How It Ends

Title: How It Ends
Author: Laura Wiess
Published: 2009
Synopsis from Goodreads

Laura Wiess, the acclaimed author who once brought us "a girl to walk alongside Harper Lee's Scout and J. D. Salinger's Phoebe" (Luanne Rice), brings us another memorable young woman, this one at the center of an extraordinary novel of how love ends, how it begins, and what it's worth to protect it...

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.



If I could give this book 10 stars, I would. This book is by far the best thing I have read in a while.

It's a story of young love, untamed lust, a first kiss, heartbreak, life lessons, and learning to say good-bye.

"How it Ends" centers around a fifteen year old girl named Hanna who is in love with her school's bad boy. Remember those days? Remember back when you would have given anything for that one boy to notice you? That's what Hanna reminded me (and not in a ditsy - OMG - kind of way. In a regular HUMAN way) of.

Helen is an elderly woman who has watched Hanna grow up and is now watching her drift away from her until a terminal disease brings Hanna back to her door. And when that happens.... Helen tells her life's story without even speaking.

I wish I could tell you all how this book made me feel. If I could find the right words, I would. This story moved me beyond words. My husband came home last night and found me at the kitchen table. He looked at me and said, "What's the matter?" I tried to hide my eyes and told him, "Nothing." He touched the stack of mail and asked if THAT was what was bothering me (dental bills have been known to make me cry). I shook my head and told him, "No. I finished my book."

Of course he did the classic guy thing and snickered... but I'm here to tell you... Not too many books can do that to me. The author REALLY REALLY has to drag me into a story to make me cry.

I'll definitely be reading this book again.

Greta's Rating