3.5⭐️

thank you to netgalley and blackstone publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

the cover of the book is what drew me in, made me think of the movie OLD by m. night shyamalan. i picked this up when i was hitting a slump because i knew a thriller/mystery would pull me right out. i devoured the first half of the book wanting to know what happened but once i reached the end i was left feeling a little let down. this read more women’s fiction with a side of mystery. the story centered more around laura and a friendship with an old friend, and less about the mystery. overall fast paced and a quick read.

recommend? maybe.

Being honest, I was going to rate this 2.5/3 until I got to the end. Overall I'd say it's a solid 3* novel.

Chwialkowska's writing changes around the 3/4 mark to be emotional, poignant, and somewhat haunting. Unfortunately, a lower rating than I'd like to give for two reasons. 1) the middle of the book is a serious lull, thriller or not. 2) Chiwialkowska has been done a disservice by the marketing of the novel. Most folks (myself included) expect to get into a twisted thriller, but are given a comment on coming of age into adulthood, life's monotony and expectations on us, and misunderstandings and how communication shapes us.

Good bones, and I look forward to seeing Chwialkowska's writing in the future.

Let me start off by saying all in all I did LOVE this book. I’ll admit going into it I thought it would be more psychological thriller, but that’s on me. This is definitely more of a feel good book with some twists. Not feel good as in it’s all happy and fun, but as in it all works out in the end. The feminist in me loves what this book stands for, and feel that we as woman should take a note from that. Even though it was a 3 star for me, I still highly recommend it as by the end of the book I had a whole new outlook on what I want in life.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing a copy of The End of Things in exchange for my honest review.

First of all, the cover completely stole my heart.

The story began slowly but became more engaging as it progressed.
However, the ending didn’t quite meet my expectations, leaving me somewhat unsure about my feelings.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thought this debut novel sounded interesting. It started off with a strong female protagonist -- Laura, a hard-working NYC attorney known as the "contract queen" at her firm. She and her boyfriend of two weeks, Dave -- also a lawyer at the same firm -- are jetting off to the Bahamian island of Eleuthera for a few days of relaxation and fun. They check in at the plush Pink Sands resort, where all the guests are couples, except one woman, who appears to be enjoying her solitude. Yet Laura cannot fathom why anyone would come to a couple's resort by herself. It gets to the point where she is spending more time worrying about this woman, Diana, than having quality time with Dave. Laura eventually meets Diana, who isn't forthcoming about her life or her reasons for being at the resort, but Laura tells Diana everything about herself, especially her long-ago best friend Chloe and the break-up of their friendship, which Laura still hasn't gotten over.

Okay, so this book is touted as a suspense, and that part happens when Diana disappears while on a hike with Laura. Laura freaks out with worry, and we learn that Laura is one of those people who always expect the worst to happen in any situation, doesn't trust most people, and can't let go of past mistakes or things that she feels were done wrong to her. Laura wants to go to the police, but Dave tries to dissuade her, because apparently another woman disappeared several years prior in the same dangerous area (the hike was along steep cliffs with no guardrails).

There is quite a bit going on, and I don't want to give away too much, but it kept my interest. I only gave it three stars, because there is way too much time spent on Laura's history with Chloe and others in her past, and the "mystery" part just isn't as well-developed as it could have been. My biggest thought after finishing the book was "Laura obviously needed therapy and lots of it." It just brought down the story because her character was so wrapped up in dread and insecurity.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the e-ARC and the opportunity to review this book.

For some reason I thought this would be more of a crime driven story than a domestic suspense, women's fiction. With that said the story started out strong and I got invested in the plot fairly quickly. I kept waiting for something big to happen but it was more of a quite, thought provoking ending than a big reveal.

I still liked it, so if you go into it expecting to think rather than racing to the end to find some big surprise twist, in my opinion, you'd enjoy it.

The cover of this book is what enticed me to request a copy of it so hands down to those behind that creative effort.

I think this book started off really great but sadly, I grew tired of the MC quite early on due to her insecurity and all of the emotional baggage that she carried. She gets taken to a beautiful paradise by her significant other and befriends a woman who appears to have gone missing. I was left feeling really confused by the end of the book.

I did not expect to love this book as much as I did but I was left feeling a little bit "huh". It felt like there was so much build and build but then it just kind of ended without a satisfying feeling

Initially, 'The Ends of Things' had a lot of potential but this quickly turned repetitive, slow and quite underwhelming. The main character is severely self conscious of everything - literally everything - and cannot have thoughts or opinions on anything without having to second guess, contradict or justify herself. Honestly, it was slightly exhausting at points reading her internal monologue of self pity. As for this being compared to 'The White Lotus', I have to massively disagree, there is no humour or satire in this at all!

The whole Diana storyline was just odd. It genuinely seemed as if Laura wanted her to show up dead just so something interesting would happen in her life. And when it finally resolved it just felt very rushed like it was nothing???

