This Won't End Well

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I always get very excited when a new novel by Camille Pagán comes out and for good reason. Her characters are delightfully quirky and highly realistic, and though Pagan writes about serious situations, she does so with a hefty dose of humor. “This Won’t End Well,” Pagan’s latest novel, is all that and more.  

The novel’s protagonist is Annie, a dedicated scientist, who likes both structure and the ability to plan ahead. Change is not a good thing for Annie so when her carefully planned life suddenly goes askew, routine becomes more important than ever. Her fiancé, Jon, decides he wants to go to France, but does not want any contact with Annie during the time that he is there. Annie also recently lost her scientist job because of sexual harassment from her boss. Her relationship with her closest friend, Leesa, is estranged and her mother, whom she lives with, suffers from depression and hoarding issues. Fearing any more catastrophes, Annie decides to cut herself off from the world period. People bring about change and change is not what Annie wants.  

So much for best laid plans! As Annie takes on a job cleaning houses to generate income, she becomes obsessed with her new neighbor, Harper, and Mo, the private investigator who Annie believes has been hired to spy on Harper. Both Harper and Mo become allies in Annie’s journey to discover that change in itself may not be a bad thing when you have friends along for the ride.   This novel is written in alternating chapters of emails, text messages and diary entries. Sprinkled with plenty of laugh aloud moments (flying dog poo, anyone?), Ms. Pagán writes at a lively pace as she weaves through Annie’s interconnected stories. Just when a reader thinks she might know what could happen next, she is pleasantly surprised to discover that she is mistaken. Annie is very likable as are the majority of the other characters (though I did think her fiancé was a bit of an idiot).

For any fan of a well-written story that resonates with the reader long after you finish the final page, I highly recommend this book.   I'd like to thank NetGalley and the author for providing me an advanced copy. You can buy this novel at your favorite bookstore or see This Will Not End Well

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