New York Times bestseller Colleen Hoover just released the companion novel It Starts with Us to her 2016 novel It Ends with Us. The first book had a resurgence last year after blowing up on social media platform, Tik Tok. 

The new novel was published by Simon & Schuster and has the most pre-orders in the history of the company. The novel has had a ton of buzz surrounding it since being announced in spring of this year. 

The story takes place just a couple of hours after the conclusion of the first novel. It has a dual point of view between the love interests Lily and Atlas. It heavily focuses on what is to come in their relationship, but also Lily’s relationship with Ryle. 

For those who have not read the first book, the story follows Lily Bloom, a woman in her early 20s as she decides what she wants to do with her life. Her father has just passed away and she meets a man who we later know to be Ryle. 

Throughout the book, we go back in time to Lily’s past through letters she writes in journals to her favorite daytime host Ellen Degeneres. This is when we meet Atlas, Lilly’s first love, who is homeless at the time. Altas loves Lilly and when they part it is hard for both of them and they never forget each other. Through her journal entries, we get an in-depth look into young Lilly and Atlas and their dynamic, while also seeing what life was like with her and her parents. 

The book goes back and forth as we are taken in the journey of Lily and Ryle’s relationship while running into someone from the past. We see Lily as she starts a business that takes off in Boston, the city she lives in and loves, while trying to maintain a new healthy relationship after trauma in her past. 

This story deals with hard but true themes. People in the publishing industry and fans of the books will tell you to read it because it shows you how true some people’s relationships can be.