5/5 stars

I loved this book! I enjoyed the characters, themes, plot, and romance.

Doe was such a relatable character for me. In her final year of highschool she’s stagnant. No idea what she wants to do, no idea where she even wants to go for college. So, she focuses on the prank war and her school, the only things she feels she can control and in doing so she makes many, many mistakes. I loved that the teenagers were teenagers and made genuine mistakes any scared teenager would. And while I wanted to shake some sense into Doe half the time, it was understandable why she made the mistakes she made. And you know what I love as much as understandable mistakes? Consequences that match the mistakes! The consequences Doe was handed after all her mistakes made complete sense and I loved it.

Doe and Wells had me giggling like a maniac. Banter? Check. Tension? Check. Fake dating done immaculately? Check, check, check. I loved them so much I can not express it. The way they gradually went from enemies to reluctant allies to friends to maybe more was exceptionally well done. To put it simply; Doe and Wells live rent free in my brain.

Now there is a lot going on in this book. A prank war, fake dating, merging of the two schools, and a pervy teacher. To many people this may be a lot but I thought overall it was handled well. I thought the end with the pervy teacher was done very well and I was cheering them on so much.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I do recommend upper YA readers because of the themes. (16+)

TW: sexual assault (off page, described in minor detail), unwanted touching, pedophilia (off page), slurs (in the past, off page)

What's it about (in a nutshell):
This May End Badly by Samantha Markum is a complex and moving romantic comedy about Doe (short for Dorothy) and her friends during their last year at The Weston School. Doe is the queen of pranks against the rival boys' school, and she has big plans for her senior year.

What I Enjoyed:
The aspect I loved the most about this story is how much is going on. The story is told by Doe, and since she is a complex young woman with a complicated mind, I think it is only natural that the story would cover a lot of ground. But it does so in a way that I could easily follow, and everything happening worked to keep the pace quick and hold my attention.

I also enjoyed the combination of less severe plotlines with more serious ones. The pranks against the boys' school and the rivalry between Doe and Three (her male counterpart) are funny, witty, and entertaining. The stunts reminded me of pranks that go on today during Senior prank day, though loads more creative. These fun events are interspersed with the more serious issue of a male teacher who makes many girls feel uncomfortable and whom there have been rumors about for the whole five years he has been at The Weston School. I like to say this plotline is unrealistic, but it is not unusual in high schools today. These different threads form an entertaining story that is lots of fun as well as a tool for bringing awareness to an issue that is often swept under the rug.

I love a good enemies-to-lovers tale. This May End Badly develops a remarkable story of a fake relationship turned real. I was mesmerized and ultimately emotionally invested. I loved Doe and Wells individually. Together, they were just perfect with their witty banter, undeniable chemistry, and unwavering support.

Characters:
Doe is the main character and tells this tale through 1st person narration. She is full of passion, especially when protecting the underdog and righting all of the world's wrongs. Being a born leader, Doe is never happier than she is when her friends are around her. She is loyal, committed, and not scared to do things that are heard – whether they be right or wrong. The complexities and layers that form this character are so compelling that I couldn't help but feel for her as she became her own worst enemy and stood by her as she struggled to find her way through challenges.

The support characters are also well-developed and create a lovely story about friendships, how messy they can be, and how rewarding they are.

What I Wish:
I don't have anything that I would change about this story. I found it highly entertaining with a touch of reality, making it easy to suspend disbelief. The story flowed easily, and the characters were all interesting to read about.

To Read or Not to Read:
If you are looking for a fun read with complex characters and entertaining situations, this is the book you must get today!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of THIS MAY END BADLY by Samantha Markum. It actually took me the first 25% or so for me to get into this book, but then I super did and couldn't put it down. For some reason it took me a minute to feel invested in the characters at all—there were a lot of names and I couldn't keep track and didn't care to, and wasn't sure what kind of story this was going to be exactly. Once the romance really got started, I was hooked. That's typical for me. But it was so well done; I was pulled right back to high school and how it felt to fall in love at that age. The real best part, though, was the MC, Doe's, character growth. Honestly, this book took the fake dating trope, pulled you in with it, then showed you how messed up that trope is, and how messed up a person would have to be to participate in it. Then it showed you why Doe and her LI Wells are so messed up, and it gave them realistic consequences for their messed up behavior. Then they changed, they did better, they redeemed themselves, and then they were able to be happy together. I was just sitting there being so impressed with how well-written the character arcs were. I definitely recommend it!

