How to End a Love Story: A Novel

by Yulin Kuang

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

While still pulling the emotional heartstrings with familiar tropes, How to End a Love Story also engages in meaningful themes of grief, mental health, family and relationships. This is a romance that delivers a deeper resonance than what you might be used to in the genre, giving it a lingering appeal.

The brilliant contemporary romance novel debut from Yulin Kuang, the acclaimed screenwriter of Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation and director of the forthcoming Beach Read feature film.

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the car wreck that killed her sister tied 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063310681
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/09/2024
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	746
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Yulin Kuang is a screenwriter and director, whose credits include The CW’s I Ship It and Hulu’s Dollface. She was once fired from a Hallmark movie for being ‘too hip for Hallmark’ and is the adapting screenwriter of Emily Henry’s People We Meet On Vacation, as well as the writer/director of the forthcoming Beach Read film for 20^th Century Studios. She lives in Pasadena with her husband Zack and their orange cat, Eloise.

Editorial Reviews

12/04/2023

Screenwriter Kuang’s debut beautifully probes the lingering effects of grief and guilt while offering readers a glimpse behind the curtain of Hollywood glamour. Thirteen years before the start of the book, Helen Zhang’s younger sister, Michelle, took her own life by jumping in front of Helen’s classmate Grant Shepard’s car. Ever since, Helen and her family have channeled all of their grief and anger into despising Grant. Now a successful YA novelist, Helen leaves New York City for sunny L.A. to join the writing team for a TV adaptation of her work. Then she learns that Grant is leading the team. Michelle can barely bring herself to be civil toward him and her anxiety and anger over having to work together casts a pall over the writers’ room. Slowly, however, she sees Grant’s talent and comes to be impressed by how diligently he takes care of the people on the team. Like Helen, Grant is scarred by the past, but he also senses that he and Helen belong together if only she would give him a chance. Once feelings blossom, however, Helen fears her traditional Chinese immigrant parents are not ready to forgive Grant and may get in the way of a relationship. Kuang handles her characters’ complex emotions with sensitivity and skill, and makes the chemistry between Helen and Grant leap off the page. Readers will have no trouble rooting for these two. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"How to End a Love Story is one of the sexiest, smartest, funniest, and most effective novels I’ve read in a long time. Yulin Kuang’s voice is strong, sure, and singular—I’ll read anything she writes. An absolute star."
— Emily Henry, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

"I was hooked on the very first page of How to End a Love Story, the absurdly delicious debut from Yulin Kuang. The chemistry between Helen and Grant is pure magic, as is Yulin's gorgeous writing. I need seven other books from her ASAP. Don't miss this one!" — Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

"An utterly compelling debut complete with romance secret sauce—a couple with a real reason to stay apart...and simply can't. Emotional, relatable and binge-worthy."  — Tessa Bailey, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author 

“This captivating novel is a sexy and emotional read that deals with the aftereffects of trauma in a realistic and heartrending way. Readers looking for a contemporary romance with a passionate and grand love story, characters that leap off the page, and an original storyline will relish screenwriter and director Kuang’s debut novel.” — Library Journal (starred review)

"Screenwriter and director Kuang will break readers' hearts and then put them back together with her brilliantly written debut romance... an exceptional love story replete with all the witty banter and electric chemistry any romance reader could ever crave." — Booklist (starred review)

“[A] mature, compelling and relatable story of healing that resists simplifying its characters at every turn. … Kuang’s own experiences as a screenwriter shine through on every page. Her depictions of writer’s rooms and meetings with executives are lush, smart and visual, with each sentence packed full of insightful nuances and quiet moments of reflection. These are characters who have battled their demons and come out the other side, stronger than before. Were this a movie, it would be Oscar-worthy."  — BookPage (Starred Review)

“Screenwriter Kuang’s debut beautifully probes the lingering effects of grief and guilt while offering readers a glimpse behind the curtain of Hollywood glamour. … Kuang handles her characters’ complex emotions with sensitivity and skill, and makes the chemistry between Helen and Grant leap off the page. Readers will have no trouble rooting for these two.” — Publishers Weekly

“Alternating between Helen’s and Grant’s perspectives, How to End a Love Story is a poignant and charming enemies-to-lovers romance that gracefully explores grief, forgiveness, and growth.” — Bustle

“A bond that starts with a tragic death transforms into love … in her debut romance novel [Yulin Kuang] starts with high stakes.”  — Kirkus Reviews

