Quite surprisingly, I really liked this book! It is far from perfect but I liked the writing, the character work (don't get it wrong, doesn't mean I liked the characters themselves), and most of the message Colleen Hoover was trying to send.

Upon reading the author's note however, I have mixed feelings about both the intention and the possible impact of this book. I appreciate that CoHo was drawing from personal experience and did not try to carelessly go beyond that especially for a topic that deserves a lot of care and nuance. However, with CoHo being one of the most beloved contemporary authors of our time, I'm hesitant to recommend this as a nuanced commentary on domestic abuse especially since it for one, wraps up so neatly, and two, seems to place responsibility on victims to end the cycle of abuse.

If readers clearly recognize the personal nature of this story (which I think I do), that would be great and you can appreciate the book for what it is. Unfortunately, it's hard to make certain of that especially since the discussion on domestic abuse is sometimes overshadowed by the underlying romance, which also has its problems.