I am well aware that BookTok (book lovers on TikTok) have turned Colleen Hoover’s books into massive successes. For a while, I thought Hoover was just writing sort of modern romance novels, with some sex and drama and what have you. Then I realized that Hoover’s books are almost always about abusive men? That’s especially true of Hoover’s biggest bestseller, It Ends with Us. It’s been adapted into a film starring Blake Lively as the improbably-named Lily Bloom (who moves to Boston to… open a flower shop). Justin Baldoni plays Ryle Kincaid (the husband) and Brandon Sklenar plays Atlas Corrigan (the childhood friend), the two main guys in it, but Jenny Slate and Hasan Minhaj are also in it. It was directed by Justin Baldoni too. Well, here’s the trailer:
So, once I learned what Hoover’s books entail, I promised myself that I would never read one. That being said, I get why this story was adapted into a film? Like… these kinds of films used to be made all the time. Mid-budget dramas about terrible relationships. Now, does it feel like this is glamorizing abuse? For sure. It feels like Hoover is guilty of that too. That being said, this is the kind of movie Julia Roberts used to do. Jennifer Lopez has made a couple of films with a similar vibe. Girl meets guy, guy turns out to be a psycho, girl meets a different guy who isn’t a psycho.
PS… Taylor Swift’s fans are mad that Swift gave them a song. Like, Taylor and Blake are tight, I bet Blake asked for it.
Promotional images courtesy of Sony and Instagram.
Lily Bloom: textbook case of nominative determinism (and terrible parental choices).
I read this book, and it gutted me. I thought the story was so well done. I loved that the ending because she does break the cycle of abuse.
I thought the book was horrible also. I can’t believe all the hype it had which is why I read it. I had never hear of Colleen Hoover.
Probably because Brandon Sklenar is my tv boyfriend thanks to 1923 and I like to be supportive.
I’ve read this book and one other Hoover book based on a few friends’ recommendations. I haaaaated them. And now I can no longer trust these friendships. 😂
Same, they are Danielle Steele level bad
Agree. Picked it up bc of how it had surged on TikTok and wow, it was genuinely bad.
Same! Someone I liked and respected recommended Colleen Hoover’s books to me, and I now see that person in a completely different light and lost all respect (slight exaggeration). I tried 2 of Hoover’s books and absolutely despised them. Terrible.
Read it for my book club. LOATHED it. Total and complete crap.
Her performance in Age of Adaline was really good; I think I would watch this just based off that. She just has presence on screen.
And “A Simple Favor”. She was amazing in that.
She was excellent in The Shallows as well. And the entire movie hung on her performance—if you didn’t buy her, it wouldn’t have worked.
So, I agree that she was surprisingly good in Age of Adaline but I do not think she has a presence. I find her so dull and she sounds like she has marbles in her mouth. I think she is a situational actor. If she isn’t given a part that requires a ton of speaking, she can do ok. Similarly with The Shallows, she doesn’t actually have a lot of dialogue and it works. But put her in something that requires her to really show range? She just doesn’t have that “it” factor despite being beautiful and tall.
“She sounds like she has marbles in her mouth” omigod SO TRUE. She’s so mumbly when she speaks and despite her physical beauty, she has no on-screen charisma.
I have friend that I trusted recommend Colleen Hoover so I tried. I have given Colleen Hoover 4 tries (a pretty good effort) with this book being one of them. I no longer trust this friend.
I hated 3 out of the 4 and the 4th was just okay and I’m someone who actually enjoys a trashy romance novel here and there (I’m not a book snob). There’s definitely a theme of abuse in all of them, some handled better than others, but really just icky across the board.
As an aside- the Jennifer Lopez movie is called Enough- and it was the best movie she’s ever made.
It was so good.
I think at this point in my life i don’t have the patience for watching a woman make all those crap decisions. Not that i am not sympathetic- and i certainly know that any woman is vulnerable to falling into an abhorrent situation- but over 50 now- i’m like- honey, leave immediately and don’t look back.
