Reviews with content warning for Death - How to End a Love Story

Reviews tagging 'Death'

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

141 reviews

anh_off's review against another edition

challenging emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Not a perfect book by any means. I thought they handled the complicated grief well. The romance.... I just didn't really understand why they fell for each other. But if I suspended my disbelief, it was fine. Helen's relationship with her parents also gave me pause, sure her mom wasn't great but it felt like Helen wasn't even trying to understand where they were coming from (literally), it was just woe is me, my parents don't hug me and never said I love you.

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meggiemeggie52's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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jaduhluhdabooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I’m not fine. I haven’t been for a while, and I blamed you for so long because the last thing you ever did was teach me how much loving can hurt. I loved you and you left anyway…If I heal and move on, I’m worried I’ll finally lose you for good. But I want to be healthy. And I want to be happy, though I’ve never trusted happiness. To me, happiness is a fleeting, heartbeat-to-heartbeat experience that comes and goes and hopefully comes back. I worry happily-ever-afters don’t exist for people like us.

I’m actually hurting. This book was so incredibly raw I don’t even think I have all the words yet. I find it hard that so many reviewers and readers haven’t loved this book. It’s so vivid in its honesty about regret and love. And maybe it’s because I’ve experienced the richness of pain that Helen endured in losing a sister she shared shattering last words with. Or I understand all too well the weight of mother wounds and how disjointing they are. Or I carry the overwhelming fear that I’m unlovable and so I keep those words and those feelings and those dreams of vibrant and wild living locked because of a scarcity mindset.

I just get it. I get Grant’s connection to all people while simultaneously having no people. I get Helen’s need to produce something that people need so that they’ll keep you around longer. I get the fear of losing people who you so desperately hope will stay. I just get it. And their story was convoluted and filled with real loss and pain and I get we didn’t get to see them work through it all on the pages of a book but I also think that’s what makes this story so beautiful and true. That healing on your on and healing with someone are two avenues that you can take and in this case. Them healing to together makes so much sense because they’ve experienced the same trauma and yet it has manifested so differently. They trust each other to grow and heal and love each other in their wounded-ness and their health. Both matter. Both will resurface as life goes on. It’s important to know that side of your partner and to learn how to love them in it not just through it.

It is a masterpiece. Dare I say. Love that Yulin is screenwriting “People We Meet on Vacation” - Em knows there’s rich talent here and I’m excited to see more of her works come alive on paper and on the screen.

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katie_cope's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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aries_sun1419's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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jcstokes95's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I should have reviewed this when I first read it, because my god, did it engender strong reactions in me as I was reading. It really boils down to this, and really, Goodreads, please answer my question: how much do you bump up a romance with top tier spice but a tough plot? Because, I found the actual reasons for these two folks to be together insipid and insane. But also, this had some of the steamiest scenes I’ve read this year. And I am conflicted.

Let’s reduce the plot harshly: Grant Shepard ran over Helen Zhang’s suicidal sister when they were teenagers. Decades later, she is a successful author making her book into a TV show. And he’s been hired as head writer. Instead of bowing out like ANY MORAL SANE NOT FUCKING SOCIOPATHIC HUMAN would do, he stays on and is generally fucking rude and arrogant to her. At this point in their relationship, I’d be writing my piece for The Cut on how this man ruined my life. But, Helen’s…also fucking weird, so she’s into this. And, as if they are cosmically linked, decides it’s a good idea to fuck and fall in love with this man.

I think this woman needs a new therapist, but I guess this is what love is nowadays.

Grant Shepard is the WORST romantic lead of all time. I hate him. There is a point in here, where he describes what the night he killed her sister was like. And Helen…comforts him? At no point does he seem to directly show any remorse toward Helen. Or comfort her. It’s frankly a baffling narrative choice.

Some reviewers mention the third act breakup is great because, unlike in many romances, it makes sense. And yeah, I’d fucking say so, because imagine bringing the dude who had your dead sister in the grill of his car to meet your parents. They were unhappy. And honestly, I’m on the toxic parents’ side. The worst part of this, is when things are inevitably fixed, she doesn’t even seem to patch things up with her parents.

There is so little conversation in this book about the MAIN PROBLEM in the relationship. It can only feel like two deeply ill people who really have great sexual chemistry and thus decide nothing can keep them from screwing. Good for them, bad for my buying into their love. But at least the steam was good and constant.

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stormeno's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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aubree_j's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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meaghankmc's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A beautiful story of grief, forgiveness, and mutual healing. My heart broke and then was mended.

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“You don’t have to be completely healed to be everything I want.”

I was looking for an easy listen for a long road trip and this seemed to fit the bill. Shoutout to Libro.fm for the ALC. And to my partner who picked it off a shelf at a bookstore and joked "How to end a love story? Murrrdeerrrrrrr." (said a la Gus from Psych, iykyk) ...and then consented to stand and pose with the book when I told him I was planning to read it and would need a photo for the review.

Quick synopsis for this one: Helen and Grant haven't seen each other once since the accident over ten years before that changed both their lives forever. But now, Grant is one of the lead screenwriters for the tv series adaptation of Helen's best-selling YA series. Their coworking starts (unstandable) rocky, but over time, the two grow close - supporting each other in ways they have rarely found from anyone else, through their shared (or at least tangential) experiences of trauma and grief and maybe even a little (finally) processing of it all. But there's no way, with a past like theirs, and no chance of Helen's parents ever forgiving Grant, that it can ever turn into anything permanent. It'll just hurt them more to force it, right? Or, can helping each other make peace with that past and move on only happen together?

Well, I enjoyed this one. I didn't know what the accident was prior to starting reading, and it ended up being a much more intense (in general and emotionally, for me) situation than I'd been anticipating. Maybe you already know what it is, but if not, I don't want to spoil it. Though, I will say, please read content warnings for this, because there are a number of aspects of said accident and the aftermath that could be difficult to read, depending on your own life experiences. Anyways, as a romance novel, I was assuming it would be something reasonably minor, that could be "gotten over" quickly and then the focus would shift fully to the romance. But no: this accident was a huge deal, legitimately life-changing (really, potentially shattering) for both Helen and Grant. And it was woven in fully and completely throughout every part of this novel. As such, it was, I felt, incredibly nuanced. And made for a much more profound read. My emotional swings were all over the place while reading, as Grant and Helen's clearly were while living it, and that made for a really impactful literary experience. I am really impressed with the way Kuang balanced such breadth, while maintaining the quick, smooth pacing of a romance novel. And spice! Because while the slow tension build is genuine and sooooo good, when we finally get to them, the spicy scenes delivereddddd.

One of the highlights of this book, for me, was the character development. Every aspect of Grant and Helen, individually and together, was thorough and felt real. There was so much low self-esteem and second-guessing and social self-consciousness and (absolutely opposite, but not particularly healthy) coping mechanisms... It did get to be a lot to read at a few points, but it also always made sense within the greater story. And its presence was also part of, and necessary for, the overall wonderful and complex emotional development. I know there is a chance that a relationship that grows out of shared trauma can be unhealthy, but also, I love the hope in the way that Kuang chose to write/see it. Maybe Grant and Helen found the one and single person with whom they could fully process their trauma alongside, but only within the framing of the distance of time....of course, none of this would have been possible in the same way when they were teens, in the immediate aftermath. And they did each get some space to heal separately as well - especially Helen. Deciding that the other was worth working through their own challenges, making the effort to finally process and come to terms (to forgive and/or be forgiven), was spurred specifically by the realization that wanting to be with the other, free from that shadow of that shared past, was worth it. They each may have continued to coast through life - fine and successful, but never a "best life" - but they gave each other a reason to want/grow towards more. And I wish that for everyone, however and with whoever they can find it. So yea, this was a more emotionally difficult romance than normal, but the finale meant more as a result.

Helen's complicated relationship with her parents was also written spectacularly. Kuang layered generational differences, cultural pieces, overbearing presences (and the resulting passive aggressive distancing that results), immigrant/first gen narratives, and loss/grief together with a deft touch. It walked the same line as the rest of the story, as far as being genuine and affecting, but also straightforward/easy enough to fit the romance genre (similar to how The Verifiers walked that line as a mystery novel).

I also really liked the framework of the YA novel adaptation and screenwriting storyline. It felt very salient to IRL books and tv right now. And, while I know nothing about this process, so it could be inaccurate AF, it gave some timelines and ultimatum dates and reasons for this "reunion" to be possible that felt absolutely natural and unforced (a sort of miracle, IMO, for romance novels). Plus, as a reader, I always have a soft spot for when readers/writers get to be MCs in ways that feel authentic. The multiple ways that writing and screen-writing made it into the style and storytelling was smooth and fun.

So yea, I felt like this novel was the perfect mix of hot and sweet, sexy and homey/comforting, and emotional ups and downs. On the more intense end of the romance spectrum, but still solidly in that genre. I would definitely recommend it.

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