I was so excited to read this book but ultimately it just wasn’t for me. However, everyone else loved it and I can’t put my finger on why I didn’t connect with it. I loved the characters growth throughout the book and the tidbits about Helen’s family. Learning about screenwriting was amazing and kuang definitely writes like a screenwriter. Ultimately, I didn’t get butterflies from the couple and I was not excited to pick it up. However, this is a very unpopular opinion everyone else loves it. Can’t wait for kuangs next work. Thank you to the publisher for the earc.

Helen was pretty relatable as a socially anxious introvert and second generation immigrant with complicated relationships with her parents, her sibling, and herself/grief. I liked that the author didn’t try to force a “happier” resolution to her relationship with her parents, it felt pretty realistic the subtle acceptance in the end (but left a little something more to be desired).

Grant was clearly written by a woman as they say. He’s a perfect blend of vulnerable and real with his emotions, respectful with a dash of appropriate caveman, and the epitome of respecting Helen’s boundaries while making it abundantly clear what his emotions and wants are.

Had a hard time putting it down to do adulting things. Ending felt a smidge rushed and anticlimactic for me, felt something was missing.

This debut novel had a fresh new spin on romance from the typical adaptations and tropes (which I still love and enjoy). Definitely worth the read!!

Be sure to check the trigger warnings before reading!!!

I had high hopes for this book and it missed the mark for me personally. I think many people will enjoy this book and Helen the main character, but it just felt like trauma bonding and trauma porn.

What an absolutely stunning debut from Yulin Kuang. Her background in screenwriting shines through in both subject matter, and her incredibly visual and arresting writing style. The crux of any good romance novel is the CONFLICT that keeps two people from being together. The intense push pull of the main characters , Grant and Helen, keeps you on the edge of your seat from the first page until the last. I hesitate to overshare too much of the plot here, because the shock at the center of this story is pivotal to its success as it unfolds. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for my gifted ARC.

What a great book. Yulin Kuang tells a beautiful story that weaves both grief, hope, and a romantic story. When I read the trigger warning page I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, but I’m so glad I read it. It definitely makes me think back in life and question the what ifs, but we can’t change what ifs and a reminder to be grateful for each day. A beautiful story, I look forward to reading more of her writing.

This book made me ache, which is a requirement to land on my favorites list. I will be thinking about this for an undetermined amount of time (forever maybe?). I’m obsessed. Grant and Helen changed me as a person. I cried, I laughed, dare I say I also fell in love. I want to read this book forever.

We get right to the tragic root of the problem here with chapter 1 at Helen’s younger sister’s funeral. Turns out Helen’s 16-year-old sister jumped in front of high school all-star Grant’s moving vehicle. Clearly not his fault, but still causing lots of grief and resentment for Helen and her family. Fast forward thirteen years and Helen’s book series is being adapted for television. Grant is a fairly talented screenwriter who is tapped for the job and these two meet again as co-workers. It’s awful and awkward and tragic and they somewhat come to a truce and then somehow become entangled in a physical relationship. But despite how much they actually like each other in the present-day, an actual real relationship isn’t possible with all of the animosity that Helen’s parents have towards Grant. And Helen’s the one enforcing the boundaries of their pre-planned expiration date. There’s all sorts of emotional angst and bonding here with their shared past experiences and their compatibility in the present. Add a splash of overbearing immigrant Asian parents and we have a perfect scenario for impossibilities.

"You trauma bonded your way into mutual attraction."

As a longtime fan of Yulin Kuang's work (go watch I SHIP IT, her series about fandom, if you haven't already), I was so hyped for this book, even more so when news was released that Kuang would be adapting Emily Henry's BEACH REACH for the big screen. If my hearty endorsement of Kuang's work isn't enough, surely knowing that romance Queen EmHen trusts Kuang to adapt her novels gets the job done, right?

