Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni to Star in ‘It Ends With Us'

Blake Lively is entering the world of Colleen Hoover.

The actress, 35, will star in the movie adaptation of the best-selling romance novel "It Ends With Us," E! News confirms. She'll act alongside "Jane the Virgin" star Justin Baldoni, who is also directing the film.

As for the behind-the-scenes team, both actors and the author will have creative say as executive producers on "It Ends With Us." Other producers include Alex Saks (The Florida Project) and Christy Hall ("I Am Not Okay With This,") who is writing the script, per a press release from Wayfarer Studios and Sony Pictures.

Blake and Justin are expected to play redheaded florist Lily Bloom and doctor Ryle Kincaid, respectively, with Colleen announcing earlier in the day that she was preparing to reveal those characters' castings. The actor playing Lily's first love Atlas has not been revealed.

"Lily hasn't always had it easy, but that's never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants," reads the book synopsis. "She's come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily's life seems too good to be true."

This isn't Blake's first time bringing a complicated book character to life. She recently starred as Emily in "A Simple Favor" (based on the Darcey Bell novel) and, of course, as Serena in "Gossip Girl" (based on the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar) from 2007 to 2012.

Blake—who is expecting her fourth child with husband Ryan Reynolds—has yet to speak out about the project, but fans on TikTok have been giving their takes. As one fan wrote, "IM CRYING I did not expect this at ALL and I am just so happyyyyy." 

Another fan advocated for Penn Badgley or Logan Lerman to be cast as Atlas, with some saying they pictured Theo James as Ryle. Some TikTokers said Blake reminded them more of the titular character from Colleen's book "Verity."

Though it came out in 2016, "It Ends With Us" recently blew up on TikTok. Colleen released the sequel "It Starts with Us" in October 2022, which landed on BookTok's top 10 trending searches of the year.

Keep scrolling to learn more about the sequel and other popular stories to add to your reading list.

1. "It Starts With Us" by Colleen Hoover

If Hoover writes it, people will read it—especially when it's the long-awaited follow-up to the beloved author's "It Ends With Us." Everyone (your best friend, your mom, the person in front of you in the grocery checkout line, etc.) was talking about this book.

2. "Love and Other Words" by Christina Lauren

Told in alternating timelines between then and now, this charming 2018 novel, co-authored by long-time writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billing, tells the love story of Macy and Elliott. Detailing the beginning of their romance as teenagers to their chance reunion in the present-day after a decade of silence, "Love and Other Words" is a feel-good read for the ages.

3. "The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig

Released in 2020, this bestseller centered on a library sandwiched between life and death, where every book provides a chance to test out another life you could have lived. Would you be able to turn the page once you saw how things would have been if you had made other choices? Yes, we just got chills, too.

4. "The Love Hypothesis" by Ali Hazelwood

One of the buzziest books of summer 2021, readers still had all the feels for this rom-com about two scientists faking a relationship, only to have their chemistry cause chaos in the lab.

5. "Credence" by Penelope Douglas

"Three of them, one of her, and a remote cabin in the woods. Let the hot, winter nights ensue." That is the enticing set-up for this 2020 romance novel about a young woman who is sent to live with her father's stepbrother and his two sons in the mountains of Colorado after her famous parents pass away. As the three men take her under their wing, lines blur, rules become easy to break and your emotions will run wild in this melodrama about a taboo love.

6. "The Fine Print" by Lauren Asher

In the first book in the "Dreamland Billionaires" series (which is about, you guessed it, three billionaire brothers), readers fell for the brooding theme park owner Rowan as hard as his employee Zahra did.

7. "The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides

Even though it came out in 2019, this psychological thriller about a woman's act of violence against her husband—and the therapist obsessed with getting her to speak for the first time after the incident—was still all over our social media feeds.

8. "The First to Die At the End" by Adam Silvera

In this 2022 prequel to Silvera's bestselling phenomenon "They Both Die at the End," two new strangers spend a life-changing day together after Death-Cast first makes their fateful calls. Even though you know the ending, this read is still a suckerpunch to your emotional gut in the best way. 

9. "Book Lovers" by Emily Henry

Swoon City, population: Us. We fell head over heels in love with the "People We Meet on Vacation" and "Beach Read" author's latest offering and dare we say she is the millennial Nora Ephron? Oh, we went there and we bought beachfront property. Prepare to feel giddy over the banter between ruthless literary agent Nora Stephens and brooding book editor Charlie Lestra when the contentious pair both find themselves in Sunshine Falls, N.C., for a month. The small town doesn't stand a chance against their spark.

10. "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens

Thanks to the big-screen adaptation starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and produced by Reese Witherspoon, this 2018 coming-of-age murder mystery found its way back on the bestseller list.