Tell Me How This Ends

I enjoyed this so much! Henrietta was such an engaging, complex character and I also adored Dave. I loved the whole concept of the life stories – these felt like a really realistic vessel for the narrative. Every character felt so real! It was like a lovely warm hug, with a deeply satisfying ending. I'm sure so many people will love it like I did - Leevers nails that blend of humour and sadness, with a hearty dose of mystery thrown in. Fans of Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine will enjoy this one I think.

Without a doubt one of the best books I have read this year. The voices of these two women have now taken permanent residence inside my head and I don't want to leave. Leevers has created a stunning, heart-wrenching suspenseful story, written with the heart and soul of someone who truly understands grief. Reading it felt like therapy, validating the parts of me I cannot share with the world. An absolute joy to read and I will cherish this one forever.

I started reading Jo Leevers’ debut Tell Me How This Ends after a long day at work. Initially, I only planned to read a few chapters, but something about Henrietta and Annie’s story refused to let me go and I ended up finishing it a few hours later (and yes I was in tears by the end). Firstly, I loved Jo Leevers’ writing style, especially Henrietta’s character. Henrietta has a quirky personality but there’s something relatable about her desire to fit in and of course, her obsession with finding out what happened to Annie’s sister Kath. The growing friendship between Henrietta and Annie was the best part of this story as was their recognition of how their lives have been shaped by grief. I also enjoyed the sensation of feeling that I was there in the moment with the characters rather than a few moments behind or ahead. I was there with Annie when she realized something about Henrietta was broken because something inside her had been broken ever since her sister's death. This moment stuck with me as often people don't take the time really look at another person and ask if they're ok.

I also felt the domestic abuse storyline was handled with great sensitivity and I teared up at the part when Annie realizes she wants to tell her story to prevent women like Henrietta from ever experiencing what she went through. I loved the chapters where Annie is telling her story and re-examining her relationship with her sister Kath, her parents and her husband Terry. These scenes were the most poignant as I felt Annie’s regret, and loved how her chapters contrasted with Henrietta who slowly begins to remember her past trauma. Usually, when I read a story with a mystery at its heart, it’s with great impatience to find out the truth. Yes, I admit I was eager to find out what really happened to Kath, but I also felt equally invested in all of the characters' stories, not just the mystery, and by the last page, felt like I had gone on the journey with them all, including Cerys. I’ve read a lot of great books this year, but this is the first one to make me tear up. Overall, I highly recommend reading it.

The most wonderful book with characters I just fell in love with. Henrietta, an Eleanor Oliphant-esque protagonist who lives with a misguided guilt and finds it hard to fit in, meets Annie who is terminally ill. Henrietta is working for a project transcribing peoples life stories to leave behind. Her relationship with Annie builds slowly and while we get absorbed in a mystery and heartache and humour we also see Henrietta find herself. It's a deceptively simple book - in the sense that it's easy to read but it's a page turner and you're desperate to know what happens in the end and you don't quite realise how skilfully the author has taken you there til you turn the last page. A brilliant debut that would sit alongside a Clare Pooley for me. Highly recommend.

Simply the title of this book had me looking forward to getting started - then meeting Henrietta and Annie was such a pleasure. On the surface they appear to be opposites but as the story unfolds they find a bond. There was so much more to this book than I first expected - sadness, humour, joy and a clever weave of events that tightly pull together for a surprising and very satisfying ending. This is a great debut - perhaps we'll see Henrietta working on the Life Stories Project again...?

I can't describe how much I loved this book. It really is excellent - an absorbing page turner which has you rooting for the characters and desperate to know both what happens next and the secret about past events. So clever and heart-warming. I loved being with Henrietta as she gathered the courage to expand her horizons and to take the risk to connect with people. She's exactly what Annie needs with her attention to detail, her directness and her persistence, even though Annie doesn't realise it at first! Annie, in turn is just what Henrietta needs too in order to face up to the trauma of past events which have left her stuck in life. Annie's love for vintage fashion was an excellent addition.

