A review by caitlin_bookchats
How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

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.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings