by Yulin Kuang

Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

---

Synopsis:

As the two learn how to untangle their pain and work together, they realize there’s something more between them. But can they have a future when they share such a traumatic past?

---

Review:

I loved this book so much! It was incredibly heartfelt and moving. Yulin Kuang somehow managed to tackle heavy subjects—ranging from PTSD to suicide—with nuance and sensitivity, while also balancing them with humor, romance, and spice. I could not be more impressed.

I love romance books where the leads have to overcome a significant obstacle in order to be together. And my God, I can hardly think of a bigger obstacle than, “my sister killed herself by jumping in front of your car.” (This is not a spoiler; it happens in the first few pages.)

A big obstacle not only makes for a better story, it also fills me with hope. It’s not so much the idea of love conquering it all as it is the strength of the human spirit—especially our enormous compacity for perseverance and forgiveness.

As hard as relationships and life can be, two people—no matter how messy—can come together to work through their issues and trauma, lift each other up, and come out the other side stronger. We can even find something beautiful in the places and people we least expect it if we allow ourselves to really know them and be known in return.

I really appreciated that How to End a Love Story largely takes place 13 years after the death of Helen’s sister, Michelle. It highlights the way emotional pain lingers. Even if you manage to make something of your life after such a traumatic experience—as Helen and Grant both do—you’ll still carry this pain with you. If you try to hide or suppress it, it will eventually try to force itself out in one way or another—Grant with his panic attacks, Helen with her anxiety and tendency to lash out.

On the surface, it seems like there’s no way a relationship between these two people could work—Helen and her parents blame Grant for Michelle’s death, because it’s easier than grappling with her suicide. Grant himself feels debilitating guilt over her death too. And yet, no one can understand Grant’s and Helen’s pain quite like the other. I could really feel the connection and chemistry between these two characters, and I really rooted for them—their relationship as well as their respective career success and emotional wellbeing. I cannot recommend this book enough.

I recently learned that Yulin Kuang is the screenwriter for the film adaptations of Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation and Beach Read (she’s also the director on the latter). I’m a huge Henry fan, and I was a little nervous that the adaptations wouldn’t live up to my expectations. But after reading How to End a Love Story, I’m so much more excited for them! How fitting that this book was about book-to-screen adaptations. I feel confident we’re in good hands.

---

Favorite Quotes:

“I’d rather have a fraction of you than all of someone else.” (306)

“He kisses her slowly, persuasively, as if they have all the time in the world—before he slows down the kiss that she’s already starting to call the best damn kiss of her entire life and it retreats from present tense into memory.” (187)

“Helen has created a very special window into her life that’s just for her parents. Don’t look there, the view’s not as good, she would say, pulling the drapes over a messy fourth date, a failed situationship, a bad breakup, and a drunken night out. She stores up bad news like acorns in the winter and metes them out in small doses, when she finally has good news to soften the blow.” (109)