REVIEW for How It Ends by Catherine Lo

TITLE:                   How It Ends

AUTHOR:              Catherine Lo

GENRE:                 YA

RATING:                


I had really been wanting to read this, especially since the author is Canadian - I always try to encourage our Canadian authors.

It only took me three days to read this one and I had a hard time putting it down (but life interferes with my reading time). 

In short, the beginning of this book is the strongest part. It felt to me as though the middle floundered a little and the ending was.....predictable.

The subject matter is difficult and I am totally fine with that because these "social issues" need to be put out there so people and YA in particular feel as though they are not going through difficult times in a vacuum. 

But it felt as though the author did not really go far enough into the situation - to explore emotions, fears and basically the reality of it all.

I think this is where the book failed for me - the beginning was strong because the friendship between Jessie and Annie was well developed and explored, but when other people are brought into the fray and then problems arise, the author did not seem to be able to balance it all out. We lose the connection to the characters - the emotions they feel, the thoughts they have.

The ending was predictable. 

I needed to see this book as more gritty, considering the subject matter.