Screenwriter Yulin Kuang (I Ship It; Dollface) makes her novel debut with How to End a Love Story, a poignant but funny romance about the power of forgiveness. Bestselling author Helen Zhang heads to Los Angeles to work on the television adaptation of her soapy young adult series, and hopefully conquer her writer's block.
When she arrives, she's shocked to find her high-school classmate Grant Shepard is second chair in the writing room--the same Grant who fatally struck her younger sister with his car at the end of their senior year. Grant was the unwilling tool Michelle used to die by suicide, but that hasn't stopped Helen's parents from hating him for 13 years, and it hasn't stopped Grant from hating himself. And Helen has held onto anger at her sister and herself.
After overcoming the initial shock, Helen is determined to ignore Grant and to do well in her new role on the writing and production team. They can keep everything strictly professional, right? Thousands of miles from their former homes in New Jersey, Helen and Grant gradually open up and, with the help of a hilarious, motley crew of writers turned friends, are able to create something new and beautiful. The push-pull angst of their romance is skillfully complemented by humor, steam, and glimpses behind-the-scenes of show business.
Kuang doesn't rely on their shared tragic past to build Helen and Grant's relationship, but like the trauma of Michelle's death, both of them have carried their high-school personas into adulthood. Both struggle to make and keep genuine adult friendships. Helen lives with the expectations and smothering love of her parents, stuck between what she feels she must do and what she wants for herself. This tension becomes one of the central conflicts of the novel: Helen wants to keep her relationship with Grant a secret, and struggles to admit how deeply she feels for him, even to herself.
It will come as no surprise that as the adapting writer of People We Meet on Vacation and writer/director of Beach Read, Kuang offers a heart-wrenching, funny, sexy novel will appeal to fans of Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez. How to End a Love Story is entirely Kuang's own, however, and establishes her as an author--and screenwriter--to watch. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer
Shelf Talker: Screenwriter Yulin Kuang's character-driven debut romance is perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez: sizzling, funny, heart-wrenching and emotionally intelligent.