Setting

 In the novels It Ends With Us and It Starts With Us, Colleen Hoover uses social class and difference in lifestyle to produce a setting that supports the morals of characters, ultimately illustrating that details associated with setting not only depict a time and place, but also conveys values associated with that setting. 

Hoover begins by bouncing between the lifestyle that Lily had when she was younger and compares it to how she lives as an adult, which highlights the idea that social class plays a role in the time and place of each depicted event in the plot. Specifically, her apartment as an adult is compared to the way her love interest, Ryle, lives and how his wealth plays a role in the character that he is. When the scene takes place in Ryles home, the tone becomes more tense and there seems to be more awkwardness at certain times. Lilly doesn’t have that much money and when the setting is in her apartment it feels more joyous and there is a lighter tone. This use of different social classes and values is depicted in the story from one place to another. The time and place of each chapter supports the meaning behind each character's values. 

Colleen Hoover then shifts to the past and looks back at the way Lily tells her story from when she was younger and lived in a small town in Maine, showcasing how her social class was different from a friend she meets named Atlas. He was “homeless” and she put aside her differences in social class and helped him. When the setting took place at Lilly’s house, she would look out the window at night and see this young boy sneak into an abandoned house. The importance of setting when she was younger puts a deeper meaning around what her values were and how they grow as she gets older. She would help Atlas and take care of his despite their differences. 

Furthermore, when Lilly moves to Boston, Massachusetts, she fulfills her dream of owning a flower shop. Some of the setting also takes place here. She meets Allysa who you would think is a person that doesn’t come from a family of wealth, but she is the complete opposite. Her lifestyle is very different from Lilly’s and she tries not to let that show. When the setting takes place at Allyssa’s apartment, the tone still approaches a tense feeling and that is because Allyssa and Ryle are siblings and share the same apartment. Her and Allyssa become best friends, but when things with Ryle start to get shaky the importance of the setting revolves around whether or not Lilly should go over to their apartment.

In the novel It Ends With Us and It Starts With Us, Colleen Hoover uses specific details to further the traits of each character in order to convey a deeper level of character understanding, ultimately illustrating a range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms represented by those characters. 

Within both books, It Ends With Us and It Starts With Us, Hoover writes the story in Lily’s perspective. Lily tells her story through diary entries which bring back memories and specific details about characters from her past. There becomes tension that builds up and is a huge expression of how characters in her books leave a message through their perspectives and biases. She writes the characters each with their own unique trait and personality. Moreover, there are shifts in the books of character detail which lead to new perspectives and internal values that one character holds for another. 

An example of a character shift is when Lily meets Ryle, and he is kind and gentle, but then it compares to when he becomes aggressive and intimidating. Lily’s perspective on Ryle as a person changes and she has to do what she feels is right for herself and for others that she loves. In chapter fourteen, Hoover illustrates, “I’m still laughing as I lean over to get a look at Ryle’s hand. I hope he didn’t hurt it too bad… I’m instantly not laughing anymore. I’m on the floor, my hand pressed against the corner of my eye… In a matter of one second, Ryle’s arm came out of nowhere and slammed against me, knocking me backward.” This is only one of the acts of violence that the character, Ryle, has acted upon. After this scene, Lily never really looked at Ryle the same. In her letters that she had written as a kid,  there was some foreshadowing with the stories that were told about her father’s actions which later were transformed into the way Ryle treated Lily.

This overturning bias that Lilly has on Ryle carries on throughout the second book of the sequel, It Starts With Us. In It Starts With Us, Lilly’s story continues on but now she has changed as a character and has become much more protective and less vulnerable in her new chapter of life. She now has a baby, which is Ryles daughter, and she takes past occurrences into consideration when being encountered with different characters; especially Ryle. She has become so much stronger for herself as a character and has even shown Ryle that she can go down a much smoother path with characters that have shown their true gentleness and compassion towards her. Hoover continues a pattern throughout her book with creating strong character detail that is easily identifiable by the reader.

Plot & Structure

Colleen Hoover illustrates the novels It Ends With Us and It Starts With Us with a distinctive, predictable, yet unique plot in order to showcase her structural choices that contribute to the reader's interpretation of the text. 

Hoover begins by sequencing the text with a strong structure that grasps the reader and highlights the darkness that will be seen throughout the text. The first chapter is started with, “As I sit here with one food on either side of the ledge, looking down from twelve stories above the streets of Boston, I can’t help but think about suicide.” Hoover writes this with such emphasis to start the story and get the reader's attention. Colleen Hoover’s choice to start with this deep of a thread carries on throughout the book for a greater plotline. There are acts of violence in the book, sexual interactions, and mature word choice; Each input is a structural choice Hoover used to make the story one that is enjoyable for the reader’s interpretation.

Hoover then shifts to incorporating letters from the main character, Lily, when she was growing up. Lily found these letters fresh after her move and to her it brought nostalgia, but to the reader it was a second plot line they weren’t expecting. The relationship between the notes and Lily’s life now are a point of juxtaposition when she runs into an old friend, Atlas, who is really the main purpose behind writing these letters. Hoover illustrates Lily and Atlas’ relationship very well through the writing of these letters. The reader can easily interpret the emotion and the struggle that their relationship withheld. By arranging scenes of Lily reading these diary entries, it adds depth into the plot which leads to the highest climax. 

Colleen Hoover then finishes the overall plot in the second book, It Starts With Us, with Lily re-establishing a relationship with Atlas in order to reveal the effect and importance that introducing the diaries has within the story. Lily first ends ties with her ex-husband, Ryle, and tries to focus on herself. She runs into Atlas once again and she decides to take things slow in fear that Ryle would find out and become abusive again. Atlas and Lily reveal their never ending love for one another and the diary entries get reintroduced, for it comes up in discussion and Lily gives in to letting him read them. All of these events all revolved around the diary entries which creates suspense for the reader in the plot.