Thank you Avon and Libro FM for my gifted copies. All opinions are my own.

This was so good! I couldn’t believe it was a debut!

How to End A Love Story was a lot more serious than your typical romance, but it worked so well with the storyline.

Grant and Helen know each other from high school in the worst of ways. Grant was the driver whose car Helen’s sister jumped in front of to die by suicide. Of course there are extremely tense if any relationship between Helen and Grant. Then they’re forced together when they’re both in the writer’s room for the upcoming tv adaptation of Helen’s novel. Helen is pushed outside of her comfort zone in many ways and was very relatable. She and Grant were able to develop a friendship that develops into more. They also support each other through tough times.

I can’t wait for more from Yulin Kuang!

Beautifully written, clever, insightful and achingly sexy. My only quibble was that a lot of plot got stuffed into the final 10%, and there were perhaps one too many coincidences surrounding Helen and Grant, but I really did root for them to be happy, and appreciated their ambition and talent being key to the story and their attraction to one another.

How to end a love story is the first book of Yulin Kuang, and she did not dissappoint.
The book is relatable at all terms for an introverted girl.

This was nothing like I thought it would be. The premise of the main relationship kind of gave me the ick, to the point where it was hard to be immersed in the love story. They steamy bits also felt gratuitous and out of place. Not my favorite romance and definitively not comparable to Emily Henry IMHO

For fans of Emily Henry and Jenny Han, here's a glorious debut following Helen Zhang and Grant Shephard - two lovers connected by a tragedy that changed both their lives. Heartfelt and emotional - can't wait for what else Kuang has in store for us.

After learning that Yulin Kuang, who is currently attached to a few adaptions of Emily Henry novels, was writing a debut novel herself, I was thrilled to receive the ARC for Kuang's debut HOW TO END A LOVE STORY in exchange for my honest review. Big thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon.

HOW TO END A LOVE STORY tells the messy, heartfelt, beautiful story of Grant and Helen. I adored these characters, really enjoyed the dual-POV, and ultimately couldn't put this book down. This has been a favorite of mine so far this year and I wholeheartedly recommend it! Kuang's writing is sharp, genuine, and lovely, and her characters feel so real and fully fledged. I loved reading Grant and Helen's story and didn't want it to end!

UGHHHHHHHHH this book. I loved it with my whole heart. I was so looking forward to Yulin's debut and it did not disappoint.

A very complicated love story about forgiveness. Although the premise was a bit difficult for me to accept at first, I was able to move past it and accept the characters for the flawed people that they are. Very angsty and messy, but with lots of heart.

WOW! Never has a book hooked me so immediately. My jaw was on the floor at the first chapter. This was such a unique romance and the invisible string tying these two together was so powerful. This will be in my top reads of 2024.

You’re probably seeing this new romance all over Bookstagram - and for good reason! Netgalley gave me a digital ARC and then Avon Books asked to send me a physical copy! Libro’s influencer program also gave me the audiobook! So I have this fantastic romance in all formats now and couldn’t be happier about it.

Grant killed Grace’s sister with his car when they were in high school. They haven’t seen each other in over a decade and are now paired to work together on the screen adaptation of Grace’s novel. They get along in ways neither of them saw coming - but there’s no way Grace’s parents can find out Grant is on the show.

As y’all know, I love a romance with depth and this one DELIVERS. There’s a lot of reality and hard topics addressed from suicide and mental health to family. I really loved Grant and Grace together - their chemistry and their growth (personal and together) was so good. And steamy!!!! This was almost 5⭐️s for me but I have some issues with the ending (DM me to discuss.) Overall, I really loved this one and look forward to her screen adaptations of Emily Henry’s work.

✨Content Warnings: Suicide, Sexual Content, Panic Attacks, Car Accident, Mental Illness

This was a good easy beach read. Sweet story and good characters. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC,

A great love story! I really enjoyed Helen and Grant’s relationship. I love gritty romances, and this one really had the characters work through some tough stuff. I’m glad they didn’t shy away from the ugly truths. It was interesting, emotional, the spice was HOT, and I just loved how they loved eachother. I appreciated that Helen’s Chinese culture was sprinkled throughout. The only gripe was that some of the initial dialogue was a bit odd, but it got better.

How to End a Love Story is about Helen, an author living in New York City, whose most popular YA series is being adapted to television, and at the start of the book, she moves to Los Angeles temporarily to participate in the writer's room. It's there that she reconnects with Grant Shepherd, one of the head writers in the room, whom she went to high school with. The only problem with that? The two of them are connected in an unthinkable way - Helen's younger sister committed suicide at sixteen, throwing herself in front of Grant's car. (Although I will say - this plot point is introduced in the prologue of the book, so if you find out quickly, and if this is something you don't think you can read about, you'll be able to jump ship immediately.)

Over the course of the book, despite best efforts to avoid one another by any means necessary, Helen and Grant find themselves drawn to one another. It's clear that what connects them is still affecting them, all these years later, and they eventually begin to help one another through their respective grief and anger. Helen is still angry with her sister, and devastated that she never noticed what was wrong with her, and Grant is still coming to terms with the fact that it wasn't his fault. I really appreciated the growth each of the characters experience, especially because I was very hesitant about even reading this to begin with, given the connection between the two protagonists. It was hard for me, as an older sister, to imagine a world where I would even consider pursuing a relationship like the two of them have, but I'm so glad I decided to keep reading, because it was so worth it in the end.

