Why do we pick up a romance novel? Is it to experience a happy ending or to genuinely go on an emotional journey through the complexities of love? With the massive bestseller, It Ends With Us readers get both. Through following its main character, Lily, through a loving marriage that evolves into a situation of domestic abuse, readers get the opportunity to understand the complex emotional realities of loving someone who is harming you. A fellow romance lover and I sit down to chat about the importance of this story and the poignant lessons we took away from it.
Spoilers involved. CW: non-graphic discussion of physical abuse. National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
For extended show notes that include reading, watching, and listening recommendations as well as a related journal prompt, subscribe to my Substack below!
Subscribe here:
My Book
Follow for more:
Website:
https://violetvicxenvignettes.com/links
Something to Read: The Dragon’s Bride, Katee Robert
If you’re looking for another novel by a queen of written romance, look no further than Katee Robert. I love how she can take any story, no matter how outlandish or whimsical and still center an honest emotional journey for her female leads. This book is a fantasy romance that follows a heroine through falling in love again in the aftermath of extricating herself from an abusive marriage. It’s flirty, fantastical, fervent, and filthy! Have fun.
Something to Watch: Waitress
A true classic. This movie has such a bittersweet mixture of humor, romance, hardship, and triumph. Following the main character, Jenna, through her pregnancy and leaving her abusive marriage will leave your heart uplifted despite the story’s serious subject matter.
Something to Listen to: Solitude, Billie Holiday
No one does it like Billie! Her voice is powerful yet gentle all at the same time, much like the main character of It Ends With Us. I think both Colleen Hoover and Billie Holiday weave beautiful stories around feminine strength; a type of fortitude that I want to see so much more in narratives.
Ep 6: Charlie Swan's Toxic Turn Ons