This is Not How it Ends is an emotional ride about what it means to love, different ways to love and the things we do for love. Weinstein proved in her prior release, Somebody’s Daughter, that she knows how to tell a good story that will keep you interested from start to finish.

Two of the three main characters met on a plane, which is a situation I can completely see happening. Although I prefer to read or nap on a plane, I often find myself with a gregarious seatmate. I must have an invisible tattoo on my forehead that attracts talkers. A few of those times, the conversation gets rolling and suddenly there is a cloud of anonymity that envelops us. I immediately feel safe unleashing my worries or sharing dreams that I’ve never told a soul. It’s a weird phenomenon when it happens; I don’t even know my seatmate’s name, yet he or she knows about my personal baggage. In the book, this strong connection went with them off the plane and into the real world.

Although the book covers some serious topics such as pancreatic cancer, grief and life-threatening allergies, it also reminds the reader of the fragility of life and to live each day to the fullest. The book also introduced me to NAET, an alternative therapy for allergies, which I may incorporate into my own life. These themes make for great discussions as it elicits such a strong emotional response. Friendship, mother/daughter relationships, father/daughter relationships, single parenting, abandonment, secrets, choices made, fate and creating our own endings are also threaded throughout the book.

I’ve enjoyed stories with love triangles ever since my grandma had me watching All My Children when she watched me after school. Weinstein creates a love triangle like no other. I had no idea how she could wrap this up in a way that would satisfy readers, but dang, she did it perfectly. All I can say is that with perfect comes tears, so be warned. Perhaps it was so moving because I was invested in all the characters with whom I found myself rooting for from start to finish.

This one made it onto my best of winter 2019-2020. It’s a great read to get lost in on a cold winter day.

Charley knows her relationship with Phillip is changing- and not for the better. Then she meets Ben and his son Jimmy. This isn't a novel about a love triangle, it's about the choices we make and the secrets we keep. Charley's a good character and one you will feel for. You'll also find yourself sympathetic to Phillip and, of course to Ben. No spoilers on this one, as it spools out nicely. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good plot and nice writing made this a pleasant and emotional read.

This Is Not How It Ends, by Rochelle B. Weinstein, is a story of a woman balancing two loves, neither of which she expected. It is also the story of great loss and the necessity of finding the strength to cope. The randomness of life plays an important part in driving this plot forward, providing equal parts of hope and despair. I recommend keeping tissues nearby as you progress through this book.

In the interests of full disclosure, I confess that I found it difficult to connect with the main character, who struck me as excessively immature and indecisive throughout a good portion of the novel. On the other hand, I loved the Florida Keys setting and the secondary characters were diverse and intriguing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Five amazing stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟!! Oh how I loved this book. It is a love story that is heartbreaking and beautiful with relatable characters that will be difficult to forget. It had me in tears and left me with a book hangover. Rochelle's storytelling just keeps getting better and better. I highly recommend it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

This was a good story that had me feeling all sorts of different things - sad, happy, annoyed...There were moments where I felt sorry for Charlotte and others where I was frustrated with her for not communicating more openly with Philip about her needs and for not being more aware of what was going on with him. I liked that this was not your typical story about a love triangle - it definitely had a different twist.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

To start with the book was slow moving. Charlotte meets the dashing Brit Phillip on a plane journey. He’s devilishly handsome, witty and very rich. The fall madly in love and start a life together. At the start of their relationship “Charley” suffers a personal tragedy which forms the heart of the story.
After moving to the Florida Keys Charley is left for long periods of time from an increasingly distant Philip. However, following an incident in a supermarket she meets Ben and his son Jimmy.
Unknown to her Ben is also one of Philips oldest friends. Charley struggles with her emotions of loving two men at the same time.
As the book progressed I was gripped. The story was just beautiful. Well written and emotional. Rochelle Weinstein has developed some brilliant characters.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

4.5 Stars

How far would you go to take care of the ones you love? What would you do, or give up? This is a beautifully written, heartfelt, emotional story of love, loss, family and friendship. The characters come to life and their story becomes yours. Keep tissues handy.

We are all a product of our upbringing, and Charlotte/Charley is no different. She meets Phillip meet by chance encounter on a plane. Their attraction is immediate and intense. Thus starts their love affair. Charley moves to Key West and everything seems perfect, until something feels wrong. Then, their world is turned upside down. Going more into the story will spoil it. If you are looking for an emotional love story, this is it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.


