It Starts with Us

Romance

Description

It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover’s romance sequel to It Ends with Us, returns to Lily and Atlas as their relationship resumes. Lily is raising her infant daughter, Emerson, and unexpectedly encounters Atlas on a Boston street. Although he invites her on a date, she hesitates because she fears how her ex-husband, Ryle, will react and is establishing boundaries around their daughter’s care. Atlas is also dealing with vandalism at his restaurants and the unexpected appearance of an eleven-year-old missing half-brother. Told through alternating first-person chapters from Lily and Atlas, the novel follows their renewed possibility of a romantic future.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Direct

Pace

Moderate

Tone

Earnest · Hopeful · Intimate · Romantic

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Relationships

Emotional intensity

4 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

FamilyFreedomLoveParenthoodTransformationTrauma

About Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover is an American novelist whose career began with Slammed, written initially without plans for publication and later taken up by Atria Books. After earlier work in social work and teaching, she became known chiefly for romance and young adult fiction; in 2022, her books occupied six of the top ten places on the New York Times paperback fiction bestseller list. Her novels tend to be character-centered, conversational, and dialogue-driven, using intimate relationships to examine trust, autonomy, grief, guilt, and forgiveness. It Ends with Us places romantic attachment against domestic violence and a woman’s effort to establish limits, while Reminders of Him connects love with bereavement, punishment, motherhood, and the difficult prospect of rebuilding a life. Ugly Love and November 9 likewise begin with deliberately constrained arrangements, allowing concealed histories and changing expectations to pressure the bond. Hoover has also moved into suspense: Verity retains a romantic element but shifts toward a remote household, hidden writings, and mounting uncertainty.