How To End A Love Story

A few weeks ago, I attended an author event featuring Yulin Kuang and Tessa Bailey which was an absolute hoot. After listening to Yulin describe her debut novel I quickly snagged a library copy.

Kuang is a screenwriter by trade and is currently working on bringing a couple of Emily Henry's books to the big screen. She uses this first-hand experience in her debut with main characters who are a screenwriter and a YA author who have an emotionally fraught history that impacts their relationship. I loved the Hollywood TV writers room setting!

The story is portrayed as a romance and while there are some spicy scenes and angsty romance, I thought it was more of contemporary fiction set around a devastating loss. It's an emotionally heavy read which also includes themes of family (specifically culture clash between Helen as a first generation Asian American and her immigrant parents), loss and suicide.

I connected with the story in the first half, but my interest waned in the second and I think that's because the romance focused on their rapid and intense physical attraction instead of giving Grant and Helen time to work through the tragedy that brought them together. This led to a fair bit of 'telling rather than showing' Helen and Grant's bond which left me feeling not invested enough in the characters or the story.

Overall, this was a good read that I liked but didn't love as much as I had expected. That said, I eagerly look forward to watching Huang's adaptation of Emily Henry's books when they hit screens. 

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Yulin Kuang

Genre: Romance, BIPOC author

Type and Source: Trade paperback from public library

Publisher: Avon

First Published: April 9, 2024

Book Description from GoodReads: Two writers with a complicated history end up working on the same TV show... Can they write themselves a new ending? A sexy and emotional enemies-to-lovers romance guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and give you a book hangover from brilliant new voice Yulin Kuang.

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.

Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers’ room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except…

Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can’t pass up.

Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.

When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet… the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.