‘It Starts with US’ picks up the lives of Lily, Atlas, and Ryle from where ‘It Ends with Us’ ends. With Lily and Ryle divorced with their new-born daughter in the picture, they try to find some sort of co-parenting balance in each of their lives. But of course, it is easier said than done. Ryle continues to battle with his anger issues while Lily tries to explore the possibility of her life with Atlas. Her divorce seems like a perfect opportunity for Atlas to build his future with Lily in it, but all their hope and courage is tested when their pasts come haunting their present.
If this extremely brief summary might seem to give you an idea that you should read it, please don’t! Having bought the two books in combo offer and with an okay experience with first book, I did the terrible mistake of reading this one. I was HUGELY disappointed, to say the least.
‘It Starts with Us’ is the kind of book which should not exist. It not only offers nothing to its readers, but also strips away from the charm of its prequel – ‘It Ends with Us’. The only positive thing about this book is the character – Theo, whose conversations with Atlas were sort of refreshing and cracked me up every time.
The author has done a very lazy job of writing this one, repeatedly pawning off from the material of its prequel. The irritable infamous Ellen letters are deliberately inserted now and again, just to take up space and number of words. All the characters keep repeating same things over and over again all throughout the book.
With no new plot or value addition, the book reads like a badly written fan-fiction for the characters – Lily and Atlas. Even the scenes which were supposed to be steamy didn’t tingle any fancy from me. By the end, I was skimming through most of it and couldn’t wait for it to be over.
I would give it two stars out of five as nothing worked for me in this book.
I don’t recommend this book to anyone. Read this only if you love Lily and Atlas as a couple and want to read more about them.
DISCLAIMER: This review is my honest opinion. I DO NOT claim to have any authority/intention to add/delete any value of the book or of the author. I wish nothing but success to the author.
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