Book Review: How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
An enemies (sort of?) to lovers romance novel with a lot of heart and a lot of healing, check out my full review for How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang below!
Book Information
After a tragic accident changes their lives forever, Helen never wants to see Grant again. When they both get jobs on the same writing team for a TV show, they are forced to deal with their past and move towards the future. Helen can’t help but notice, though, that the longer she spends time around Grant, the more she wants to be with him.
Review | Heidi Dischler
I’ve heard so much about this book over the past year that I knew I had to read it. I went in with zero expectations and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. This novel felt very similar in style and setup to Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez. Not as polished in my opinion, but for a debut it was really great.
So, you learn at the very beginning of the book that Helen’s sister jumped in front of Grant’s vehicle to commit suicide. It ended up killing her and now Helen’s whole family hates Grant even though it wasn’t his fault. Grant felt no animosity towards them, though, which is why I said semi enemies to lovers haha. This whole situation obviously sets the stage for all kinds of obstacles, so that’s what you can expect out of this novel.
As far as plot goes, I found it to be pretty slow in the beginning but really took off around thirty percent through the book. Since the main obstacle honestly just has to do with pent up trauma on both sides, it didn’t feel super “urgent” in terms of getting where we were going in the book. Not a lot of deadlines, not a lot of looming dates, so it was slow until we got to that thirty percent mark I mentioned. And spicy scenes, while good as a whole, had me CACKLING at moments because some of the things they said to each other while talking dirty were just plain funny. I can’t imagine anyone saying some of the stuff they did.
With our leads, I absolutely loved Grant’s character and he’s probably my favorite. Helen was okay, but I found her to be a bit plain at times. However, she did have a lot of character growth both in personality and overcoming her problems. As far as other characters go, I’m gonna be honest, none of them stuck out enough for me to even remember names.
Overall, I would give this novel a solid 4/5 stars. It was a cutesy romance with a satisfying ending. Besides our leads, there weren’t any other characters that stuck out as memorable and the plot was pretty slow until a third of the way through the book. Other than that, though, I thought it was pretty enjoyable! I definitely would read another book by Yulin Kuang if she decides to continue her writing career.
Source: Book of the Month
(P.S. You can read this book for free by signing up for a free trial of Audible, which gives you two free audiobooks of your choice!)
