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

This one starts off VERY strong/intense and borderline morbid. The way a love story blossoms from this unfortunate and traumatic moment in each of their lives is honestly done quite well by this author. There are many questions I feel were left unanswered in a way that I felt there are holes in this story. Certain parts felt rushed and like we sort of jumped into certain pivotal moments in their separate lives and their love story. Despite having taken longer than usual to listen to an audiobook this length, I say this was a pretty easy read/listen. I could see this plot being triggering for some so be mindful if you have TWs around death of a sibling, car accidents, grief, and suicide.

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anh_off's review against another edition

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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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katekatiekait's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

0.25

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caitlin_bookchats's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

Yulin Kuang's debut romance novel fits nicely in with the complex tragedies in the lives of Romance characters written by Mhairi McFarlane or Emily Henry.

I'm struggling a bit to rate this book though. It's a romance so the main couple matters quite a lot. Here's I was not so invested in them as a couple as I was invested in them as individuals. And somehow, as individuals being together was what they needed.

Yet I'm still not certain I understand how we got from the words and actions of our FMC in the first few chapters to their romantic involvement. I feel like I missed something.

At the same time I really appreciated and admired the big swing of the emotional conflict here. the FMC and the MMC both had a lot of baggage specifically between them, but not necessarily baggage that could be solved. If that makes any sense. Rather, they had to learn to live with it and that felt very emotionally honest.

I loved the character development the FMC went though most of all and her relationship with the MMC was an important part of that.

So, I'm going to give it 4 stars for now but I reserve the right to downgrade if my memory of the book fades too much. You better believe I'll be picking up Kuang's next book though.

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emmy_likes_2_read's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.0

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pantslint's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad tense 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

4.0

Okay. The premise of HTEALS is honestly quite fucking ridiculous (

I mean, falling in actual love with the guy that literally drove the car that killed your sister?

), but I've shut my eyes and ears to everything wrong with this book because I really enjoyed it. Yulin Kuang is so good at building tension and vivid imagery—you can really see her skill as a screenwriter here. Her writing is so cinematic; I felt like I could see and hear everything as I read, like scenes in a movie. Great 🌶️ scenes. I love how Grant is absolutely gone for Helen, his emotional state being in complete shambles over how much he loves her (very much like Ali Hazelwood's MMCs).

This book is funny and emotional. I really enjoyed the little snippets of what it's like to love and resent your immigrant parents. There's a quote from the book where Helen's dad is "sitting on the couch, watching some bootlegged Chinese historical drama series on his iPad" and thinking about that quote makes me laugh every time, because I can only picture my own father doing the same thing.

The sister relationship of this book felt oddly familiar, and I realize that Helen's Sending All My Love is an actual book by Anna Akana (titled So Much I Want to Tell You: Letters to My Little Sister). I've been a long-time fan of Akana and I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that she was the sensitivity reader for this work, mentioned in the acknowledgements. Finding out two of your faves are friends is so fun.

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