I’m not usually a huge fan of YA books but I heard great things about this one so I thought I would give it a try. It was so good!! The author had a fantastic way about making the characters realistic and the storyline, while silly, still believable enough to be interesting. Highly recommend!

This story is everything I want in a YA Contemporary Romance. It's sweet, it's funny, it's encouraging. It's got some of my favorite elements and tropes, like fake dating, boarding school drama, and heartwarming best friend relationships. This book is told from Doe's point of view, and while Doe's stubborn single-mindedness can sometimes get her into too much trouble, she's also a kind, loyal person who you can't help but root for (even when you want to knock some sense into her). This book is also really funny and full of some absolutely insane pranks. I can't imagine actually going through a prank war this intense, but it adds such a good humor to the story, and makes it perfect for someone looking for a light, fun book to escape into. While overall really fun, it also portrays teenagers standing up against sexual misconduct in a powerful and encouraging way as well, which was nice to see.

I love the characters. They are diverse and interesting, from our protagonist to our love interest to our meaningful side characters. I especially loved Doe's friend group, not only diverse in terms of demographic backgrounds, but also varying personalities that blend together so well. Some quiet and contemplative, some impulsive, some anxiety-ridden, some boosting with confidence. But they are such strong, supportive friends and are a great model of the kind of friend group I think we all want.

I also love the goofiness of the story. It's like watching a rom-com, but in book form. There's plenty of ridiculous pranks, witty and sarcastic characters, silly teenage jokes that are always way funnier than they should be, and parents who live to embarrass their children. It balances with the serious moments well and makes for a book I did not want to put down.

Do you ever read a book and it stays in your head for months after? So much in fact that you already want to read it again? That is what happen to me with Samantha Markum’s debut book, This May End Badly. It was exactly the kind of YA contemporary book I love to read. Simply put the book was a joy and I loved every minute of it.

This May End Badly is the story of Doe, a proud student of The Weston School, an all girl school she has been attending. She wears her school like a badge of honor and takes all things tradition very seriously, including the prank war with the all boys school, Winfield Academy. Doe is ready to make senior year the best this rivalry has every seen. That is until it is announced that Weston and Winfield will merge at the end of the school year. Now Doe has to prove that Weston and Winfield are not what dreams are made of and she starts by trying to take down the king at Winston, her nemesis, Three. What Doe never saw coming was Three’s cousin Wells. And when Doe finds herself fake dating Wells, she has to start looking at what is really important to her.

Full disclosure, Doe drove me nuts about 75% of This May End Badly. But not because I didn’t like her or want her to find her happy ending, but because she was her own worst enemy and could not/would not get out of her own way. But if I’m honest she really was pretty great. And her relationship with Wells, fake or real, was really the star of the show for me. There was not one second of their story that I didn’t love. They played off one anther so well that I was swooning from start to finish. And even more than the relationship between these two was the friendship with Doe and her Weston girls. Even when she was single minded she always thought she had the best interest of the girls in her mind, misguided or not. That was a true highlight of the book.

It really is hard for me to accurately describe how much I loved This May End Badly. I know as soon as I finished I told so many people to have this book on their radar. It is one of those books you wish you could read for the first time all over again and I’m sad I can’t do that, but so happy so many of you will be able to. Do yourself a favor and add this to your TBR ASAP!!!

Doe is beginning her senior year at Weston Academy. She absolutely loves her school, her friends, and dong anything and everything to outdo the boys of their rival school in a prank war. When Doe learns that the end of the year the two schools will be combining she is desperate to do anything she can to put a stop to it. Her goal to escalate the rivalry and prove the two schools don’t mix has her doing strange things, even fake dating her nemesis’s cousin to get under his skin.

What Doe doesn’t expect is the fall out from her obsession to win the prank war at all costs. Her actions puts many of her relationships at risk, but even while everything seems to be falling apart around her, she finds herself drawn more and more to the boy she’s supposed to be fake dating.

I many things about this book, particularly Doe’s friends, how her relationship develops with Wells, and how the students from both schools come together for a greater purpose in the end. Doe is a strong and determined character, who was interesting to read about. There were moments when her tunnel vision, as far as the prank war went, felt slightly repetitive to me but other than that I really enjoyed following her journey.

