It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)

by Colleen Hoover

For my father, who tried his very best not to be his worst. And for my mother, who made sure we never saw him at his worst.

“There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.”

Instead of helping others, people use the worst-case scenarios to excuse their own selfishness and greed.

All humans make mistakes. What determines a person’s character aren’t the mistakes we make. It’s how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses.

I think about how sometimes, no matter how convinced you are that your life will turn out a certain way, all that certainty can be washed away with a simple change in tide.

Imagine all the people you meet in your life. There are so many. They come in like waves, trickling in and out with the tide. Some waves are much bigger and make more of an impact than others. Sometimes the waves bring with them things from deep in the bottom of the sea and they leave those things tossed onto the shore. Imprints against the grains of sand that prove the waves had once been there, long after the tide recedes.

Maybe love isn’t something that comes full circle. It just ebbs and flows, in and out, just like the people in our lives.

Preventing your heart from forgiving someone you love is actually a hell of a lot harder than simply forgiving them.

“In the future… if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again… fall in love with me.” He presses his lips against my forehead. “You’re still my favorite person, Lily. Always will be.”

Cycles exist because they are excruciating to break. It takes an astronomical amount of pain and courage to disrupt a familiar pattern. Sometimes it seems easier to just keep running in the same familiar circles, rather than facing the fear of jumping and possibly not landing on your feet.

“It stops here. With me and you. It ends with us.”