***will post to Amazon and B&N on pub day.

I really enjoyed this novel. It took me a while to read it which is usually a sign that a novel is not great (for me at least) but in this case, it was. I enjoyed going through the story slowly and enjoyed every minute of it! I found the characters very authentic/relatable and the story itself was beautiful and touching. I look forward to reading more books by this author and will be recommending this one to my family and friends!

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Ms. Weinstein's novel is an excellent look at human relations and how they can change. Beautifully worded and thoughtful, it is an intimate look at life and suddenly priorities and life paths shift.

4 out of 5 stars. Recommended reading.

AMAZING. I thoroughly enjoyed THIS IS NOT HOW IT ENDS. A sad and funny, emotional and honest novel about a love triangle, coping skills, and friendship. This book was a real page turner for me, I cried and I laughed, as the story kept taking unexpected turns of events. Thank you NetGalley for the early edition reader copy. All opinions are my own.

An emotional journey of love, loss, friendship and forgiveness. I enjoyed the format of mixing the past with the present so that you understand how events of the present have been influenced by the past and how they ended up at this point in their lives. Charlotte, Phillip and Ben are strong characters that you cannot help but feel their heartbreak and joy throughout their journey in this story. By the end of the book I felt like I personally knew the characters as close friends who I cared about deeply. If you are in the mood for an emotional story that will tug on your heart strings then this is the book for you. I highly recommend it and am grateful to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

This is the book that broke my heart into a million pieces, then joined them together in the last few pages.

2 people in love, then cracks occurred and life threw an unexpected curveball. All that remained was the strength in their hearts. Charlotte and Philip were the couple, but this was not just their love story. It was about life, bigger and more beautiful than we could imagine even in the midst of a tragedy.

My second book by author Rochelle B. Weinstein, I was absolutely withered away by the time I finished the book. The power that the prose held had me crying while trying to smile. Emotions ravaged me like the winds of a storm. The gentle ones gave me time to stabilize myself, to prepare for the heavy gales.

The characters were larger than life, but they were so real. They made mistakes; they took decisions which might be wrong or right. How were we to know? Life changes every second, so what is right today, may be wrong tomorrow. All we have to do is to live it.

I always believed life was about relationships, living them, getting angry, being cajoled, forgiving some, forgetting others. The book showed me the depth of these relationships. It made me see something beyond and something beneath. It made me wonder what I would do. I loved Charlotte, I understood her emotions. I saw myself in her. I could understand her need to be sunlight and shade. That's life. This story was her life. This story was my life.

I quote from the book

None of us have time. We only have moments. Strung on a string that can break at any minute.

All I could say was

We only have books like these. Words strung on lines that could break our hearts at any minute, but join them back the next.

Simply a beautiful book, and I felt honored to have read the story.

This Is Not How It Ends is a love story, but it is so much more than that. It tackles issues such as abandonment and grief. It asks the question about how much of our lives is based on conscious choices, and how much is fate or serendipity. Charlotte Myers is newly engaged to Philip, but all is not as it should be. As the story moves backwards in time, we watch them fall deeply in love. Philip is everything that Charlotte could have dreamed of and more. But she senses he's hiding something, and he is emotionally distant. As he spends more time away from home, ostensibly for work, she finds herself drawn to his best friend Ben who she had unknowingly already met when she saved his son's life following an extreme allergic reaction. Ben and Charlotte cannot hide their growing affection for one another and during a terrible storm, they admit their feelings and spend the night together. It is the next day that Charlotte discovers just why Philip has been so distant and the news is devastating. It forces her to reevaluate everything, and she pushes Ben away. However, Philip leaves a parting gift for Charlotte that forces her to make a life changing decision. His letter to her will make you cry and realise the power of love in its purest sense of the word. This book will make you want to hold your loved ones a little closer and to live each day to its fullest. Truly beautiful writing and one that will stay in your heart forever.

When Charley meets Phillip on an airplane, she is instantly smitten.
When Phillip's work travel increase, Charley is growing more an more suspicious and lonely.
I absolutely loved this book and it will stay with me for a long time. The character development is simply amazing. The book is told in past tense and also current events. Phillip is trying to be there for Charley and plays all the right parts, but something is missing.

This is my first book by the author, I will be going back to read the rest. I would have to say, this is one of the best books I have read all year.