I imagine a lot of people discovered or decided to read this book because Yulin Kuang will be involved in the adaptations for Emily Henry's books Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation, or because Emily herself has been raving about this book - but Kuang truly, truly deserves every ounce of praise. This book is a feat. It's hard to believe it's her debut. She's been involved in screenwriting and adaptations, but this is her first full-length novel, and it's fantastic. How To End a Love Story stands on its own - it made me laugh, it made me cry. It made me believe in true love. If you're not a huge romance reader - I'm certainly not, not unless it's sprinkled into a fantasy novel - I would highly recommend giving this romance a shot.

This romance differs from a lot of contemporary romances in the seriousness of the main subject matter. It still has the occasional comedic moments and the hot scenes, but there’s always that elephant in the room. I’m still not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but I was rooting for a happy ending and for a man to love me and wear his heart on his sleeve the way Grant does. This one will suck you in!

At first, I thought this was going to be just another enemies to friends romance novel. After I was through, I realized this was actually a smart, witty and sometimes even deeply felt story. Some of the descriptions of what went on in the writers’ room made me feel like I was there.

2024 API Month

Oh boy. The reviews are polarizing for a reason. While I initially thought I'd flat out hate this, I found myself surprised by loving the first 20%. Things went downhill soon after.

While I tire of WMAF as the predominant IR relationship I see both in books and irl, I was willing to give this one a chance due to the premise of the story. This isn't a spoiler as it's in the description, and truly the first few pages of the book, but in high school, Helen's sister jumps in front of a moving car in order to die. The car is Grant's. He is homecoming king, and overall, a popular good looking guy. Helen, while not unpopular, is none of these things. I'm not sure why this matters so much thirteen years later.

Helen is now famous for writing a series of YA books, in part based on her sister and life. These books are being turned into a TV show. Grant is one of the screenwriters. Some of the reviewers have issues with the popular boy becoming a writer, but not all writers are your stereotypical nerd. Hollywood is full of nepotism, and while Grant didn't "know anyone," looks will get you far in LA, and perhaps anywhere.

I am loathe to call this enemies to lovers, as Helen and Grant aren't truly enemies. They know each other, barely, by circumstance. However, that is what sells, even if it is misapplied to more than half of the books it supposedly labels.

There's a lot of sex here, so if you're into that, welcome. It's the other things I take issue with. The lack of communication, the strange communication, the out of nowhere communication - all of these things should've been shown and not told. I hear from writer friends that this definitely feels like a screenwriter wrote it. And to be fair, Yulin is, by trade, a screenwriter. I have less issues with the writing than the rest of the things occurring.

Helen's relationship with her parents, while fraught, isn't über concerning. It's when Grant tries to dissect what he finds strange that I really get angry. I've dated a few more white men than I care to admit to. Looking back, a thing that really gets to me, is the lack of understanding toward my parents, and what they find impersonal about them. They are not impersonal. They're just not the stereotypical white parents. And that's fine. If I can code-switch with barely a second thought, why isn't the same consideration being given to me?

I obviously had a myriad of problems with this, but not everyone will, and search different reviews before making the decision to read it. Some of my friends loved this. Quite a few more hated it. But as always, I won't tell you what to do.

📚 Buddy read with Steph

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Avon

I’m writing this review, but I have kind of mixed feelings about the book. Did I love it? Yes. Did I also dislike it? Yes.

3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Helen and Grant went to the same high school and have been through the same tragedy in different ways. They are not friends and have not seen each other in 13 years. Helen is an author of a popular YA series that is being made into a tv show and Grant is a writer on the show. When they both end up in the writers room they have to put aside their problems for the sake of the show. They also end up getting to know each other on a deeper level.

This book is spicey but also very deep. It deals with a major topic (look up trigger warnings) and those topics come into play right away. Like sentence one. While I think the author handled the topic very well and the spice was also well written there was just something I could t get behind. I’m not sure if the relationship was believable because of the circumstance. It felt like these characters were trauma bonded and maybe that is something that could bring them together but also was it healthy? I’m not sure.

I can totally see why this book is getting a lot of hype, but I’m just not sure it was for me. It was so melancholy the whole time and I rarely had butterflies, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. (Hence, my mixed emotions)

This was so fantastic!! The emotions, the writing, the CHARACTERS. I care about these characters so deeply. I will be reading anything Yulin Kuang writes in the future, and the fact that she is writing the Beach Read film script.... chills!! She is amazing.

This book, start to finish, was fantastic. The concept, tone, writing - it is all great. I can’t wait to read what is next from this debut novel (and to watch her work on screen!)

I loved this complex story of love and grief and family connection. I would have appreciated a trigger warning for suicide, but otherwise this was perfect. A nuanced story of what happens when you fall for the man who was once part of the great tragedy of your life. I look forward to more of this author’s work!