ConsideringIt Ends With Ushas proven to beone of the hottest movies of the summer, it wouldn’t exactly be surprising if a sequel film were to be greenlit soon. Lucky for fans, authorColleen Hooverhasalready penned a sequel to the first triumphant novel titledIt Starts With Us. The book picks up shortly after the events ofIt Ends With Usand follows the same characters. But if you haven’t read the book or even knew a sequel existed, look no further because here’s all you need to know about the hit companion piece to theBlake Lively-led movie.
‘It Starts With Us’ Picks Up Where ‘It Ends With Us’ Leaves Off
ThoughIt Starts With Uswas released 6 years afterIt Ends With Us,the booktakes place a mere hour after the ending of its predecessor.At the end of the first installment, Lily bumps into Atlas while meeting for a custody visit with Ryle. InIt Starts With Us, though, their encounter is cut short and, to their dismay, both are forced to return to work. However, things quickly complicate as Lily becomes more apprehensive about Ryle’s jealousy toward Atlas.Atlas is undeterred though, and expresses his willingness to be there for Lilyandto let her adjust at her own pace. This proves difficult though, as Lily, on top of experiencing intense anxiety about the well-being of her child, is struggling to balance co-parenting with Ryle after their tumultuous relationship.
As the story progresses, Lily and Atlas begin going on dates and rekindling their relationship with newfound maturity.Ryle, though, is still the sametroubled man we met inIt Ends With Usand proceeds to attack, belittle, and verbally abuse Lily incessantly. From spamming her with cruel texts to showing up at her workplace and home unannounced, Ryle solidifies himself as a dangerous individual who poses a threat to both Lily and their child. With young Emmy in mind, Lily decides she’s had enough, announcing she plans to contact a lawyer about full custody of their daughter – something she wished she’d done long ago. Ultimately, during a supervised conversation, Ryle begrudgingly agrees to attend anger management classes and accepts solely supervised visits with Emerson.
Colleen Hoover’s Upcoming Movie After ‘It Ends With Us’ Is a Chilling, Thrilling Gothic Story
Let’s get spooky!
Simultaneously, Atlas’ restaurant is found to have been broken into and vandalized. Atlas is about to contact the police when he discovers food missing, causing him to sympathize with the vandal, as he once struggled with homelessness and hunger himself. As fate would have it, after a visit from his estranged mother, Atlas finds out he has a missing eleven-year-old brother. Not only is this unexpected, but it turns out the vandal is, indeed, his younger brother, Josh, whom Atlas takes under his wing.He eventually becomes the legal guardian of his brother, getting his mother to agree to weekly family dinners at his restaurant in hopes of slowly rebuilding their fractured family.
‘It Starts With Us’ Finally Gives Fans the Romance They Deserve
One of the best parts ofIt Starts With Usis that we finally focus on Lily and Atlas’ romance. Yes, we have all of the flashbacks to them as teenagers in the first book, but in the sequel, we get to watch as they fall in love all over again. More importantly, we get to watch as Lily is finally treated right and loved the way she deserves, by someone who genuinely cares for and protects her. Over a year and a half later, we catch up with a nervous Atlas as he reads over his wedding vows to Lily, preparing to marry her. And yes, his vows are just as swoon-worthy as you’d imagine from two people who have been in love since they were teenagers (andof course, it contains aFinding Nemoreference!)
“Before you, I had never met love at all. But then you came along, and you changed that. Not only did I get the opportunity to be the first person to ever fall in love with you, but I also got to experience a shared heartbreak with you. And then, like a miracle, I was allowed to fall in love with you all over again. Two times in one life. How can one man be so lucky?”
‘It Starts With Us’ Doesn’t Give Justin Baldoni’s Ryle a Redemption Arc
One of the most glaring things that sticks out aboutIt Starts With Usis howit doesn’t try and give Ryle a redemption arc, and that is not a bad thing.Ryle is an awful, violent man, and everything he puts Lily through in the first book is unforgivable. Giving him a redemption arc in the sequel would have not only done a disservice to Lily’s character but, in a way, to domestic violence survivors everywhere, which is whoColleen Hoover says these books were written in honor of. However, fans may agree it would have been nice to see Ryle experience a few more consequences, which is something a potential film adaptation could fix, as the adaptation of the first book changed some details to help improve the story. Ryle should have gone to anger management classes, he should’ve been seeing a therapist to help him through his trauma from the death of his brother. Nothing would make his prior actions redeemable, but it would have been nice to at least see him attempt to make a change, if only for his daughter.
Ultimately, there is undeniably a lot of material to work with if a film sequel is confirmed.It Ends With Usfound itself caught upin quite a bit of negative discourse for how it portrayed Lily and Ryle’s relationship, namely in how it failed to acknowledge that themovie was about domestic violence in its marketing. Making a movie sequel could be a complicated decision, but perhaps one that would turn out well consideringIt Starts With Usaddresses a lot of the issues of the first installment andoffers fans a much happier and deserved ending for Lily– with no Ryle in sight.
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