The whole idea of the Grief Cafe and the Life Stories Project is such a good one. I would love to have Henrietta's job myself, although I'm sure I'd be just like her and fail to keep to the expected rigid structure for the Life Books. In fact, I'd like to be friends to both Henrietta and Annie - I felt as if I was, reading the book. As I've said, I rooted for them all the way and all my emotions were thoroughly engaged throughout.

I can't wait to read another book by this author. A real triumph!

Big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Henrietta just secured a new job, meeting with patients who are about to die to help them write their life story. At this job she meets Annie, whose sister disappeared when she was nineteen and never resurfaced. Annie is only expected to make it until Christmas so their time to create this book is very short. Annie discusses more about her tragic story and how she had to marry a not so great person to get out of her house. Henrietta becomes very invested in Annie's story and sets out to help her uncover what really happened to her beloved sister. While she's helping out Annie, she starts to come to some realizations about some traumatic events that happened to her as a child.

I really enjoyed this heartwarming story and loved how the author weaved together both Henrietta's story and Annie's. I felt like I really got to know the characters and kept flipping the pages, trying to figure out what really happened to Annie's sister and also wondering what really happened in Henrietta's past. Highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Jo Leevers' debut is a poignant and heartwarming read about family, unlikely friendship, loss and grief. It's two main characters, Henrietta and Annie, are beautifully drawn and despite the fact that they are very different, soon find they have shared tragedy in their past. Both this and the time they share as Annie tells her life story to Henrietta at the Grief Café form a bond between them and it is this bind that drives the story forward. I think this is what I enjoyed most about the book, although the mystery surrounding the sister that Annie lost while they were both in their teens and the cloud that has hung over Henrietta since her childhood are also fascinating and make it a real page-turner.

The easiest 5 star review I ever did give. I absolutely loved this book and I think that Leevers is definitely an author to watch. The characters are so well drawn (even Dave the dog is brilliant) and I adored the friendship that emerged between Henrietta and Annie. It was incredibly hard to put it down. The more emotional, heart wrenching moments were handled deftly and the plot drew me in from the start and didn't let go. Do yourself a favour and buy this book!

A lovely novel about the stories we tell each other and the ones we tell ourselves. Henrietta and Annie are compelling and relatable in their character quirks and long-held beliefs about themselves and their worlds, and following along as the two women interact to sometimes strengthen and sometimes dispel these beliefs creates a story that’s at once tense and emotional and hopeful. I loved it!

Jo Leever’s debut is about grief, loss, and regret. But as I tumbled into the story of Henrietta and Annie, I quickly realized it’s also a beautiful meditation on forgiveness, friendship, and living life to the fullest.

When she starts work at a drop-in clinic for cancer patients transcribing their life stories, Henrietta isn’t exactly known for her empathy—or social graces. Annie is terminally ill and desperate to offload the secrets of her painful past. When the two meet, an unlikely friendship forms, one that re-opens a decades-old unsolved myster and pushes both women to share the unseen parts of themselves.

The mystery is compelling and will keep you turning the pages, but it’s the characters that stay with you after the end. I found both Henrietta and Annie so lovable despite their flaws (or perhaps because of their flaws), and the author does an incredible job differentiating their voices on the page. Overall, Tell Me How It Ends is a heartwarming and compelling read.

A wonderful heart-warming and life-affirming novel.

I absolutely loved this book-it's a beautifully written gentle story, about socially reclusive Henrietta, who starts a new job writing down the life stories of terminally sick people, to turn into books for their loved ones, and Annie, an eccentric patient, who has tragedy in her story-her twin sister drowned in circumstances still unexplained many years later. Dealing with a secret from her own past, Henrietta throws herself into solving the mystery for Annie before it's too late.

With shades of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine meets 100 Years of Leni & Margot, this novel draws you into the lives of its characters, making you care deeply about them and their stories whilst keeping you guessing about what really happened on the fateful night that Annie describes.

A wonderfully crafted debut from a fantastic new writer.