Thank you Netgalley. for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This Is Not How It Ends is not a book I would normally read, but I decided to get out of my comfort zone and WOW, this was just way too emotional for me (in a good way!).Rochelle B. Weinstein wrote a beautiful, emotional charged, and highly addictive story. I fell in love with all the characters and I found them very relatable. I felt with them and their stories made me re-think many things in my own personal life. The story was written in beautiful prose and I found myself re-reading few of the passages to fully grasp the depth of the words I have just read. Even though the plot was predictable, I could not stop reading this novel. I read this book in 24 hours, and I cried...oh how I cried.

I am looking forward to reading more books from this author, however now I will be more emotionally prepared for each one of them before I dive into reading (or at least I will try to prepare myself for the emotional roller-coaster).

Thank you NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is Not How it Ends by Rochelle B. Weinstein is a love story. Immediately, the narrative sucks you in. Just try to put this book down! At one point, you think Rochelle lays all her cards on the table. The story is settled & I think I've got it all figured out. But, This is Not How it Ends (see what I did there?)

Amazing Characters

Rochelle creates characters that readers are heavily invested in. Honestly, each & every character, no matter how insignificant makes you feel something. When I read a book as good as this one, I don't even liken it to reading a story. For me, the book comes to life in a way that I connect with these people & care about them. That is the hallmark of fantastic writing & storytelling. Rochelle takes you beyond where most authors stop.

Love in All Forms

While I say this is a love story, I don't mean its a sappy story that ends with a big wedding. The story really digs deeper into what love is. Not just romantic love, but selfless & all-encompassing love. We all find & relate to love differently. Love in all forms is personified in this book.

THE VERDICT

I am Really Into This book! This is Not How it Ends by Rochelle B. Weinstein is a love story built for everyone. Read this if you're in the mood for a heartwarming, engrossing & wonderful read. All the stars for this book.

Phillip and Charlotte are immediately drawn to each other when they meet on an airplane. After some time, they have settled in the Keys and are engaged and happier than ever. However, something is missing, and Charlotte can’t put her finger on it. Until she sees a child having an allergy attack at the grocery store. His father is frozen in shock so Charlotte jumps in and administers the epipen to the boy. Suddenly Charlotte is torn between what she wants, and what she knows she needs.

I really enjoyed this novel. I had a hard time throughout because parts of me wanted to hate Phillip, but the other part of me loved him as well. You can truly feel Charlottes anguish about this love triangle as the book goes on, and I felt it was very realistically portrayed. I think whether it is a love triangle or just ending a relationship that isn’t right, most of us have struggled with a situation where we had to decide to hold tighter, or let go.

This is a very nice love story told from the POV of Charlene. Originally an English teach from Kansas City, falls in love and moves to the Florida keys with a wealthy workaholic. I enjoyed the storyline of food allergies and how to become desensitized. The love part was a bit syrupy for me. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

WOW! Kudos to Rochelle B. Weinstein, Author of "This Is Not How it Ends" for writing such an emotional, intense, witty, intriguing, and thought-provoking story. I love the author's vivid descriptions of the characters and the beautiful landscape. A key theme is forgiving and second chances. The story takes place in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events. The Genres for this novel are Fiction, Women's Fiction, and Romance. The author describes her colorful and dramatic cast of characters as complex, and complicated. The author also describes loyalty, betrayal, and love.

I was so emotionally invested in this story. I was hopeful, I chuckled, I cried. The characters and their story pulled and tugged at my heartstrings. I appreciate that the author discusses topics such as Cancer and the effects on family and loved ones. The author mentions other important topics such as infidelity and homosexuality. The author also discusses the importance of family, friends, forgiveness, communication and love and hope.

Charlotte is a teacher and actually bumps into Philip on an airplane. Soon the two move to the Florida Keys. Philip is there for Charlotte when there is a tragedy in her family. Philip travels for business, and also gets a "puppy" to take care of her. It seems that Charlotte feels that Philip is keeping secrets, or keeping her at a distance. Charlotte trusts Philip but starts to feel that she needs more. Philip even has his best friend who is a chef look after Charlotte when he is away.

When a hurricane hits the area, Charlotte finds herself in an impossible situation and has to make choices. Little does she know what lies ahead. I loved everything about this novel and would highly recommend it.
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I adored this book! It took me a few pages to get into, but once I did, I was hooked. I read approximately 3/4 of the book in one day because I couldn't put it down. I was so tied up in their love triangle and the emotions between Ben and Charlotte. i was absolutely wrecked by several parts of this book, but it was so worth it. I highly recommend it and it was a 5 star read for me. I can't wait to check out more books from Rochelle Weinstein.