Teens: did you know that you can earn community service credit for writing a book review and submitting it to us? Today, we’ll hear from two teens who did just that, and get their takes on the same book. Find out more about how to earn community service hours from home at cheshirelibrary.org/teens/.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. Reviewed by Anja J.

This book had me in actual tears by the end of it, and I finished it in less than 2 days. Colleen Hoover did an outstanding job at portraying the hard-to-hear truths of domestic violence in this book. The story outlines the childhood of Lily Bloom living and growing up in an unstable household, with a father that got angry at her mother very easily. At the same time, she falls in love with a boy, Atlas, with whom she found refuge and comfort. The two, however, part ways.

Fast-forwarding to her post-college years, she meets a man in Boston, Ryle, who seems like the perfect fit for her. Until he isn’t. Meanwhile, Lily runs into her first love, Atlas, after all these years, which challenges the strength and trust of Lily and Ryle’s relationship.

The story of Lily and Ryle’s relationship has the reader engaged from the very beginning. It perfectly demonstrates the gray areas of abusive relationships and how one can fall into the cycle of abuse and struggle to break their way out. Hoover’s beautiful writing creates a waterfall of emotions and exemplifies the contradictions in characters that we see in everyday life. Everything is written so personally and eloquently that it is like you are literally in Lily’s shoes and experiencing everything firsthand. Parts of the book were also written in the form of journal entries that provided so much more insight into the internal workings of Lily. This book has never made me hate, and yet, sympathize with a character more. After reading this book, I had realized this story could be so much more realistic than it is fiction. So many women face the same awful and heart-breaking situations that Lily was in and reading this story was getting to know, intimately, what that is like. This book has recently gained a lot of popularity, and it is justifiable, as it truly lives up to all of the hype.

5 stars.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. Reviewed by Jocelyn C.

Lily Bloom grew up in a traumatizing household. She never had it the same as some of her classmates and friends. She was born in a small town in Maine, graduated from college, and ended up moving. She moved to Boston and opened up her own business, which she’s always dreamed of. When she meets a handsome neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincade, her whole life is turned around. She falls in love with him.

Ryle had many attributes. He is stubborn, strong, and even a little conceited. Among all of these, he is extremely caring with a huge spot in his heart for Lily. As Lily navigates through her crazy and wild ride of a relationship with Ryle, thoughts of Atlas Corrigan come back to haunt her. Atlas was her first love. Her protector with the biggest heart and soul she’d ever met. They were together when they were in high school and were inseparable. They saw each other every waking moment of the day. They couldn’t bear to not see each other until one day Atlas left and Lily was left all alone, completely heartbroken. When she graduated college, she finally said she needed to get out of Maine, and that’s how she ended up in Boston, where everything seemed better.

When Atlas all of a sudden reappeared back in her life 15 years later, Lily and Ryle’s entire relationship is jeopardized. He was a link to her past that she didn’t want to remember. Lily and Ryle struggle to rekindle their relationship, all while Atlas is in the back of both of their minds. We see jealousy, anger, and reconciliation all throughout the book. It will make you fall in love, rip your heart out, and be so angry while dealing with sensitive topics. Colleen Hoover conveys an excellent novel of love and heartbreak that jump started a new groundbreaking career for her.

5 stars

Teens: did you know that you can earn community service credit for writing a book review and submitting it to us? Today, we’ll hear from someone who did just that. Find out more about how to earn community service hours from home at cheshirelibrary.org/teens/.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. Reviewed by Caroline O.

Meet Olive, a nerdy science loving girl who is shy and awkward. Olive has a twin, Ami, and even though they are total opposites, they still have an unbreakable bond. That is, until it is broken. Olive has the worst luck and everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. On the other hand, Ami gets everything to somehow go her way and she may be the luckiest person on Earth. Any contest that Ami has ever entered in, she has won, so it is no surprise when Ami wins a free, non-refundable honeymoon trip to Hawaii. This luck seems to last up until her wedding day when everyone that ate out of the free, buffet style meal that she won, gets food poisoning. Everyone, that is, except for Olive, who has food allergies, and Ethan, who is a germophobe and refuses to eat out of buffets.

Ami and her husband suggest that Olive and Ethan go on the trip together, since it is non-refundable and the newlyweds are too sick to go. This sounds like a great plan, besides the fact that Ethan and Olive hate each other! Not to mention that these two would have to act as if they had just gotten married. Ethan is the groom’s brother, who can come off as being cocky and arrogant. This was exactly Olive’s first impression of him when they met at a family event awhile back. With Ami being the pushy older twin that she is, Olive and Ethan reluctantly board the plane. Bickering of course. The trip is going somewhat smoothly until Ethan realizes he may not hate Olive as much as he thought.

This book is an amazing read, especially during the summertime. The author does an exceptional job at using imagery and emotional appeal to drag the reader further and further into the book. Not to mention that the book never gets old, and is never boring. The book starts and ends with pure chaos, which is unlike a lot of books that I have ever read. I personally like how the Christina Lauren duo writes their books. In their pieces, they tend to write at least an excerpt from every single character in the book, whether it is a small character or a main character.

5 stars.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Reviewed by Caroline O.

Eleanor & Park is a phenomenal book that captures the life of two characters, Eleanor and Park. Eleanor is someone who is not as comfortable in her body as most of her sixteen year old peers at school. Eleanor also has an unstable home life with an abusive step-father and a mother that has no control. Eleanor’s family is quite large, including her four little siblings, three of which are biological siblings and one step-brother. This does not seem to be an issue except for the fact that they live in a 2 bedroom apartment, meaning that all of the kids have to share a bedroom with one bath. On the nights that Richie, the step-dad, gets extra abusive and wakes up the kids, with the excessive crashing of objects getting thrown outside their bedroom, Eleanor has to sit there and comfort every one of them. To escape her reality, Eleanor loves to read, but this only makes her an outcast at school. Will she ever find somewhere safe where she can be herself?

Park lives down the street from Eleanor which means that they are on the same bus, where he notices and later meets Eleanor. Park finds that he is actually quite similar to Eleanor. Despite the differences in home life, they are both misfits in their school and begin to bond over that. Park begins to look forward to talking with Eleanor on the bus until there is a period of time when Eleanor does not come to school. This raises Park’s curiosity and he asks his parents if they have ever heard of her family since they had to have lived near each other. Both his parents look at each other and tell him how her house is not necessarily the safest place. Park immediately puts the pieces together and is determined to find her. Through this journey he learns that he may like her more than just in a friend way.

I enjoyed this book a lot because of how quickly the audience can feel as if they are there and in the same room as the characters. The book also is not a hard read, I have found that certain books can be hard to get into for the first few chapters, but this book is different. I was able to enjoy the story very early on in the book and it was upsetting to learn that there was not a sequel to go along with it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a romance novel that will take you through all of the emotions including guilt, happiness, sadness, and curiosity.

4 stars.