Maybe i just don’t consider it entertaining.
A work friend recommended JLo’s Enough. I thought it was good movie, even if bits were unrealistic. But my JLo movie favorites are #1 Hustlers, and #2 Selena. Won’t watch ‘It Ends With Us’ after watching the trailer and seeing Blake tell the bad guy she loves him after he’s banged on her. Ugh. Nice it’s finally redemptive in the end, but I won’t sit through it. From the other comments here, sounds like Colleen Hoover novels won’t be added to my booklists either. Her novels are too trashy for the first list, and not enjoyable enough to go on the trashy romance booklist.
Oh wow, the trailer gave away the whole movie.
She looked bored on Gossip Girl where I underestimated her, but her movie screen performances have been quite good. Her role in The Age of Adapine was quite difficult, because she had to convince me that she was an unusually beautiful and unique woman whom men in every decade could fall for, and she made that believable.
I think what will matter for this movie is what they spent making it. If it had a reasonably low budget, it will do well enough to make that back. I suspect that is the case. Blake doesn’t seem to be a budget buster and works in smaller films that usually make their money back, rather than being in big budget films that flop harder. My suspicion is that some of this is lower budget films have shorter shoots, which are easier to balance with raising her kids. Effects heavy superhero and action films can have very, very long shooting schedules that last months rather than weeks.
The book was abysmal and read like terrible fanfiction so I’ll be avoiding this one.
Very much this. He’s a handsome and wealthy neurosurgeon and he wants her *so* bad. And the other guy is a handsome and wealthy restaurant owner and he wants her *so* bad. And she owns a flower shop! I lost count of how many times I rolled my eyes reading this nonsense.
I’ve never read a Colleen Hoover book, but I watched the trailer and it looks like a good movie. As a woman who was in an abusive relationship for many years, it really hit home to me. The lovebombing in the beginning of the relationship, then the abuse that starts once he has you, and the trauma bonding that occurs and makes it so hard to leave. It’s really complicated and even when you know you’re in a dysfunctional relationship, it’s not easy to get out of. At ALL. Especially when you have kids with them. It took YEARS for me to gather my strength and courage to end it, and my abusive ex fought me every step of the way, even though he’s the one who threatened me so many times with divorce. He just didn’t want to lose control of me and I’m so grateful to finally be free of him now. I’m glad that stories like this are being told, and I hope it helps other women like me to muster up their courage to leave and know that they deserve so much better. I don’t like the part of the story where there is some handsome, nice guy right there to ‘save’ her, though. I think most women who leave abusive relationships don’t have that. I know I didn’t, so I feel like that part is pretty unrealistic. A more realistic film that was really good and portrayed a similar situation is Alice, Darling with Anna Kendrick.
Thank you for sharing this. I can tell from your words how much fortitude it took to leave your ex and I commend you for it. I hope things have gotten better.
Colleen Hoover said she wrote this as a tribute to her mom who left [and was a single parent for a while] to protect the author from seeing physical and sexual violence everyday. Tell their stories ffs. As someone who has had to tuck the DV resources handout in a patient’s shoe so it won’t get them killed after they leave the ER. Give these women some spotlight. It’s quite something to be “over” domestic violence when the houses we drive by, the schools in our neighborhood and the people we regularly see are exposed to this. If you can’t do what you haven’t seen, in my understanding there can never be enough movies showing how someone decides to successfully leave. The series Maid on netflix did a good job showing how much you lose leaving and how many times DV victims have to leave.
As someone who escaped an abusive relationship, this book is 100% absolutely terrible. It has no trigger warnings, if it had I wouldn’t have read it. The main male character is a walking red flag yet the author tries to manipulate his actions into him being sooo romantic when he’s actually just walking all over her boundaries. It’s disgusting. I read the after word and it’s clear the author needs a lot more therapy to deal with her own experiences. I will not be watching this trash.
Y’all, if you want modern romance that is fun, sexy and smart, read Jasmine Guillory.