But back to HOW TO END A LOVE STORY, I was blessed with receiving an early copy after basically begging the publisher and telling them what a huge fangirl I am of Kuang's work and the magic of a book you are eagerly anticipating actually exceeding your already high expectations? I can't even explain it. Like everything I've consumed of Kuang's, this book left me feeling so seen and understood, from something as inconsequential as the way Helen describes herself as having "never been cool enough to be a 'music person,' and how she prefers to let strangers on the internet curate Spotify playlists based on certain vibes or aesthetics for her, to something as big as the relationship between Helen and her parents, specifically Helen and her mom.

Romance plot aside (and yes, there is plenty of that and Kuang does an excellent job with it), this novel is a love letter to books and TV and the media we consume and love and it was so clear that Kuang has experience in writers rooms and creating for TV. Have I ever written a script for a tv show or written a book? No, of course not. But that didn't matter here, because Kuang wrote it about the experiences with such authenticity that it didn't matter. I feel like I am raving a bit nonsensically here and this review has no real structure to it, but that is just a sign of how deeply enthusiastic I am about it!

And now we turn our attention to the romance plot between Helen and Grant ... it had me kicking my feet and giggling and grinning and flailing my arms. It was messy and hot and emotional and perfect, just like the book.

Anyway, if it's not clear from my somewhat incoherent rantings here, I loved this book and I want everyone I know to read it and love it too.

Thanks to NetGalley, Book Club Girl, Harper Voyager US, Avon Books, and Harper Collins for this copy of "How to End A Love Story."

Wow, what a wonderful book! Made me laugh, made me cry, made me just love these characters so much.

Helen is an author of Young Adult books with very overbearing parents. Her book series is being produced as a TV series and Grant is a TV screenwriter.

Helen and Grant knew each other in high school and a car accident changed their lives forever. They both carry so much grief and can't unburden it or share it because no one would understand.... except each other.

This novel was everything. Emotionally devastating, tumultuous, revelatory, inspiring, therapeutic. Everything. The way the author was able to make me care for these characters so deeply is truly inspiring. She even made me applaud a third-act breakup which I normally hate.

I truly cannot say enough about this novel. This was engaging and exciting and made me want to yell and scream at these characters while I also wanted to give them a hug for everything they were going through. The author’s experience with writing for Hollywood was clear and evident but it was the relationship between Helen and Michelle and Helen working through her trauma and emotions and unpacking everything that left me emotionally wrought.

I loved this so so so much. The audiobook is exceptional as well.

How to End a Love Story has everything I want in a contemporary romance and I'm so thrilled that Yulin Kuang is adapting some of Emily Henry's books to screen (including my favorite, Beach Read). It strikes the right balance between fun rom-com elements, tension, angst, grief, complicated family dynamics, and self-discovery. Helen and Grant were easy characters to connect to and I loved seeing how their story played out (even if they occasionally got on my nerves at times - for reasons that were understandable and realistic).

I also really enjoyed the dual third-person present POV which made the story feel quite cinematic (and really worked for a story that involves screenwriting). This, combined with the story's setup (the accident that caused Helen and Grant to have a shared traumatic past) made this book feel unique and I know it's one that is going to stick with me - a rare occurrence for me since, aside from a few exceptions, contemporary romance is not really my genre.

I always associate contemporary romance novels with Taylor Swift songs and this one is a combination of The Archer, I Can See You, This is Me Trying, Out of the Woods, Say Don't Go, The Great War, False God, and Daylight.

SYNOPSIS:
As a teenager, Helen’s sister jumps in front of a car to commit suicide. The driver of the car is another teenager named Grant. Years later, the two are thrown together to work on a television show and can’t seem to stay away from each other despite of their shared trauma.

MY THOUGHTS:
Sad girl romances are my favorite so I’m here for a book that starts so tragically. This book is filled with loss, longing and love and it hurt and filled my heart in equal measures.

Honestly this is my favorite type of book. It was a romance, but so much more. The grief and trauma both of our main characters face was so real and raw. And I loved how they were so open about it. It was quite beautiful. But also the romance was definitely prevalent. The longing. Omg the longing was so dang good.

However, I was not expecting this book to be so steamy. It was a bit much for me (but I know this is probably a selling point for most of you 🙃).

