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

dark emotional funny tense 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

5.0

Hands down this is going to be my favorite romance of the year. I actually don't even know how to review it because it was so emotional to me. A romance where it feels like the conflict is insurmountable - how can two people, tied together by grief and the death of Helen's sister, overcome something so huge? I truly didn't know how Yulin was going to get us there but she did. It hurt a lot. But the ending is so worth it. 

Yulin has tension throughout the book in a way that is literally heart pounding. Whether it's the tension of their hatred toward each other in the beginning, turning into the tension of will they/won't they (that couch scene alone with the fingers truly messed me up I was RIVETED), into the tension of how Helen would be able to have Grant and also not disappoint her parents. It felt like a thriller: just emotions on a rollercoaster, sweaty anxiety matched with sweaty swoony. Once Grant and Helen start to figure out their feelings, things seem smooth but they are anything but. 

I loved Helen: stoic, scared but not able to show it. She felt like externally someone people would call emotionless but because we were in her head we knew she feels every little thing. "You feel a lost of responsibility for other people's feelings." WHEW. I mean Helen's feelings about her sister alone could be a whole book. She is DEEP and feels so deeply, but sometimes doesn't seem able to allow herself to. And Grant: grieving the accidental death he caused, unable to fully show people his true self, but only showing a mask. I don't think I've seen grief portrayed in this way, so differently, by two main characters. Just absolutely beautiful. 

And the writing? Absolutely stunning. "
She thinks perhaps this is the only angle from which to catch a glimpse of this version of Grant, slightly off to the side and looking up toward him." Idk why but lines like this just wrecked me.  Or... "Grant shoots her a crooked, reassuring smile that seems to wedge right into a wobbling corner of her heart. Almost there, it seems to say." MY GOD. Or my favorite.... "she could still write an entire book of poems about all the ways she breaks her mother's heart in a day." I just.....


"She isn't sure why her heart feels like it's breaking when it hasn't been working properly in years anyway." Yulin, gosh wreck me why don't you. And. the letters she writes to her sister, about the kind of love that she wishes she had and wishes she deserved??? I am still a mess.


What more can I say? 

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