#naked truth

[fuckyeslilkim]

[girlxso]

I can not wait for #Cocktober

[shadowseductress]

#naked truth

Brown eyes?

[koshice]

just coffee

nothing more 🤫

[novelblend]

"EYES" silly little things, don't know how to hide anything.

<3

[lyckliga-depressionen]

The tired, depressed and close to the edge me.

Hello.

[clumsypotatosstuff]

A man is his sexiest self when he knows how to express himself. Like he knows exactly how to communicate his feelings. There is no hide n seek my friend,you gotta bare your soul to me.

[arcalek]

I love grey skies.. they look hauntingly beautiful.

[khalepatekala]

Do you ever just have so many dreams and goals as a child and you have this certain feeling that you will achieve them all. That it’s not so difficult. Yes it will take work but then you will have it. That goal. That lifestyle. The friends. The significant other. The career. And then you reach a certain age, and it all feels so impossible. Everything feels like a far away dream, and no matter how much you’re working you’re just not getting there. All the plans are messed up. You have done nothing. All the people in your life are moving and you feel stuck in place. And life just gets exponentially more difficult, and more scary. Because now you can’t say that things will get better. you are in the future that your young self dreamed about and it’s not better. And it’s just terrifying that the future will be worse. And time just keeps moving so fucking fast and you don’t know what to do or where to start. Every tiny task feels like you’re moving mountains. You feel like you’re always running out of air and you can’t breathe. And I don’t know how do people move past this point cuz I’m stuck in the middle of it all!

[girlxso]

Hello sir, I like your cologne. I am naked now :3

[isobelleposts]

Swimming Until We Reach the Shore with 'It Ends With Us'

Cover of 'It Ends With Us' by Colleen Hoover

I’ve always known Colleen Hoover and what books she’s written but have never really been so intrigued to pick one of them up and see what all the rave is about. I was supposed to purchase the eighteenth book by the author which is ‘Verity’, but happened to bump into this one first and thought I’d give it a try. And after nights of staying up late to witness Lily Bloom’s story unfold, I can say that I have absolutely no regrets about delaying my initial read.

THE SETUP

The book starts off as what you’d imagine being adapted as another rom-com you’d find on Netflix, and I completely loved it as much as I hated it at the same time. It took me a while to embrace its humor and give in to the cheesiness of it all, finding myself chuckling almost constantly at a few lines.

“Did you seriously just knock on twenty-nine doors so you could tell me that the thought of me is making your life hell and I should have sex with you so that you’ll never have to think of me again? Are you kidding me right now?”

Page 70 of 'It Ends With Us'

Once the pages unraveled Lily’s past, I finally thought “I don’t care how unrealistic and predictable Lily and Ryle’s relationship is, she deserves to experience a love like this.” Except it wasn’t actually predictable.

On more than one occasion while writing this, I wanted to change the plotline.

Author's Note, Page 369 of 'It Ends With Us'

Colleen succeeded me in not expecting Ryle’s turnout despite a foreshadowing right at the first few pages of the book because of how she structured his character to be. She didn’t make me fall in love with him as Lily did, because of the recurring entries on Lily’s relationship with Atlas which overcame the chances, but made me think of how deserving Lily is to have a Ryle in her life. … Until she wasn’t.

Art by @mochipanko on Tumblr

DENIAL

Never once while reading this was I tempted to call Lily stupid as she thought her mother to be once. Despite how painful it was to continually read Lily deny and excuse Ryle’s behavior, her feelings were understandable and depicted really well through the writing, having you feel a mix of worry and anger at several moments.

“It’s not like that, Lily. We’re married, and sometimes marriage is just…you’re too young to understand it.”

Page 156 of 'It Ends With Us'

The saddest part is thinking of what could have been if Lily had understood it when she was younger. If she didn’t have to go through it herself before understanding what her mother’s words meant.

Page 361 of ‘It Ends With Us’

“US”

As much as I loved Atlas and having him in Lily’s life, after reaching one of the most suspenseful chapters I’ve ever read which is Chapter Twenty-Three, I began hoping so much that the “us” the title pertains to includes Lily and neither Ryle nor Atlas. I hated the thought of possibly having another man save Lily from an abusive one, and Hoover did not disappoint me by carrying on that narrative.

“I want a divorce.”

Page 358 of 'It Ends With Us'

The shot of relief that hit me upon reading that single line satisfied all of the suspense I was left hanging on to during the last few chapters.

It was frustrating how real it felt that Ryle needed to be told the what-ifs of their situation before admitting that he would never have his abuse done to his own daughter. It’s cruel how many times I’ve witnessed a man stop their harassment upon the mention of what-if-she-was-yours, and I was grateful to read it on paper with the hopes that it may cause some people to get a new approach towards abuse and violence, just like I did.

You can stop swimming now, Lily. We finally reached the shore.

'It Ends With Us' is a book that not only succeeds in driving your emotions through waves but also succeeds in letting us learn and think a second time before commenting on a victim's choice to stay despite oppression.

Art by joeyart.blogspot.com

CONTACT

In case of any emergency of Domestic Abuse in the Philippines, you may contact the following:

Luna Legal Resource Center for Women and Children: (082) 306-5761

Women’s Care Center Inc. (WCCI): +63 999 577 9631

Ing Makababaying Aksyon (IMA) Foundation: (045) 323 4750

Gender Watch Against Violence and Exploitation (GWAVE): (035) 422 84 05

Just keep swimming, everyone!

(Click HERE for Writing Commissions)

by Isobelle Cruz, 01/06/2022

[decaffeinatedinfluenceroncoke]

[emmie1459]

So obviously we all hate Ryle… but at the same time, the whole ‘naked truths’ thing was hella cute…

[comfortfoodcontent]

1997 NBC Must See Thursday ad

[raindrop4sblog]

Naked truths are not always pretty

-it ends with us