This is Not How it Ends by Rochelle B. Weinstein
ARC from GetRed PR in exchange for an honest review.
Book Blurb:
When Charlotte and Philip meet, the pair form a deep and instant connection. Soon they’re settled in the Florida Keys with plans to marry. But just as they should be getting closer, Charlotte feels Philip slipping away. Second-guessing their love is something Charlotte never imagined, but with Philip’s excessive absences, she finds herself yearning for more. When she meets Ben, she ignores the pull, but the supportive single dad is there for her in ways she never knew she desired. Soon Charlotte finds herself torn between the love she thought she wanted and the one she knows she needs.
As a hurricane passes through Islamorada, stunning revelations challenge Charlotte’s loyalties and upend her life. Forced to reexamine the choices she’s made, and has yet to make, Charlotte embarks on an emotional journey of friendship, love, and sacrifice—knowing that forgiveness is a gift, and the best-laid plans can change in a heartbeat.
My Review: 4 stars
This is Not How it Ends is an emotional ride about what it means to love, different ways to love and the things we do for love. Weinstein proved in her prior release, Somebody’s Daughter, that she knows how to tell a good story that will keep you interested from start to finish.
Two of the three main characters met on a plane, which is a situation I can completely see happening. Although I prefer to read or nap on a plane, I often find myself with a gregarious seatmate. I must have an invisible tattoo on my forehead that attracts talkers. A few of those times, the conversation gets rolling and suddenly there is a cloud of anonymity that envelops us. I immediately feel safe unleashing my worries or sharing dreams that I’ve never told a soul. It’s a weird phenomenon when it happens; I don’t even know my seatmate’s name, yet he or she knows about my personal baggage. In the book, this strong connection went with them off the plane and into the real world.
Although the book covers some serious topics such as pancreatic cancer, grief and life-threatening allergies, it also reminds the reader of the fragility of life and to live each day to the fullest. The book also introduced me to NAET, an alternative therapy for allergies, which I may incorporate into my own life. These themes make for great discussions as it elicits such a strong emotional response. Friendship, mother/daughter relationships, father/daughter relationships, single parenting, abandonment, secrets, choices made, fate and creating our own endings are also threaded throughout the book.
I’ve enjoyed stories with love triangles ever since my grandma had me watching All My Children when she watched me after school. Weinstein creates a love triangle like no other. I had no idea how she could wrap this up in a way that would satisfy readers, but dang, she did it perfectly. All I can say is that with perfect comes tears, so be warned. Perhaps it was so moving because I was invested in all the characters with whom I found myself rooting for from start to finish.
This one made it onto my best of winter 2019-2020. It’s a great read to get lost in on a cold winter day.
Quotes I liked:
Some pain we learn to live with. It becomes our armor.”
“I understood natural beauty, the contrast between high-end and natural high.”
“The book is always better. Endless imagination. We get to choose what we see…the people and places.”
“The finality. The dissolution. It’s the great paradox, the ill-fated hypocrisy: In life we watch them suffer. In death it is we who suffer. There is no in-between.”
“I’ve heard it said that life is about choices. Paths stretch out ahead of us—sometimes we make conscious decisions and other times, fate intervenes and choose for us.”
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