Book Review: Tell Me How This Ends by Victoria De La O

Description

Brothers Jude and Ryan McAllister are inseparable. When Jude stepped in to raise Ryan after the death of their mother, it became the two of them against the world. But the scars it left were bone-deep. Then Lizzie Price comes along.

Lizzie hopes Ryan’s kindness can help heal her wounds from a toxic relationship. But when she meets Jude, their powerful attraction makes him difficult to resist. The problem is, Lizzie doesn’t realize Jude and Ryan are brothers, and they don’t know they’re falling for the same girl.

By the time the truth comes out, everyone is in too deep. Ryan is in love, Jude is in denial, and Lizzie wants both brothers. All of them agree that no one deserves to get hurt. But love and desire have a way of testing even the strongest bonds.

Review

Tell me how this ends by Victoria De La O starts on a slow pace. However, a few pages into the story, I was completely hooked. As described in the blurb, the story revolves around Jude, Ryan (brothers) and Lizzie (the love interest). Lizzie meets the two guys almost at the same time though at different places. At first, she has no idea that the two know each other.

What I liked

The story is narrated through the three POVs. I really liked the narrative style y because it gave different perspectives of the same events. As a reader, I could see the relationships from the three views and understand what each character was feeling, thinking and dealing with the experiences.

The bond between the brothers was the best part of this story for me. Having being left alone at a young age, the two only have each other. Jude takes care of Ryan and it is evident that Ryan adores his big brother. They are always there for each other and it seems like they don’t really have anyone else. I love the little things that they did together such as playing basket or waking up in the middle of the night if one of them had a nightmare. This relationship was just beautiful.

Family is one of the themes in this book. Apart from Jude and Ryan, we also get to know more about Lizzie and her family. She is very close with her brother Jeff and also her folks. Family issues came up and it was interesting to see how they were addressed.

Apart from family, friendship was another key theme. I liked the friends that Lizzie had and just how much they supported her. Ryan and Jude also had some great friends with the later opening up to people over time. The friends were support characters but the author did a great job of making them part of the main story.

The characters in this book are well developed especially Jude and Ryan.  Having lost his only parent at fifteen, it was interesting to see how Jude became Ryan’s guardian and best friend at the same time. He sacrifices a lot for his brother and always puts him first. I liked other details about him like how neat he was and how he used to wash dishes immediately they were used. The author shared many little details that made Jude quite real and relatable. Ryan was my favorite character. I just liked the guy. The fact that he was nerdy introverted and even his stutter made him endearing. I just wanted the best for him. Lizzie was a complex character. She had just survived an abusive relationship only to find herself falling for two guys. They were all flawed characters who we get to see grow through the chapters.

What I didn’t like

I know from the blurb it is obvious that there is a love triangle. This is what I actually didn’t like. I don’t mind love triangles in stories but the fact that the guys were brothers bothered me. They were both good guys and I didn’t like the idea that a woman could come between them especially after what they had been through.  I think the relationship also bothered me because the three characters were great but it was obvious that one, two or all three would get hurt. That is how love triangles end up but I didn’t want that to happen to any of them. Anyway, the ending of the book is heartbreaking though beautiful at the same time. It was not what I wanted but it was a satisfactory conclusion.

Final Thoughts

Tell me how this ends by Victoria De La O is a wonderful book about family, friendship, love and loss. It ended up being quite an emotional rollercoaster. I was completely lost in the story such that for a few hours, the world around me ceased to exist. The story is well written that it became easy to emotional connect with all three characters. It has an easy flow and ended up being a quick read. I recommend this book to all fans of this genre (new adult/romance).