What You’ll Find
🫠 Longing
❤️‍🩹 Sad romances
❤️‍🔥 Enemies to lovers
🍾 Hollywood romances
💋 He falls first

I was excited to read Yulin Kuang’s debut novel after seeing that she will be writing the screen adaptation for one of Emily Henry’s novels, and I found her writing to have the same heart and depth I find in one of Henry’s books.

Helen Zhang is a novelist who will be working in the writer’s room on her first TV adaptation. When she meets the other writers in the room, she is shocked to find Grant Shepard in the group. Helen and Grant have a deep, painful history - Grant was driving the car that Helen’s sister Michelle jumped in front of in high school, committing suicide. She is initially determined to dislike Grant, but the pair slowly build a bond over the course of their time in the writer’s room.

Kuang doesn’t shy away from deep topics. Grief, anxiety, depression, suicide, complex family dynamics, parental expectations and disappointments…they are all here, and written in a heartfelt and beautiful way. The characters feel relatable and like real people, with all their messy and sometimes conflicting emotions, their decisions good and bad, and their fears about their futures. The secondary characters are great at adding a touch of levity to the darker moments of the book.

The romance here is a slow burn, but once it ignites it gets spicy pretty fast and pretty often! Multiple open door scenes show the burning chemistry between our love interests. Helen frustrated me several times as their relationship slowly built, but I suppose her choices did make sense in light of her background.

I always tend to struggle connecting to the characters when written in third person, and I found that to be true here as well. If it had been a dual first person POV, this one may have ended up a five star read, as it had so many great elements to it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC. Thoroughly enjoyed Yulin Kuang's debut novel. Hopefully this book will also be transformed into a screen adaptation that will be written by her. It was funny, witty, romantic, tragic, and just had all the feels. Looking forward to seeing the screen adaptations of other books that Yulin Kuang has been involved with. Loved that on the author's profile on Goodreads is said that she was once fired from a Hallmark movie for being "too hip for Hallmark," I hope this won't be the last novel that we see from her!

I loved this book. Somewhat Rivals to Lovers with a shared traumatic past. Forgiveness, love, and complicated family dynamics. The conflict felt real. The want and yearning was palpable. *Chef's kiss*

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishing. I have been a big fan of Yulin since her YouTube days. I had high hopes for her debut novel and she delivered. I feel very honored to have received an ARC.

HOW TO END A LOVE STORY – Yulin Kuang
Avon
ISBN: 978-0063310681
April 9, 2024
Contemporary Romance

Los Angeles – Present Day

Thirteen years ago the lives of Helen Zhang and Grant Shepard were forever changed and linked after he accidentally ran over and killed her only sister, Michelle. It was Michelle’s doing as she ran out in front of traffic on a highway late at night. While Grant was exonerated, Helen and her parents were left grieving and angry—toward him. In the intervening years, Helen has gone on to become a successful Young Adult author and now they are turning her books into a television series. She gets to help them write the screenplay to adapt her books to television. Unfortunately, she learns on the first day that Grant is one of the members of the writing team. Helen will have to work and see him every day. How can she when he is responsible for why her family is so sad?

Grant wonders how things will work out between him and Helen in HOW TO END A LOVE STORY. He is so sorry for what happened even though he wasn’t responsible for a suicidal teenager running into the path of his car in the middle of the night. He even tried to show up at the funeral but was asked to leave. Now Grant must work with Helen. She isn’t friendly at first and barely acknowledges him, but since they are all part of a team, they can’t ignore one another forever. The writing team goes on a weekend retreat meant to bond and it turns out, Helen and Grant begin to thaw out and start talking. It is the start of a friendship which soon leads to more. But Michelle’s death hangs over them. Her parents would be truly mad if they found out she was not only working with Grant but seeing him romantically. How long can they keep it a secret from her parents? Their future as a couple doesn’t look bright.

