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walkitoutEnd of Story by Kylie Scott has a prequel which I did not read, in part because the prequel was $11.99 and the book itself was $1.99, and I was like, but do I even really want to read this? I regret my decision. You should probably read them in order and just pay up, altho I still haven’t read the prequel and it feels mildly depressing to go back to that part of the story now. But I suspect I will.
SPOILERS!
This book has one of the all-time great McGuffins, and it was utterly unexpected for it to show up in a Contemporary Romance novel. Lars is at the house Susie inherited from her aunt Susan, removing wallpaper and carpet and making repairs to water damage around a window and so forth. As he opens up a wall, he pulls out a piece of paper he finds. It is aged, but it is a divorce certificate dated 10 years in the future, and the parties to the divorce are Lars and Susan. Initially, he assumes this is some sort of weird prank that Susie is pulling, and Susie turns it around on him, saying he could be pulling this prank. They wait for someone to come forward and claim the prank, but in the meantime, they speculate about what could cause them to get divorced. At this point in time, they are not a couple, and Susie is committed to never marrying. They know each other because Susie used to date Andrew, Lars’ long-time friend and neighbor growing up, and bro code says he can never date her.
Susie displays a high degree of commitment to making sense of the divorce certificate, taking it to a person who does document forensics (returns it, refusing to give any kind of verdict and refunds the money), a psychic, and finally visits the neighborhood of the legal firm and meets the lawyer whose signature is on the document. The lawyer — who does divorce work — gives detailed, specific and really good advice on how to not wind up in front of a divorce lawyer.
Lars’ brother Tore winds up dating Susie’s bestie. There are various extended family interactions. Work on the house is eventually completed. Andrew returns from London. Susie and Lars keep spiraling around each other. Lars is hit by a car and Susie takes care of him for a week. They work through various stages of getting to know each other and committing to each other and setting boundaries with extended family and so forth. All good stuff. Finally, Susie decides to burn the divorce certificate.
But now, it can’t be found.
The epilogue has them living in the same house ten years later, on the date of the divorce certificate. They have two kids and they have diligently applied the lessons offered by the divorce lawyer who signed it.
It’s so so so obvious what that certificate is metaphorically, but I LOVE the author’s commitment to making it a real, physical object that couldn’t possibly exist. It’s fantastic in every way. Susie has the voice of Kylie Scott’s wonderful women characters: boundaried, but slightly oversharing, slightly too much honesty, much never cruel or vindictive, never making fun. Susie is extremely observant and very much a people pleaser, and Scott’s descriptions of what Susie sees, how she responds, and how Susie is trying to change how she interacts with other people without losing her integrity is really delightful.
SPOILERS!
This book has one of the all-time great McGuffins, and it was utterly unexpected for it to show up in a Contemporary Romance novel. Lars is at the house Susie inherited from her aunt Susan, removing wallpaper and carpet and making repairs to water damage around a window and so forth. As he opens up a wall, he pulls out a piece of paper he finds. It is aged, but it is a divorce certificate dated 10 years in the future, and the parties to the divorce are Lars and Susan. Initially, he assumes this is some sort of weird prank that Susie is pulling, and Susie turns it around on him, saying he could be pulling this prank. They wait for someone to come forward and claim the prank, but in the meantime, they speculate about what could cause them to get divorced. At this point in time, they are not a couple, and Susie is committed to never marrying. They know each other because Susie used to date Andrew, Lars’ long-time friend and neighbor growing up, and bro code says he can never date her.
Susie displays a high degree of commitment to making sense of the divorce certificate, taking it to a person who does document forensics (returns it, refusing to give any kind of verdict and refunds the money), a psychic, and finally visits the neighborhood of the legal firm and meets the lawyer whose signature is on the document. The lawyer — who does divorce work — gives detailed, specific and really good advice on how to not wind up in front of a divorce lawyer.
Lars’ brother Tore winds up dating Susie’s bestie. There are various extended family interactions. Work on the house is eventually completed. Andrew returns from London. Susie and Lars keep spiraling around each other. Lars is hit by a car and Susie takes care of him for a week. They work through various stages of getting to know each other and committing to each other and setting boundaries with extended family and so forth. All good stuff. Finally, Susie decides to burn the divorce certificate.
But now, it can’t be found.
The epilogue has them living in the same house ten years later, on the date of the divorce certificate. They have two kids and they have diligently applied the lessons offered by the divorce lawyer who signed it.
It’s so so so obvious what that certificate is metaphorically, but I LOVE the author’s commitment to making it a real, physical object that couldn’t possibly exist. It’s fantastic in every way. Susie has the voice of Kylie Scott’s wonderful women characters: boundaried, but slightly oversharing, slightly too much honesty, much never cruel or vindictive, never making fun. Susie is extremely observant and very much a people pleaser, and Scott’s descriptions of what Susie sees, how she responds, and how Susie is trying to change how she interacts with other people without losing her integrity is really delightful.
Billed as a novella?
Date: 2024-12-01 07:51 am (UTC)