"This is without doubt one of my favourite romance novels of the year. It's so smart, rich and emotional, so beautifully written - I can't rave about it enough. I truly adored it." — Beth O'Leary, Sunday Times Bestselling Author

"Yulin Kuang's How to End a Love Story is a smart, sexy, and powerful page-turner. The insider's look at Hollywood is just as fascinating as the complicated characters who work in the writers room. I couldn't put this book down--but also didn't want it to end!" — Jill Santopolo, New York Times Bestselling Author

“Two complicated people in an impossibly complicated situation, drawn to each other in spite of a deeply complicated past: How to End a Love Story is moving, compelling, and heart-flutteringly sexy. Yulin Kuang writes with a sure-footed confidence here, with impeccable knowledge of who her characters are...and how to get them to their hard-won happy ending.” — Kate Clayborn, author of Georgie, All Along

“Yulin Kuang has a wonderful voice, poignant and funny, she grabbed me from the first paragraph. I stayed up way too late reading this!” — Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author

"How to End a Love Story is a sharp, sexy debut. Fans of Emily Henry and Colleen Hoover will love Yulin Kuang's wistful second chance romance."  — Elissa Sussman, bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask 

"How to End a Love Story is everything you need in a romance novel: Complex characters, hilariously witty banter, and that spice level? Off the charts! If you need me, I'll just be over here dousing myself with cold water. And then reading it again." — Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise

"Impossibly tender, funny, sexy, and heart-wrenching, How to End a Love Story is a gorgeously original romance -- and so much more -- that will leave you laughing, sobbing, and desperately wishing that it would never end. This is the kind of glorious gut-punch of a book that you'll want to share with all your friends, and reread over and over. I fell in helpless love with Helen and Grant's unforgettable story, and I wouldn't have it any other way." — Lana Harper, New York Times Bestselling Author

From the Publisher

★ 11/01/2023

DEBUT Helen's successful YA novels are being adapted into a TV series, and she happily accepts a position as a screenwriter on the project. When she shows up to the writing room, however, she finds the one person she never wanted to see again: Grant, now an established producer. Thirteen years have passed since Helen's little sister died in a car accident—and Grant was at the wheel of the car that hit her. Helen has never forgiven him, and the idea of working together seems incomprehensible. As they begin to unravel each other's stories, they get embroiled in an ultra-steamy yet emotionally knotty relationship that becomes all-consuming. Helen tries hard to deny her attraction to the man she's hated for so long, and Grant struggles to convince Helen that their love is real. Told in alternating points of view, this captivating novel is a sexy and emotional read that deals with the aftereffects of trauma in a realistic and heartrending way. VERDICT Readers looking for a contemporary romance with a passionate and grand love story, characters that leap off the page, and an original storyline will relish screenwriter and director Kuang's debut novel.—Migdalia Jimenez

Library Journal

2023-12-06
A bond that starts with a tragic death transforms into love.

Grant Shepard and Helen Zhang have a history—when they were in high school, he was driving the SUV her younger sister darted in front of, ending her life. When, 13 years later, they meet at a Hollywood studio that’s adapting Helen’s YA novels for television, their unresolved grief means a minefield of painful interactions. Helen has been ignoring her complex feelings of anger, sadness, and guilt, while Grant has struggled with anxiety even as he’s continued to be the popular guy in every circle. Despite her prickly armor and his polite facade in the writers’ room where they’re both working, the extended intimacy of the project forces them past the chasm of their past and into a new chemistry in the present. But Helen’s parents would never accept a relationship between them—would they? In her debut romance novel, screenwriter and director Kuang starts with high stakes. Helen’s absent sister and her family’s trauma loom over the sunny California setting, amplified by the protagonists’ individual visits to their New Jersey hometown. Though leaning slightly into commonplace images of Chinese American parents, Kuang avoids cliches about second-generation immigrants in her depiction of Helen. The potential end of Grant and Helen’s fiery sexual liaison gives the book the feel of a ticking clock, with Kuang coloring all their interactions with a sadness that signals the third-act breakup often found in the novels of Emily Henry (which Kuang is adapting for the screen).

For readers who like romances threaded with operatic sorrow.

Kirkus Reviews

Moving, compelling, and heart-flutteringly sexy.”

Kate Clayborn

The chemistry between Helen and Grant is pure magic, as is Yulin’s gorgeous writing. I need seven other books from her ASAP. Don’t miss this one!”

author of Meet Me at the Lake Carley Fortune