The End of Our Story

March 27, 2017
Haston (Paperweight) focuses on breakups, grief, and letting go in a story that alternates between the perspectives of Bridget “Bridge” Hawking and Wilson “Wil” Hines, childhood best friends who fell in and out of love but aren’t quite ready to move on. The novel opens after Bridge and Wil have spent a year apart from each other after she cheated on him, but the shocking murder of Wil’s father brings them back into contact. The effort to rekindle their friendship proves rocky, not only because of the breakup but because Wil had already been dealing with family problems even before his father was killed, namely domestic violence. Bridge has her own troubles, including a drinking problem and a depressed single mother, but Wil’s emotions are raw and unpredictable, and his situation takes center stage. Haston barely touches on the question of who killed Wil’s father until the very end. Instead, the source of the novel’s tension comes from Wil and Bridge’s attempts to figure out how to address their fractured relationship and whether their futures will involve each other. Ages 14–up. Agency: Alloy Entertainment.

February 1, 2017
Nothing, not even murder, will sway Bridget from her determination to reunite with her ex-boyfriend. Despite having loved each other since early childhood, Wil is so hurt by Bridget's drunken behavior at a party one night that they haven't spoken in a year. Their senior year of high school is drawing to a close, and Wil still won't respond to any of Bridget's apologies or attempts at reconciliation. Then Wil and his mother are witness to the murder of his father in a robbery gone awry. Drawn together again for solace and love, Bridget and Wil, both white, haltingly begin to open up to each other even as it becomes clear that Wil cannot talk about the night of the ghastly event and is, perhaps, harboring secrets. Adorned with the occasional fancy metaphor ("But my words are feathery, and they don't land"), this is a lackluster intrigue. Their story unfolds almost entirely from Bridget's first-person perspective, with a few chapters narrated by Wil. The pervasive line of inquiry here isn't that of the detectives trying to catch the killer but what elements make up the essential self: are people merely the sums of their deeds and lists of adjectives? Eventually, with unwavering love, Bridget must let Wil make his own decision about the man he wants to be. A slightly philosophical love story for readers who want a little edge to their romance. (Romance. 12-18)

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July 1, 2017
Wil and Bridge(t) were childhood friends who fell in love; their relationship ended abruptly when Bridge drunkenly broke Wil's heart. After Wil's father dies violently during their senior year, the two reconnect in their grief, though Bridge suspects that Wil is hiding something. Guilt-ridden Bridge narrates what happens after the tragedy while tortured Wil tells the backstory in this dark, emotion-packed drama.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)