Honestly? This is a YA book and the main character (Doe) is a spoiled girl that wants what she wants regardless of it making sense or not. But she kind of gets it at some point and (surprisingly) it doesn't end so bad for her. But what the title / the book is about is a possible merger between a school for girls (where Doe studies) with a school for boys (their rival school). That is what might end badly. It was a just okay book. I didn't like the narrator / main character, or even the main story, but you might find it interesting.

Thank you @Wednesdaybooks and @netgalley for the #gifted eARC!

Pranks wars, battle of the sexes and private schools?!?!?!

THIS MAY END BADLY is basically catnip for my YA loving self!

While Doe and her single-minded focus on destroying Three and the Winfield boys at times read very childish and selfish to me, once I reminded myself that a) her character is 17 and b) this book is not written with a woman in her mid-30s as its intended audience, I was able to get back to enjoying the book.

My main complaint is the names of the characters. There are so many W’s to keep straight… Winfield, Weston, Wells, Wellborn… I’m sure I’m forgetting a few!

I loved the pranks, Doe’s band of loyal friends, first loves, and watching these characters grow up throughout the book.

THIS MAY END BADLY is out 4/12/22!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4620548173
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcA_76krOcz/

Thanks to the fact that I live halfway across the country from where I go to college, I’ve had to take a lot of flights lately, and I’ve figured out that the best books for me to read on flights are tropey rom-coms with silly drama. And I can think of no better book to accomplish this task than Samantha Markum’s “This May End Badly.”

In lieu of my usual summary of a book’s plot, please accept this non-exhaustive list of tropes found in this book.

- boarding school setting
- rivals to lovers
- high school prank war
- fake dating
- main character with a secret dark past
- she only calls him by his first name when they get really close
- family drama
- friend drama
- there’s a twist and suddenly things get really serious at the end

Like I said: white people and their drama.

Now, in full transparency, this book is fairly diverse — pretty much all the friends are queer and/or non-white, and the book isn’t all lighthearted all the time. There are some discussions of the lack of trans inclusivity in single-sex schools, as well as a plotline about a predatory teacher.

However, I felt that the heart of the story was on the lighter side. Doe and Wells’ schools are in a century-long prank war, and I loved Doe’s determination to prove her school is better. This is a great book for anyone who just really enjoys a good rivals to lovers story.

“This May End Badly” comes out on April 12, 2022. I received an early copy from the publisher, Wednesday Books, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, publisher, and author for the ARC of this novel for an honest review.

When I started reading this I almost stopped I thought "Great here is a typical high school prank war book, boys vs girls" BUT... I am so glad I pushed through it was so much more than that. Samantha Markum did a fabulous job with all the characters and the tone of the book. I devoured this book, it read so quickly and I got way into the story.

***SPOILER ALERT The one thing that disturbed me was the girls not speaking up about their sexual predator. I think it would have been more powerful if the author made a statement with them coming forward and reminding teens and everyone else to speak up!!

I started this book unsure of what to think. The heroine's friend group is large and there are lots of characters to remember. Was she going to end up likable with her single minded stubbornness to "win" this rivalry? The answer is Yes. It was so good. It was such a good fake relationship story. I loved the friends. I loved Wells and Doe together. I loved so much when her focus shifted to taking down a predator in her school. This is the book that I want my girls to read when they need a fun story with lots of growth and love (both friends and romantic), with different perspectives to help them think outside their comfort zone. It was the perfect book to read after dinner and late into the night.

The premise is appealing to teen readers. A school is evolving but the girls don’t want to go down without a fight. They intend to rule the school. It’s a cute read for young readers.

This May End Badly. All’s fair in love and prank wars. If you like fake dating and enemies to lovers trope, this one is for you. Pranking mastermind Doe and her friends are determined t win the was against Winfield Academy. But it’s announced the The Weston School will merge with its rival, their feud spirals out of control. This is a fun YA with a fearless protagonist that will have turning pages fairly quickly. It’s a funny and charming story. Really well written by Samantha. I also loooved this cover.