The romance in HOW TO END A LOVE STORY is slow to build as one might expect. Helen has to get past what happened that night and Grant wishes things could have been different. Then there is the fact that Helen has been searching for clues among her sister’s things for a reason why she did what she did. Did the family miss the clues of Michelle’s depression and suicidal thoughts? When someone dies like this, it affects a lot of people. To the world, the family might have grieved and then moved on, but for the Zhang family, the death still hovers over them. It has caused them to become a dysfunctional family. Or has it always been this way and Michelle responded in the only way she could? Does Helen find the answers she is looking for?

While HOW TO END A LOVE STORY is told from both Helen and Grant’s points of view, the underlying story is about Helen getting over her grief and her burgeoning relationship with Grant. Their coming together is complicated even as they work together each day to bring her books to the screen. This tale is filled with mixed emotions. There is sadness. There is building new careers and lives. Then there is finding love. Will Helen and Grant get a chance to have a life together forever? Discover the answer for yourself by grabbing a copy of HOW TO END A LOVE STORY.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

4.5/5 stars ⭐️

How to End a Love Story was a fantastic rom/com debut that gave me everything that I didn't know I needed. I found it to be a very FRESH take on a contemporary romance. Nowadays, there are a handful of common tropes we seem to see grouped together in a lot of books (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), and not being able pinpoint that in this one felt very novel.

With that being said, there is forced proximity due to the fact that Helen's YA series was picked up by a studio to turn into a TV show and Grant is one of the writers working on the show. Unbeknownst to anyone else, 13 years prior, Helen's sister, Michelle throws herself in front of Grant's car in the middle of the night and is killed. So, we have a grief stricken past, and clear sexual tension (in the present). Kuang depicted grief SO well. Sometimes, grief can mean you feel nothing at all. Sometimes, it means you still have panic attacks and need an ex to get you through it. Kuang's depiction of angst and tension was perfect. The subtle touches between the two had me swooning and the banter between the two was unmatched.

I also really, REALLY loved the relatability to Helen. I was hooked from the second I read Kuang's dedication to the "eldest daughters of immigrant parents." A big part that made Helen so relatable was her struggle to interject herself in conversations and how everyone else seemed to know what to say, but she didn't. Another would be the dynamic with her immigrant parents that I'm sure many children of immigrants can relate to. My ONLY issue was that I felt that one of the plot points that occurs later in the story wasn't necessary due to the hurdles that were already in place at the start of Helen and Grant's relationship. I considered them to be both flawed enough that I didn't think another added issue was necessary. Overall, I highly suggest picking this up. It had been a while since I had read a contemporary romance and this definitely got me out of the rut I was in!

Thank you to NetGalley & Avon/Harper Voyager for the e-ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for the advanced copy!

Wow. I’m so amazed by this story and the way Yulin Kuang wrote this love story.
This book has such an interesting premise with different parts to it but the way Kuang was able to weave this story together was masterful.
We follow Grant and Helen, who briefly knew each other in high school but are connected through a tragedy that happened during high school. Flash forward thirteen years, Helen has written a book series that is now being turned into a tv show. Where one of the writer’s for the show is no other than Grant. We watch as the two are dealing with being back in each other’s lives following this tragedy that affected both their lives over the past thirteen years.
Grant and Helen are both such complex characters and they were written which such rawness and depth. It felt as if they were talking to you and explaining their reasons behind decisions and thoughts on situations. They were so relatable and felt like real people with real issues and struggles.
This relationship was heart breaking to watch as it was filled with angst and this longing for each other but fear because of the past and other aspects of their lives.
I felt so absorbed in this book, memorized by the way the writing flowed and the words on the page. I would go back and re read passages or lines just to try and soak it all in.
I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I felt all the emotions while reading this. Truly a spectacular debut book. I will definitely read anything Yulin Kuang writes going forward.

Thank you again to Netgalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for the advanced copy.

This was delightful (and spicier than I expected!). Full review coming to Instagram soon on my weekly 30 second book reviews.

This had a lot of potential but sort of fell flat for me. Both characters just didn't feel fully developed. I feel like we got more background on some of the side characters than we did the MMC and FMC.