How It Ends

How It Ends
By: Laura Wiess

All Hanna's wanted since sophomore year is Seth. She's gone out with other guys, even gained a rep for being a flirt, all the while hoping cool, guitar-playing Seth will choose her.

Then she gets him -- but their relationship is hurtful, stormy and critical, not at all what Hanna thinks a perfect love should be. Bewildered by Seth's treatment of her and in need of understanding, Hanna decides to fulfill her school's community service requirement by spending time with Helen, her terminally ill neighbor, who she's turned to for comfort and wisdom throughout her life.

But illness has changed Helen into someone Hanna hardly knows, and her home is not the refuge it once was. Feeling more alone than ever, Hanna gets drawn into an audiobook the older woman is listening to, a fierce, unsettling love story of passion, sacrifice, and devotion. Hanna's fascinated by the idea that such all-encompassing love can truly exist, and without her even realizing it, the story begins to change her.

Until the day when the story becomes all too real...and Hanna's world is spun off its axis by its shattering, irrevocable conclusion.

summary from book

My Rating: 5/5

Wow, just wow. This book was incredible. Once and a while a book comes along that really shakes you. How It Ends made me smile, made me angry, made me cry and so much more. I felt so connected to these characters, felt like I knew them and their story, like I was involved in it all. This book ended up greatly surpassing my expectations. The summary of this novel, although accurate in detail and content, does not give How It Ends enough credit. You really have to read for yourself and find out just how wonderful a story is contained behind a pretty cover and intriguing blurb.

I have to admit that I've never read anything quite like this before. The story itself is refreshing and different. Then there's the fact that it's really divided into three sections. You have Helen's point of view (which I found interesting because I've never come across an adult perspective in a YA novel, let alone an elderly woman's.) You also have Hanna's point of view and then the telling of the audio book, appropriately titled How It Ends. It's a constant back and forth between the three, Hanna's narrative taking up a larger significant role as the novel progresses.

This novel is beyond compelling. The only thing I regret is not having discovered Laura Wiess' novels earlier. It's books like these that I feel people who are hesitant of reading YA literature should pick up. I've on so many occasions, stumbled upon handfuls of reviews on websites like goodreads, where adult readers have been quick to silence the entire YA genre claiming that a YA book was "simplistic and very easy to read" and "exactly what I expected seeing as it's for young adults." I would dare those people to pick up a novel like this, and see that there is so much more to young adult literature than people give it credit for.