While it’s got the key conventions (aka tropes/themes etc) of a romance, I’m not sure that this book was overly romantic.

Is there heat. For sure. Is there steam? Absolutely. But the bond between these two characters is steeped in trauma which kind of makes the whole thing a little awkward. Imagine thinking someone is responsible for your sister’s death and then going ‘well actually you’re a bit of alright, let’s hook up!’ Or the flip side, feeling immense guilt for accidentally killing a teenager with your car and then being attracted to her older sister (later on in life - don’t be ick)
Still you get the point. Big Trauma.

I didn’t mind Grant. I actually felt sorry for him. Carrying the weight of taking a life - even if she suicided in front of his car - must be horrible. Helen, not so much. And I wasn’t really convinced of her affections, therefore the chemistry.

Again, a bond forged by shared trauma, is not exactly romantic. Perhaps this book should be marketed as a tragic love story instead of a romance…

Moving on. The writing. And this is a hill that I am very much willing to die on.
Contemporary. Romance. Should. Be. Told. In. First. Person.
ESPECIALLY when there’s dual POV.
ESPECIALLY when there’s so many italics phrases to signify internal thoughts.
Using Third person this way is too limiting and puts too much of a barrier between the characters and the reader. And it created more tell instead of show.

It wasn’t until after I read this book that I learnt that Yulin Kuang is a screenwriter, and it kind of makes sense now. I’ve read a TON of novelisations of screenplays and that is how this book reads. Like it’s waiting for the actors to breathe life into in the characters in the adaptation.
I’d watch the hell out of this story!

In the end, I didn’t hate this book, but I was expecting something different. Apologies, but this one wasn’t my cup of tea.

This was such a fantastic romance book!!! Yulin Kuang writes such a real and grounded story about two sad, damaged characters falling in love - I absolutely adored it. The discussions on grief, anxiety, mental health, and the intricacies of being the eldest daughter of an immigrant parent were all written so so well. The tension and chemistry between grant and Helen was so so believable. I loved every aspect of this book and it just seems so crazy to me that this was Yulin Kuang's debut!! I will be recommending this book to all my followers and my friends <3 (full review will be posted on my instagram / goodreads very soon!)

📖 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
🌟 Yulin Kuang weaves a poignant narrative that tugs at the heartstrings. “How to End a Love Story” is a masterful blend of raw emotion and delicate hope, capturing the essence of a complicated love with the backdrop of a shared past tragedy.
🖋️ Helen and Grant are characters as flawed as they are endearing. Their journey from pain to passion is etched with a realism that resonates deeply, making their story not just readable, but relatable.
💔 Kuang doesn’t shy away from the messy, painful aspects of love and loss. The book’s strength lies in its honest portrayal of grief and the tentative steps towards healing..
📚 Final Thoughts: With a solid 4 out of 5 stars, “How to End a Love Story” is a testament to the enduring power of love amidst life’s inevitable sorrows. It’s a must-read for anyone who cherishes a love story that’s as real as it is romantic.

"Grant Shepard. Grant F–king Shepard, good in a room, great in a bed, and the improbable love of my damn life."

- Enemies to secret FWB
- Went to high school together
- Workplace: working on her book’s TV script
- Black cat x golden retriever
- He falls first
- Dual POV
- Narrated by Katherine Chan and Andrew Eiden

How to End a Love Story is… not what I was expecting.

Firstly, it took me a hot second to get into this book, primarily because of the writing style—the third-person POV changes mid-chapter. I think listening compared to reading helped me adapt to the different style.

But at around 20%, I got a bit more interested in Helen and Grant’s dynamic. They’re the epitome of black cat/golden retriever energy. She’s very cold towards him because of something that happened in their past that changed both of their lives forever, but he slowly makes his way through her impenetrable wall and into her heart.

They go from enemies to reluctant friends bonding over shared trauma to friends with benefits.

Which leads to another thing I didn’t anticipate – the spice. It was spicier (and hornier, tbh) than I expected. But I also felt the amount of spice didn’t fit the story, and Grant’s dirty talk didn’t fit his character. I did like the marker scene, though, not gonna lie.

Finally, this didn’t pull at my heartstrings as much as I expected, either. It definitely got angstier towards the end, and I liked the character development, seeing them forgive themselves and Helen overcome her imposter syndrome and confront her family, but there were no tears in sight.

My feelings for this book are as complicated as Helen's feelings for Grant, clearly 😅.

Because, like, this man was down BAD: "You don’t have to be completely healed to be everything I want. To be mine. I love every part of you, you silly, infuriating woman. I love the parts of you I haven’t even met yet."

