it starts with us - the crimes of colleen hoover pt 2

2 out of 5 stars

!! THIS IS NOT A SPOILER FREE REVIEW !!

OKAY! This one wasn’t as outwardly atrocious as ‘It Ends With Us’. However, I still hated it. Not as much, but still hated it nonetheless. It fulfills the role of a romance. They fall in love and they get married at the end. There is drama and abuse is still a major topic. Unlike my ‘It Ends With Us’ review, this will be an actual review of everything I liked and disliked. The other book did not deserve it because it was awful. 

To start with, the summary calls Lily and Ryle’s co-parenting as civil, but it’s not? Ryle threatens Lily almost every time he sees her. And this is where I started to realize Emmy isn't really a character. And yes, she’s a baby so I didn’t expect much, but she's just there. Sometimes Lily has to feed her or take her to a playdate but that's kinda it. Lily is alway described as exhausted from being the main parent of Emmy, but we are never shown why. Colleen failed “Show Don’t Tell” school.

I firmly believe that Emmy was brought into the book to give Lily an out of her abusive marriage. And she’s in this book just so Ryle has a reason to be here under the guise of co-parenting. I wouldn't be surprised if Colleen writes a 3rd book in this series called ‘It Begins With You’ where she makes Ryle find love and be a good husband and father, since she’s trying so damn hard to redeem him. She made her sexy doctor character a bad person but she’s to hornied up to just drop him. I wouldn’t be surprised if the romantic lead in this imaginary book was a self insert who braves through the abuse and helps change the Sad Bad Boy ™ .

Something I enjoyed about this book is the Dual POV, I actually preferred reading Atlas’ chapters. Because it was different from the last book. Like, if I wanted to read Lily and Ryle’s abusive dynamic, I would reread the first book. 

In this book, Atlas is trying to get with Lily. She’s into it, she’s just worried about Ryle’s reaction to her being in a relationship so she puts it off for a while. And Atlas is perfect. He’s just a great guy. He cooks, cleans, takes care of Emmy, and most importantly, doesn’t abuse Lily. He’s the safe option. And also, boring. So boring. He goes to work, he goes home, he talks to lily. Not even his story is exciting. I mean, kinda at first, but you quickly realize that this is the “Happy Ending” book. Where all the abused characters get to be happy. So it quickly becomes obvious that he gets his way with everything. His mother calls him, she sucks so he blocks her number. 

Atlas’ restaurants keep getting vandalized and croutons keep getting stolen. His employees urge him to call the cops, but Atlas (who was previously homeless) feels for the mystery criminal and holds off for roughly 2 weeks. In the meantime, he focuses on Lily.  About halfway through the book (page 118) his mother, known as Sutton from this point on, comes to visit. He thinks she’s there for money, but she’s looked for her missing son Josh. He’s 12 and he’s been missing for 2 weeks. The cops don’t know he’s missing, so… mother of the year.

Atlas didn't know he had a brother, since he was kicked out before Josh was born. We learn that Sutton and Atlas’ stepdad were horrible and abusive. Which at this point we can expect from this book. Since Colleen seems to have a hard on for trauma. (There is nothing wrong with writing trauma, billions of people have it, but it needs to be handled correctly and it isn’t here.) We learn that Sutton poisons Josh’s mind into thinking that Atlas doesn’t care about him. Even though he didn’t even know Josh existed. Then he goes to Lily’s to give her a hug cause she didn’t have a good day. Sweet, considerate Atlas. 

Atlas has the annoying trait of just being perfect. He has 0 flaws. He’s supposed to be a foil for Ryle but he’s just not a good foil. Yes, Ryle becomes cartoonishly evil towards the end of book one, but he’s also smart, charming, sexy, and he cares for his family (minus lily.) Atlas is also smart, charming, sexy and cares for his family. The only difference is Atlas can do no wrong. Which is good. I’m not looking forward to seeing Lily being abused again. When I say he has no flaws, I mean it. 

In the first book, before Ryle was abusive, he felt like a character. He was a little arrogant, he had some anger issues, he was an over thinker. He had flaws that weren’t just abuse. Atlas has none, he’s not clumsy, he never overthinks, he never gets impatient. I doubt he ever has boogers. 

When you make your abusive character have anger issues, arrogance, and relationship insecurity, but your “Good Boyfriend” ™ character has none of those, you are subtextually villainizing those behaviors. And I’m not saying that Atlas needs to have all these flaws, he doesn’t need to get mad or be full of himself, but by making NOTHING wrong with him, you are making him unrealistic. Like, he’s a chef, make him burn a meal a few times, make him HATE Ryle, I’ll take a miscommunication trope at this point. He’s boring. He’s perfect so I hate him. 

Atlas seems to have a brainblast moment after Sutton leaves and decides to wait out after hours to catch the mystery vandal in the act. It’s a kid. Specifically, Josh. 

☆☆☆

His face holds the shape of a cut that is long over do, with sides that have grown out too long and uneven to be intentional. “She told me you left because of me. She said you didn’t want a brother.”

I have to hold back my irritation. [...] “I didn’t even know about you until today, Josh. I swear. I would have been around if I had.” 

He eyes me from his seat, studying me. Wondering if he can trust me. “You know about me now.” [...]

I nudge my head towards the doors to the kitchen. “You're right. Let’s go.”

☆☆☆

Atlas holds off on calling Sutton, instead taking Josh to his house and letting him crash. The next day, he tells Lily that he plans to get custody of josh. The kids top 2 mangas are Chainsaw Man and One Piece, which are acceptable. But also feels like Colleen googled “Popular Manga” and let him have them. 

Well Atlas calls Sutton, she wants her kid back or she’s calling the cops. Understandable but also fuck her. Blah blah blah. Sutton slaps Josh so Atlas takes him back.

Also off topic, I mean on topic for the book but not on topic for the review. I HATE Allysa. So much. She’s Lily’s best friend and Ryle’s sister. 

☆☆☆

She’s not a ride-or-die friend, nor is she a ride-or-die sister. That’s what I love most about her, because I’m not ride-or-die, either. If you do something stupid, I’m going to be the friend to tell you you’re doing something stupid. I’m not going to join you  in your stupidity. 

☆☆☆

Excuse me? You don’t need to be a ride-or-die to not hang out casually with your best friend's abuser. I don’t care if he’s your brother. You don't need to invite him to hang with you and said best friend. There can be nuance to this, but Colleen does not handle it well. At all. 

I don’t even want to finish the review. It’s a boring and predictable book. Atlas gets custody of Josh, Atlas and Lily get married. 

Once again, a book ABOUT Lily, isn't about Lily. Cause she’s just a placeholder for the reader. This is a story about everything happening around Lily. Fuck this book. And fuck Colleen Hoover.