<b>3.75 stars rounded up! Samantha Markum delivers a fun fake dating YA romance in This May End Badly.</b>

<b>Tropes:</b> Fake Dating, Rivalry, Working Together

<b>Plot at a glance:</b> With a merger between the all-girls Weston School and all-boys Winfield Academy on the horizon, Doe rallies her best friends to take their pranking to the next level and win the century-long war against the all-boys school once and for all. She decides there’s no better way to knock her rival Three off his pranking game than by fake dating his cousin Wells. It’s all fun and games until Doe starts developing real feelings for her fake boyfriend. Soon her lies get out of hand and an incident with a long-rumoured predatory teacher comes to light, making Doe question whether there’s a greater cause she could be fighting for than the prank war.

<b>Review:</b> Samantha Markum perfectly captured the intense emotions and complexity of growing up in <i>This May End Badly</i>. Doe navigates rocky relationships with her friends, parents, first love and even faulty members with rash decision making and a quick-changing spectrum of emotions. Kudos to Samantha Markum for instilling her heroine with such authenticity. Doe is a bit prickly and immature, but she has a good heart that ultimately makes you root for her.

I really liked the colourful cast of characters. Doe’s friends are the kind of ride-or-die friends you instantly admire. The Wellborn boys, especially Wells and Three, seem one -dimensional at first but are slowly revealed to be quite multi-faceted. Wells is a hero after my own heart – voracious reader, intelligent, sarcastic, and protective of the ones he loves. Even Three won me over by the end of the novel.

Your milage may vary with the predatory teacher storyline. It was handled fairly well but may be triggering for some readers.

Overall, <i>This May End Badly</I> is a YA romance that will keep you turning the pages.

<i>Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for the chance to read this digital ARC.</i>

This book gave me everything I wanted and more. Rival boarding schools? Check. Prank wars? Check? Fake dating? CHECK! Not only was this book full of fun tropes, but Markum expanded upon those tropes to provide nuance and depth to multiple characters in a way few YA authors can. The various friendships Doe has with her group of girls were each unique and well-developed with love, disappointment, and other REAL emotions that exist between friends. The chemistry between Doe and Wells was so fun to watch develop and, similarly, grew so naturally.

The handling and nuance of sexuality, gender, and sexual assault were done so well that I have hope and excitement for the young readers exposed to this book. I wish I had books like these 10 years ago, but I’m so thankful I’m exposed to them now.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday Books for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This May End Badly managed to succeed and subvert all of my expectations going into the story, delivering a refreshing and emotional read that brings its reader into a world worthy of a TV show. With several plot lines crossing one another over a school year, the book’s simple premise is not unlike a prank: it draws you in under one trope then delightfully surprises you with anything but.

The book, on its upmost surface, is about Dorothy “Doe” Saltpeter’s senior year at all-girl’s The Weston School as she engages in a prank war with the neighboring all-boy’s Winfield Academy, their historical rival. Doe lobs pranks against the school with her close group of friends, all of whom have helped her battle since freshman year: Sumi, Jade, Gemma, and her best friend, Shawn. However, Winfield Academy gives as good as they get in the prank war, led by Nathaniel “Three” Wellborn III, and his unit composed of several cousins. Running interference as a (mostly) neutral messenger between the two groups is Three’s cousin Gabriel “Wells” Wellborn. When both groups become aware of plans for a merger between Weston and Winfield the following schools year, they decide to amp up their pranks to stop it from happening.

However, whereas the two schools have always been at war, Doe and Three take the rivalry to a personal level. Every conversation between the two is a battle of the wits, with insults hurled fast and frequently. Angered by one such conversation, Doe arranges to kick Three in the knees metaphorically by fake dating Wells, who has his own personal reasons to want his cousin humbled. Their ruse continues alongside bigger and ballsier pranks. Things diverge from the plan as Doe and Wells begin to know one another beyond their expected roles, mixing their fake relationship with real feelings.

Weston and Winfield, alongside their Midwest host town of Delafosse, are the perfect backdrop to the antics of Doe, Wells, and Three. Boarding schools in novels seem to generally have an air of romanticism and idealism, which This May End Badly is not exempt from partly falling prey to. In the small details that flesh out this world, the reader is able to understand how their environment has fostered the war. Certain restaurants are declared Weston territory or Winfield’s; the bookstore is neutral; both schools are reliant on Delafosse’s public students for off-campus parties. Administration at both schools turn a blind eye to the pranks unless they’re forced to address them, all while ushering students to quickly accept the changes being forced upon them. Something I could not help but notice, however, is that despite its necessary links to Delafosse, neither school really acknowledges the impact they have on the community they live in during the school year.

This silence speaks to a pattern in This May End Badly of ignoring the inherent privilege each player has that enables their game. Jade briefly brings up Doe’s racial privilege during the consequences of a prank and Doe mentions several times how the Wellborn’s wealth underwrite their battles. Beyond that, however, this novel allows its soft framing of how wonderful it is to be a Weston Girl or Winfield Boy obscure more realistic implications extending beyond its interior. I could put this framing out of my mind if not for how it directly impacts Doe’s character. In total honesty, Doe is a hard character to root for. She is tenacious, has a victim complex, and praises an experience formed by white feminism. Unfortunately for me, the novel is a first person point of view from Doe. During the events that are light-hearted and silly, this is not a problem. Once the plot starts thickening and Doe is put in tougher situations, reading her view becomes annoying.

Her unlikeable character is tempered by her relationship with Wells. Foil to her in many ways, Wells is the perfect vehicle to begin the change in Doe’s perception of himself, Three, and the merger as a whole. He is charismatic and tries to remain as neutral as possible. He sees why Doe is hurt by Three and Weston becoming co-ed, but more than that, he sees what Doe tries to ignore by focusing on the prank war with such narrow-mindedness. Wells is far from an angel himself, and indeed, I wanted to shake him for his communicative skills for a majority of the novel. But he manages to bring out the best in Doe, and vice versa, which makes him a compelling romantic hero that keeps from being too perfect. While the prank war serves as the basic arch moving the plot forward, it is Doe and Wells’s relationship that carries This May End Badly’s evolution.

What marks This May End Badly as different from many of its YA peers is that Doe and Wells’s relationship does not overtake the prank war as the most important plot line. At its heart, this book is about Doe, Weston, and her legacy at the school. What affects her legacy changes throughout the acts— stopping the merger, beating Three, and later, dealing with a predatory teacher. It is solely Doe in control when she works to overcome these challenges, drawing upon Wells for strength and friendship, never pushing him to use his privilege for her gain. This change to similar novels made me smile, as I may not like Doe but I do respect her immensely for this.

I will be buying a copy of This May End Badly upon its release, as the story makes me smile as much as it makes me roll my eyes— a reaction which transports me back to the joys of being a teen navigating high school. Samantha Markum is an author to watch and I eagerly await her follow up.

**I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I picked up Samantha Markum’s This May End Badly when I was in somewhat of a reading slump . . . which Markum promptly ended. I could not put down this book!

The novel begins with Doe and her best friends (Gemma, Jade, Sumi, and Shawn) in the midst of pranking their neighboring boarding school as part of a tradition that goes back generations. The girls of The Weston School and the boys of Winfield Academy have had a rivalry that permeates every event throughout the year, and Doe and her friends (but particularly Doe!) take that rivalry to new heights, driven by the extra-special loathing that Doe and Winfield boy Three have for each other. As seniors, they all realize this is their last chance to win the prank war, so the creativity is rampant.

That rivalry is the center of the book, and it creeps out into every corner of Doe’s life. It causes her to set up a fake dating scenario with Three’s cousin Wells, to keep secrets from her friends and family, to lose focus on her academics despite her continued need to earn her spot at Weston (she entered the school under less-than-ideal circumstances).

Doe is brilliant and fun and funny and also deeply, deeply flawed. I loved the varied relationships here: Doe’s close-knit friendships and her great relationships with her parents and even the growing friendship she has with Wells. I also appreciated watching as Doe lost her grip on the real purpose of the pranks and as she became so laser focused that she lost sight of where it all had started.

There are serious threads running through the fun of the Weston-Winfield battles, threads that pull tighter when a merger between the schools is announced and Doe has to start considering what she really loves about Weston and herself . . . and what needs to change.

Markum navigates the unfurling plot and Doe’s character development beautifully, offering complexity and nuance as Doe reflects on who she is and who she wants to be.

Trigger warning: sexual assault

This book was an adorable view of someone struggling to come to terms with change in such a connectable way. The way Doe fought change in her school, in her friendships, and in romance was so incredibly relatable, especially as I thought back on my senior year of high school. And while I didn’t go to a boarding school, this book sure made me wish I did!

I liked this! It’s not my usual type of read but it was an enjoyable , quick read. Recommend to people who enjoy a boarding school book (not quite dark academia but kinda?)