This was a very different romance to what I have read before. I loved the complex background of the characters and getting to see their relationship develop out of shared trauma. I loved the setting of this book, with the idea of an author and a screen writer adapting her book.

I struggled to get in to this one.

I didn't like the FMC. I do think the MMC shouldn't have been treated the way he did, but I get it, grief makes you blame everyone else, particularly in this situation. Still....I thought the FMC should have stood up for him a bit and I was not a fan of her trying to get him fired or whatever because of 'what he did', yet the situation which essentially brings these two together, isn't really discussed or talked about. They have both suffered because of this trauma and are still suffering, yet there doesn't need to be at least a discussion about it?

This story maybe might have felt different if the POV it was written in was different, i.e. there was a lot of inner monologue type situations which could've come off a bit differently.

I don't think either character has any tangible development and I feel like their relationship didn't either. The relationships goes from 'no', to go, to pause, to stop, to keep going and I just didn't feel any chemistry. I honestly couldn't think of anything other than her liking the way he smelt that connected the two.

I am not a fan of third act breakups which are over stupid things which could have been avoided if literally one conversation, text message, email, or note taped to the door was had. Also, the FMC is right, the MMC deserves better than her.

Two writers with a complicated history end up working on the same TV show ... can they write themselves a new ending? How to End a Love Story is a new romantic comedy from the acclaimed screenwriter and director, Yulin Kuang (the screenwriter and director on a couple of upcoming Emily Henry films). The story opens with the female MC’s sister dying by suicide when they are in high school. The male MC was involved in the incident and her family places a lot of blame on him, even though he didn't even know the sister or cause the event. So right at the start I have a problem with this story and sadly, I found it too difficult to get over and wrap my head around events from there on. I think I am turning away from the enemies to lovers trope because if it’s not done right I just don’t buy into it. Many readers love this book as it is an emotional, steamy (very steamy) love story - sadly I was not one of them.

i love this book so much and i already know this book is going to be one of my favourite books of this year.

if i had to summarise this review into one sentence it would be: compelling characters yearning for one another in a book that is written wonderfully which also includes commentaries on grief, the writing industry and the asian home life.

i loved following helen and grant through their struggles and eventually their journey into healing. the title is really fitting for this story because of the way helen and grant know each other, their complicated entanglement in their work life and personal life makes the situation even more complicated. this book kept me on my toes, not knowing if the two were going to end up together but that makes the spicy scenes just top tier because of all the yearning.

this book is more than a love story, it encompasses topics that hit kind of close to home if you grew up in an asian household like helen, learning and teaching your family how to say “i love you”, it also talks about grief and the different way people deal with it and how it’s okay to be selfish sometimes especially when it comes to love and the people you love.

the characters are written so beautifully that it makes it hard for me to find a flaw in them and it made me think that if someone came up to me with the premise of this book i would never have been able to imagine it and executed it as well as yulin kuang. i can definitely say that she is now one of my favourite authors. i am so glad to have read this book and i’m looking forward to her adaptations of another one of my favourite authors.

i wish i could say more but i don’t want to spoil the book because i definitely recommend you to pick up a copy and read it for yourself to understand why i’m so blown away by this novel. although as a bit of a content warning: this book talks about death and mental health, so skip it if you’re not in the right headspace to read about these topics.

themes: workplace romance, grief, family, yearning, healing

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!! I was pleasantly surprised to hear this was Yulins debut book! This is everything I want from a rom com! I enjoyed the anxiety representation in both MC’s. It was a little slow to start and I will say I wish the chapters were cut shorter / there was more of an obvious shift between the characters thoughts. I’ve not read a book before that’s third pov but also dual. (Hopefully that makes sense)

Overall I loved this book and can’t wait for everyone else to discover and enjoy this

Being Emily Henry's screenwriter on one adaptation project and director for another has propelled Yulin Kuang's debut romance into the spotlight. Additional push has been given by some big-hitting authors blurbing it, so the book was bound to get attention. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get on board the Hype Train.
The fact that I put this book down literally in the middle of the scene when the main characters first actually have sex (after some admittedly hot encounters that amped the temperature) is testament to how much I did not care about them or their love story. I have DNFed at 62%, much, much later than I normally would for an ARC and this was mainly due to me wanting to give it a fair shot.
Our female main character Helen is a prickly customer. I think in trying to make her so very Not Like Other Girls the author has leaned a little too far on the negative emotions and actions side of things and though I want to like Helen I just can't. Yes she's been through some shit (the death of her teenage sister by suicide AT THE HANDS OF THE MMC in a vehicular accident is the lynchpin of her relationship with the MMC) but at best she's a loner with a gift for writing, at worst a fairly bland and irksome woman lacking in personality.
Grant the love interest somehow manages to be the most beige romance hero I've read in a while - even while being hellishly attractive, charismatic, extremely capable and having a tragic backstory. I just wasn't interested in him, and something was missing that would have made me more interested in them as a couple once they clashed then came together.
I can't quite put my finger on what I didn't love here except that the story initially hooked me with its premise of being set in a writer's room and the MC's antagonism towards each other, but failed to keep me interested as things progressed. I put the book down one afternoon to pick up another one and realised after a few days I have no desire to see where the story went or how it ended.
Overall, it was just really mid for me.

