romance
Lily, a new mom recently divorced from her abusive husband,
runs into Atlas, her first love, and they begin to reconnect. However, the
ex-husband is still co-parenting with Lily and dislikes Atlas. He’s causing
issues with Lily’s ability to move on.
Sadly, after I got 33% into this novel, I realized It Starts With Us is the second in a series. The story of Lily and her ex are, apparently,
the first novel. I decided to forge ahead because I was actually enjoying
learning about Lily’s past as this novel’s story went on. I hadn’t felt like I
was missing a prequel while reading it. The revelations (to me) that
were casually dropped along the way just felt like good story-crafting with
more information parceled out the more I read. And, honestly, I would probably
not have gotten through the first novel if it detailed the abusive relationship
between Lily and her ex. This one definitely details some of the abuse that she
(and her mother and Atlas) suffered at the hands of their abusers. That was
enough.
It was a sweet romance built on a foundation of young love
and acceptance and reconnection. It’s also about perseverance and overcoming
family trauma. It was a cute story but definitely my least favorite of all the
Colleen Hoover novels I’ve read.
There were two narrators. Olivia Song and Colin Donnell. They were both good voice actors. Sometimes
Song’s matter-of-fact delivery felt cold and unemotional, though. Donnell’s acting performance was excellent—I really loved his tone.
I’ll give them an A- as a team.
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