Reviews - How to End a Love Story

9.51k reviews for:

How to End a Love Story

Yulin Kuang

3.77 AVERAGE

erindayhaw's review against another edition

4.25

emotional funny reflective 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

hollyj13's review against another edition

3.75

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

elledrogers's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful fast-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

Why was this so good!?

hnels0nlu's review against another edition

3.5

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i wanted so badly to like this book more—it was really well-written, its premise was unique, and it started out really strong, but it felt to me like two different books. about 1/3 of the way through, it felt to me like helen’s character did almost a complete 180; the enemies-to-lovers dynamic also wasn’t really there. i liked both helens, but they are two almost completely different people and it felt strange that the stoic, stiff, but very self-conscious and relatable helen was so swiftly replaced with this goofy, outspoken, and in-love helen that wasn’t there at the start. the plot also really dragged once it became clear that helen was determined to consistently throw wrenches into their relationship with her arbitrary and confusing rules. it was hard to understand her at times and i have a hard time understanding how grant took her back after everything she put him through after just a few months of their.. whatever it was. relationship in every way but name.
however, i will say that it was at times an incredibly beautiful and heartbreaking portrayal of grief and loss and i did (mostly) like grant and new helen’s relationship, when it wasn’t being sabotaged. i feel like a lot of it can be chalked up to the possibly different writing style the author is used to, and the fact that this is her debut novel. i’m looking forward to watching the emily henry adaptations she’s working on and whatever book projects she is hopefully planning to put out—i hope she continues to use her unique screenwriting background and LA experience in her future works.

ceraphina716's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

jediwren's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

madelene_'s review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.5/5
This was really good! I'd like to know what was behind Yulin Kuang's decision for our main characters to be linked by a traumatic event in which the MMC was directly involved, it's kind of a peculiar story choice, and not in a bad way. I will say I don't love a

3rd act break-up

and felt like this one went on too long, but on the other hand, I understand where the turmoil of our FMC is coming from so I can't say it was unwarranted. I really liked our main characters as well as the side characters in this story, and the romance was well executed!