Lily Bloom comes from a broken family; her father physically abused her mother, and once beat her own boyfriend, Atlas Corrigan, to within an inch of his life. But she has put that behind her and moved to Boston and opened her dream flower shop. She starts a relationship with a successful young neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincaid, and things seem to be going great.
One night, Ryle accidentally drops a casserole and hurts himself, and slaps Lily in a rage. He immediately apologizes, but Lily is horrified. She accepts his apology, and believing herself more evolved than her mother, she gives him another chance. She runs into Atlas at a restaurant, who notices her bruises and tells her to leave Ryle. This leads to an altercation between Ryle and Atlas. Atlas later gives her his number, in case of an emergency.
When Ryle discovers Atlas’ number, he pushes a pregnant Lily down the stairs in a rage, believing she is having an affair. Lily leaves him, but is still in love with him. She finally understands what her mother went through. She decides she doesn’t want her child to again grow in a broken home, and says, “It Ends With Us”.
Large parts of the book read like a tedious romance, with all the standard ingredients. Every one is exceedingly well off and good-looking, whether they are doctors, florists, chefs or engineers. If you put the unreal parts aside, and focus on what is perhaps the central story, the plot is very thin and full of holes. Girl meets guy, guy is abusive, girl agonizes, and eventually leaves him. I do not understand why this book became a literary phenomenon. Move along, nothing to see.