This was a heavier romance read, but such a beautiful and complex book!

It was a slow start for me and the writing style took a minute for me to adjust to (or maybe I’m just not really a third person gal!).

But, I hit 25% and then really started to enjoy it and felt it got better and better.

I loved the storytelling and felt like I could really visualise it. The tropes of forbidden love, forced proximity and workplace romance were really well written.

I really appreciated the complexity of family dynamics being highlighted. It spoke to the cultural expectations, but I also felt it deeply around any expectations that can come from family.

I felt like my heart broke several times for both Helen and Grant as the story unfolded.

The third act breakup did have me in a panic that there wasn’t going to be a HEA, but rest assured there is.

I’m excited to see what else is to come from this author.

What a gorgeous book! I absolutely loved How to End a Love Story. Helen lost her sister Michelle to suicide as a teenager, and this story follows her navigating life without her. Helen has an extremely complicated relationship with her parents, she holds a lot of trauma from her sister's suicide, and her feelings about Grant, the person driving the car that Michelle stepped in front of, overwhelm her.

This book has a great storyline, once which could stand on its own and still be excellent. What elevates this story is the characters, their complex relationships and the exploration of loss, grief, love and forgiveness. Plus the CHARACTER GROWTH. You could see Helen's journey from start to finish, watching along as she came out of her shell and stepped into being the person she hasn't felt comfortable being. Her relationship with Grant develops over time, and it was just so sweet.

Honestly I loved this book, it was fantastic. I highly recommend it, particularly to fans of Emily Henry, The Seven Year Slip, and all those other incredible contemporary romance books that make you feel all the feelings.

ALSO, side note - the author is actually a screenwriter and director, and has been working on Emily Henry's book to screen adaptions (People We Meet on Vacation/Beach Read), so she has first hand experience that relates to the storyline in this book, which is actually so cool.

This was a lovely romance with two not perfect people trying to fix themselves without trying to fix each other.
Helen and Grant had great chemistry together and I really enjoyed their story and the concept of second chances.
There were a couple of points that decreased this from a four star read for me. Changing POV mid chapter with zero indication was one, along with time jumps (next week, next day etc) within one chapter instead of from the end of a chapter to the next. It didn't make for a smooth read.
A note to the publishers as well - please please consider making these e-arcs as EPUB files rather than PDFs because reading PDFs on kindle is awful. The formatting is non existent, the chapters blend together. It ultimately does the book a disservice.

That aside, I'm grateful to Harper Collins and Netgalley for providing me with this arc.

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I think this might be the best romance I've read that's been written in third person. Maybe because I'm part Asian, I know exactly what Helen's parents are like. Luckily my own family is not like that.
To fight for love after their tragic back story, it really is love in my eyes. The author does a great job of making every interaction they have believable. Work, home, it's all written really well.
At times you want to scream at Helen for being so emotionally constipated, but it pushes Grant to show her how much he loves her, so it makes sense.

This is original in its own right and didn't try to be any other romance book. It's relatable in the sense it comments on friends groups growing apart overtime and the many intricacies of early adulthood. The story is told in third person perspective through both Helen and Grant's eyes without taking away from your ability to connect with the characters.

Helen is a relatable FMC and I felt represented in her character. She struggles with social anxiety, giving and accepting love and has a complicated relationship with her family. She struggles to find the natural pause to interject in group conversations and never quite says the right thing, which I'm sure many can relate to. I loved the Asian culture representation and I found Helen's experiences with cultural assimilation insightful. I think she's a fairly misunderstood character and many might be frustrated by her but I loved her realistic complexities.

Grant is adorable, friendly and warm personality that knows how to work a room. He falls first and he falls harder. I loved his vulnerability and his ability to show his emotions in contrast to Helen's closed off nature. He consistently wore his heart on his sleeve and understood Helen more than she did herself. Where Helen may feel like she's not enough, Grant feels he is too much. He suffers from panic attacks and I loved the representation.

Grant and Helen's chemistry is undeniable and I was squealing and kicking my feet during their moments. The romance matured to perfection, it didn't feel too rushed or slow. Grant might be the golden retriever type but don't let this fool you, he was dominant but also empowered Helen. There is a third act event, however, I did see this coming, it felt like a natural occurrence in the story served a purpose.

