes for a younger audience. I will look into this.

The guy doesn’t face consequences and unfortunately it’s sometimes the reality especially when people don’t press charges and there are no records.

You are right, if you think about it. I would have given twilight 12 stars when I was a teenager (facepalm)

Same here. It was sold like great literature. That’s the problem

Agree, i think that if you like a story or not has more to do with you than the book itself. I was just confused about the hype

I figured. Note to self don’t trust good reads reviews again. I had my doubts but I silenced them.

Cringe! I always forget how that word is so effective at expressing that feeling lol.

It had potential right? An A list celebrity coming out. But to me they both felt fake: it was like watching to action figures making out.

Thank you for your opinion and no offense taken.

And you are entitled to your opinion and classify a book you don’t like as trashy. And yes there are far better authors and better books.

I think that there great books, good books, guilty pleasure books.

I put it ends with us in the latter category: you go in knowing it’s not going to be a good book but something in the story pulls your emotional strings. I think when that happens you are aware you are reading, as you called it trash, but you don’t care.

I haven’t analyzed why I didn’t mind the book until you asked the question.

I guess for me it was the title: it ends with us. I come from an abusive family (hope it’s not TMI) and I really, really would like my that my parents would have thought those litttle four words. But they didn’t. So it was up to me to build a safe, Healy life, and luckily I was able to. Kudos to the titling choice. The characters are flat and multidimensional, I agree. The guy was a walking red flag, can you imagine a man coming to your door bagging you to f. Him? That should have been my clue, but I guess I wanted to see what it would mean “it ends with us” and how she dealt with all this so I stuck around. I’m not sure I would suggest the book as a good book but I read it in one sitting and put away as just another story I read.

Why do think it’s glorification of abuse?

I think age might play a part here. I’m not even on tik tok. Am I dating myself? but I found it on display on the bookstore and got intrigued by Goodreads review.

Does quality of prose beat story? I tend to go with the story, if the story is good I can overlook a lot of things. In this case… meh

Ahahah right! It was also a bit condescending at times

Right? How could she not see that!! Plus did they move the car? It’s weird.

Never trust the tok. I love fake guitar videos they post.

I went in with zero expectations on it ends with us and I enjoyed it more than this one. It isn’t great literature but it was a good day in the terrace.

I’m glad you liked it! You are definitely not alone in this considering the amount of great reviews it received.

I tend to like books that deliver something emotional to me and this didn’t.

One reason more not to trust them! I agree.

I didn’t like my year of rest and relaxation, I found the unlikeable character to be gratuitous, but it was beautiful on sentence by sentence level. But agree with you that it was better than this one

Same here. It was predictable and fluffy. I need something like that sometimes. It was a good book it it’s category, I think I liked it also for the theme.

Totally agree.

While reading it I thought it would have make a really great movie. I enjoy music biopics even if artists I don’t follow.

There is nothing wrong with beach reads. I read more than my fair share. I actually liked It ends with us, probably because I wasn’t expecting anything more.

I like to switch between deep books and light reads and sometimes those kind of books you read just for… yup the sex scenes 😝.

Right now I’m reading the Bell Jar and next one is All the Light we cannot see and this one was a good in between but I hade too many expectations considering the reviews.

I get what you are saying. It could have been about Marylin or Elizabeth Taylor. In some scenes you could see old Hollywood.