The ending to this book was also quite anticlimactic although I could see it coming in some sense due to constant mentions throughout. I think this could have been improved if the author didn't outrightly tell us so many things and left a little more to be figured out. Ultimately, Laura just needed therapy or something rather than getting wrapped up in a missing person's case whilst on holiday with her useless boyfriend who I cannot be bothered to waste my time writing about.

Not really my thing! I just felt it was much too repetitive for a book this short and it had potential to go somewhere interesting but for me it just fell flat.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this arc !!
* All opinions are my own !! **

If you are going to set a story in paradise and have such a beautiful cover, the prose should be just as lush. If you are going to advertise this as a mystery, make it more mysterious (and have it start earlier in the story). Perhaps it is because the writer mostly works in television, but it felt like this may have served better as TV where you can fast forward through boring parts and just see the landscape, since she did not describe it.

Alas, I will not be getting back the time I spent reading this book. Let's call this a 2.49 stars, so that's why it rounded down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

My biggest problem with this was that I think I may have liked it better if it wasn’t marketed so much as a thriller. I didn’t start liking Laura until about 60% into the book. The obsession with her high school friend at over 30 years old feels unrealistic. The hinting at corruption and a possible exposé was where I WISH the story was going. However, I understand why the author ended it the way she did. Spelling out the symbolism and the theme for the reader so clearly at the end actually left me frustrated instead of satisfied. All that resolution and self discovery, and Laura didn’t realize how badly she just needed therapy?

I’m confused on what this book wants to be? The friendship subplot did not seamlessly gel into the main story here and I constantly was questioning why a 30 year old as randomly thinking about a friend from high school on a trip with her boyfriend. The resolution here was really unsatisfying and I’m not sure what was meant to be taken away from this.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This novel started off strong but quickly just lost my attention as the reader because nothing was happening. We got to 50% of the novel and THEN the woman goes missing. There was no suspense or thriller and frankly Laura annoyed me as a character and her willingness to allow her manager, work and boyfriend to treat her like garbage. I think this novel was too short to do the set up the author was hoping for to make this thriller a success.

This was a book with a lot of plot to end in a dumb resolution. It felt....Disney.

A woman who is insecure about relationships takes a vacation to the Bahamas with her new boyfriend. She meets a single woman on the beach, trauma dumps on her, and leaves to go to the restroom. Upon her return, the woman has disappeared and our MC spirals and obsesses for a majority of the book.

Then ...everything just gets wrapped up in a nice bow.

I wanted more. I wanted an island conspiracy. I wanted kidnapping, murder, etc. This was just about a lonely woman who wanted to connect with someone.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was about a couple on a trip, and the woman becomes obsessed with a lone woman that is also at the resort they’re at. The book has a lot of twists and turns with a lot of creepiness mixed in. It was a fast paced to read, and I don’t wanna give anything away, but it was a great twisty book.

A fast paced edge of your seat thriller that kind of falls flat. Set in a beautiful island resort. Laura is intrigued by a stranger that is vacationing alone. Things spiral from there. The twist at the end did shock me.

Thank you, Blackstone Publishing for the copy of The Ends Of Things by Sandra Chwialkowska. I loved how this book started, and the writing style was easy to read. Laura couldn’t let go of the past and I got tired of her wallowing in it. Dave was a man baby, and I really disliked him. The biggest disappointment was the premise could have been a great thriller instead of a bland “Women’s Fiction” book that tried to awkwardly make a point about how it’s okay for women to be single. All the elements were there; a tropical island, Diana's job, Dave’s client, the location, the men on the trail, but instead we get a “finding herself” story that never came together. It’s a shame because I loved the book at first, I just wish its promise had carried through to the end. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

3..5 stars ! The cover is stunning ! Made me want to read it right away. Overall, I did enjoy this book but the middle part of the book was a little slower than I would have preferred and I felt myself losing interest. The beginning started out really good and had me intrigued about the lone woman at the resort. I did enjoy the ending.

Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Blowing out a big breath and a sigh. This book was so frustrating because the main character Laura was so damn insecure and in her early 30’s but acted like she was still in high school. I get it… the point was her insecurity led her to have a superficial relationship and it led her to become quickly attracted to a woman she just met. She dwelled so much on this childhood friendship that fell apart. I think the author was trying to make a statement about woman coming into their own space and being who they wanted to be instead of what society is expecting but it got lost in this weird story of this woman going “missing” and then Treating her like she didn’t care about her at all once she is discovered. Dave is hardly explained why he reacts the way he does. Loose ends to the story. Meanders a little. Anyway. It’s not a bad read but Laura was a character that needed some self-esteem.

A good quick easy read. Gripping from the start but got confusing towards the end. Definitely a 2.5/3 star book

Thank you NetGalley