I loved the found family aspect of the writers room. There wasn't a single unlikeable character and enough development was put into these characters that their personality shone through the page and I was invested in every aspect of this story. Yulin possesses Emily Henry's witty humour and her characters feel like the friends you have in real life and had me laughing out loud.

I'm always looking for some emotional depth to the plot and this did not disappoint. This book touches on some uncomfortable subjects such as grief and **suicide** (in the past). I don't want to give much away but I will say that I thought the 'letters you'll never read' were beautiful and moving. I think most people can find a piece of themselves represented in this book.

It was magical delving into Yulin's brilliant screenwriter mind and getting a greater understanding on how this process works. This is the perfect book for 90's/ early 2000's rom/com movies lovers and I thoroughly recommend you read this when it is published on 9 April 2024.

Thank you Hachette Australia & New Zealand & Netgalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

When Helen Zhang sees Grant Shepard, she is the newly famous author of a series of YA novels. Grant has been hired to be the screenwriter for the TV adaptation of her books. Yet, when they meet again, they are thrown back to their teenage years, reliving the tragic accident that changed their lives forever.
This would be one of the most compelling love stories that I have read in quite some time. At times, I wondered if their past history would define them, ruining any chance of love between them. The pain felt by Helen at times, was overwhelming that there was little that Grant could do to convince her to take a chance. Yet to say that this is simply a romance would be to undersell this story, as it is so much more. Helen’s struggles with her parents, particularly her mother and her guilt were so heartfelt and quite believable. Helen struggles with her responsibility, and it is clearly evident on the impact that it has on her relationship with Grant. Since finishing this book, I find myself thinking about Helen and Grant, and wanting to reread their story. A beautiful and captivating story! Five plus stars!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"you don't have to be completely healed to be everything i want"❤️‍🩹

HOW TO END A LOVE STORY - 3.5⭐️

I first want to thank netgalley and Hatchette for the arc of this beautiful book! Releasing April 9th

This book follows Helen and Grant who knew each other in high school, and an incident connected them forever. Since highschool they were apart, but then the TV adaptation of Helen's novel brought her back to Grant as they then had to work together. The rest, you'll have to read 🤭

I really appreciate any books that can bring real life problems but still give a light fluffy vibe, which Yulin did amazingly. As much as this does look like a silly little romance, PLEASE read the trigger warnings before diving right in. This is something I didn't do and I felt as though it may have taken away from my experience of reading the book.

This book navigates the world of loss,grief, and healing , as well as finding yourself. We saw the main characters Helen and Grant both navigate this in their own way while also finding their way to each other.

Their love story gives a "forbidden love" and he falls first.... and let me tell ya how Grant Shepherd falls for Helen will make you giddy!!!

Overall I really enjoyed How To End A Love Story, but I wasn't dying to pick it up like some other books I read, but when I was in it I was in it?? It's a great read and would recommend!

I have been forcing myself to read but at 57% I give up. It does have a great premise and some really interesting issues for the two main characters. The trouble is I couldn't warm to them. I couldn't feel any emotional pull. The writer's room - really that's what goes on? I am a fan of the podcast Happier in Hollywood, those two women do not make the writer's room sound like this book does. Obviously the author does know how the writer's room operates because evidently she is successful in her work.

I wish her well in whatever writing she undertakes, but I realise I am not her audience, this has no "gotcha" pull for me. It seems to work for many readers here and that's great, she has found her audience.

Oh this book!

I thought I knew where the storyline was going from the opening chapter and I was wrong. It was even better than I had plotted in my mind! Reading it felt like a meander through a park on a sunny spring afternoon. It washes over you like sunshine and lingers long after you’ve finished reading.

The push and pull and timing of it all. Exquisite. The pacing was essential and therefore so credible for these characters and their path toward one another. It’s also third person narration - which I know can bother some readers - but believe me, it works. I loved these characters and their nuances.

I truly felt this book while reading it and will gush about it for weeks to come. I am craving more from this author!

A heartfelt thanks to Netgalley, Hachette Australia, and Yulin Kuang for the advanced copy.

This book was truly written for my soul. This was no black and white love story about forgiveness and grief - it was about the multitude of emotions we feel and how this is always ever changing, but to remember it’s important to channel these emotions in a safe space and to look after ourselves. Perhaps most of all, this story mirrored the impact of generational family love languages; of learning and accepting different kinds of love than what we were brought up with.

Helen & Grant were flawed yet so real - their story was heart breaking and frustrating at times, knowing their history and thinking how could their love story end in happiness? I recommend you read to find out!

Rating: 4.5 stars