I Know How This Ends

An imaginative romance about a 36-year-old faced with rebooting her shattered life in unexpected ways. 

Are we in control of our destinies? Or does fate cast the die of our lives? Those two questions inspire I Know How This Ends, an inventive, thought-provoking romance by Holly Smale (Geek Girl, Cassandra in Reverse).

The story is told by down-on-her-luck, 36-year-old Margot Wayward, a British-Australian who is enduring the fall-out of a broken, ten-year romance and her losing her job, in a terminal way, as a meteorologist. With her life unmoored, Margot has settled back into her old hometown of Bristol where she struggles with ‘what’s next?’ for her life.  

Enduring a string of no-spark, going-nowhere dates, disillusioned Margot starts to experience supernatural visions that offer glimpses of a future she cannot envision for herself. When she crosses paths with Henry--a sweet-natured single dad and widower; a waiter at the Italian restaurant where all her dates end in disaster--Margot's heart reawakens.  But after everything she’s been through, is she really ready to live--and love--again?

A compelling premise, a strong narrative voice, and a quirky supporting cast permeate Margot’s hopeful journey that will delight readers with tinges of time-travel and magical realism. 

I Know How This Ends by Holly Smale

Mira Books (HarperCollins, Harlequin), $30.00 hardcover, 9780778368632, 368 pages

Publication Date: August 12, 2025

To order this book on Bookshop.org, link HERE

 

Link HERE to learn more about author Holly Smale

The Coincidence Makers

A suspenseful novel about secret operatives who cleverly orchestrate and execute forces of destiny.

Yoav Blum raises fascinating questions about destiny and free will in this fast-paced novel exploring otherworldly dimensions. In The Coincidence Makers, Blum has created a rich fantasy that focuses on trained and skilled secret agents who work--along with bureaucratic forces much greater than themselves--to orchestrate events that nudge ordinary people toward changing the course of their lives.

This smartly crafted novel focuses on three trainees--Guy, Eric and Emily--who have been rigorously educated on the intricacies of coincidences and the roles they, as Coincidence Makers (CMs), are expected to play in shaping human destiny. Eric is a showman who has been known to grandstand in creating very complex coincidences that have led to accidents, death and even murder. Emily is bright and highly sensitive, but tight-lipped in talking about past assignments. And Guy, while adept, is riddled with self-doubt and haunted by a past that broke his heart.

When the CMs are asked to put what they've learned into practice for a complicated assignment involving a former imaginary friend case, the CMs must reassess their roles in relation to humankind and how their efforts very often lead others--sometimes, even themselves--to find deeper meaning and purpose in life and in love.

Blum cleverly probes the cause and effect of life, while exploring the hearts, motivations and questioning nature of people. This makes his carefully constructed fictional universe all the more plausible and captivating--especially as the plot intensifies and unravels in surprising ways.

The Coincidence Makers: A Novel by Yoav Blum

St. Martin's Press, $26.99 Hardcover,  9781250146113, 320 pages

Publication Date: March 4, 2018

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different, shortened form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness: For the Book Trade (February 12, 2018), link HERE

To read this review as published on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (March 6, 2018), link HERE