There are some spoilers ahead, so be forewarned.
Lily Bloom (*these names - gag*) meets Ryle (*gag*) on a rooftop when she sees him kicking a patio chair over and over again. She turns him down for sex, he asks how far she can go, and the whole "meet cute" wasn't cute, but rather sinister. We flashback to Lily's teenager years where we learn two basic facts about her life. Her father is abusive and her boyfriend is a perfect saint named Atlas who she is separated from in a traumatic manner. We flashforward to Lily opening a flower shop and slowly falling in love with Ryle. Their romance continues in traditional romance novel ways, but then we learn Atlas owns a restaurant when Ryle and Lily stumble into him on their first date!
Anyway, it turns out Ryle is an abusive dick, but Lily has a baby with him anyway and then she ends up with Atlas in the end.
The depictions of abuse in the book are solid, for sure. I hate to read about domestic violence and I was cringing at times, especially in the so-called honeymoon period after an incidence of violence. Everything felt real, from Lily's dad in the flashbacks to Ryle's ever increasing level of violence to Lily's denial, deflection, and minimizing of the abuse. I have no critiques with this part of the book.
But Atlas is such a one-note. Doesn't he have any flaws except that he smells if he doesn't shower? I just...I wanted Lily to leave Ryle, leave Atlas, and just be a woman happy to be on her own. I understand that's not how romance novels are - we always want a happily ever after - but I just felt like Hoover didn't set us up for a romance novel. There's no way a character as flat as Atlas gets to win the heart of our leading lady. She deserves better than both of these doofuses.
And that is where I am. It's not a bad book, but I don't know that I agree it's one of the best I've ever read.
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