How It Ends is a brutally honest look at the many ways that friendships can fall apart. Growing up, growing into your own skin, and learning who you want to be can sometimes sever even the oldest and best friendships. Annie and Jess learn the harsh realities of high school, keeping secrets, and the sacrifices made to fit in.
PROS:
Annie and Jess are opposites and yet startlingly the same. They both have insecurities and issues. Not everything is what it appears on the surface. Annie cannot see her own beauty, she doubts her worth, and Jess feels the same after years of bullying and shaming from people she once considered her friends. This parallel is spot on. It is the epitome of opposite attract. They make each other better, when they’re focused on their friendship, it’s when things expand that everything starts to fall apart. This is a story of friendship, how hard you have to fight when you’re being pulled in 100 different directions, and what losing a friend can do to you both emotionally and psychologically. It hurts to share a best friend. Especially if they make up your whole world. It can feel like a loss, crippling and painful, How It Ends explores those feelings.
The alternating POVs are eye-opening. You get to see how each girl views their friendship, the events that happen, and their position in the high school food chain. Each girl has a strong voice. They hold their own and will have you either rooting for them or wanting to shake some sense into them.
This story deals with relevant teen issues like sex, drinking, partying, bullying, and anxiety. For some, every single time they step into that cafeteria, they feel like an outsider, they shrink away inside themselves and pray that they will remain invisible. That’s no way to live and no one should feel that way. How It Ends does an amazing job getting to the heart of those fears. Every deep breath, every cringe, the hyperventilating, the terror, the way words are phrased to avoid confrontation, it’s like the act of existing is a test. That is spot on throughout.
CONS:
Annie is hard to sympathize with or like. From the first pages it only takes a chapter or two in her POV for her to do a total 180. It’s like she only sees what she wants to and conveniently forgets everything else. She doesn’t give in, she’s stubborn in the worst way, and it takes something really terrible to get her to wake up and face reality.
Some things didn’t make sense. It felt like things were thrown in at the last minute.
The mean girls were typical. The high school scenes were a little cliché. There wasn’t a great balance in terms of their friendship. It made one look more guilty than the other and like a terrible friend, though they both made harsh judgments, assumptions, and mistakes.
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Reviews with images
Good , quick , two-day read!
I loved this book. I related so much to Jessie with her anxiety and depression while still trying to maintain good friendships. Larissa and Courtney I hated and I knew Charlie loved her from the moment her gave her the comic book . I expected the exact turn out with Scott. Although, I wish it had ended differently . All in all it was a good book and I am happy I read it .
Top reviews from other countries
2 smartdogs
If you only read 1book this summer, you must ...
Reviewed in Canada on July 3, 2016