How to End a Love Story

Starred review from November 1, 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

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 4, 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.

January 1, 2024
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.

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February 15, 2024
After working on a couple of successful television shows, scriptwriter Grant Shepard is in the middle of a serious employment drought. However, all that is about to change when Grant is offered a spot on the hottest show in production, the adaptation of the best-selling Ivy Papers books into a television series. The only thing holding Grant back from immediately saying yes is the fact that he knows the author, Helen Zhang. Thirteen years ago, Grant was innocently involved in the horrible tragedy that led to Helen's younger sister Michelle's death. Since then, the two haven't spoken, so what are the odds that Grant and Helen can work together now? Screenwriter and director Kuang will break readers' hearts and then put them back together with her brilliantly written debut romance that deftly and delicately deals with the grief and guilt that comes when a loved one dies by suicide. Kuang then seamlessly integrates this challenging topic into an exceptional love story replete with all the witty banter and electric chemistry any romance reader could ever crave.

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