It Will End Like This

by Kyra Leigh

For fans of The Cheerleaders and Sadie comes a psychological thriller that reminds us that in real life, endings are rarely as neat as happily ever after. A contemporary take on the Lizzie Borden story that explores how grief can cut deep.

Charlotte lost her mother six months ago, and still no one will tell her exactly what happened the day she mysteriously died. They say her heart stopped, but Charlotte knows deep down that there's more to the story.

The only person who gets it is Charlotte's sister, Maddi. Maddi agrees—people’s hearts don’t just stop. There are too many questions left unanswered for the girls to move on.

But their father is moving on. With their mother’s personal assistant. And both girls are sure that she’s determined to take everything that’s theirs away for herself.

Now the only way to get their lives back is for Charlotte and Maddi to decide how this story ends, themselves.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Young Adult, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 2022

About the author

Kyra Leigh grew up in Utah playing classical piano. She and her four sisters were homeschooled and spent most of their time reading. She works off and on at the annual Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers (WIFYR.com) workshop. She loves to travel, hike, and talk books with her friends. You can visit Kyra on Facebook, Instagram, and on the blog she shares with her Mom, ThrowingUpWords.Wordpress.com. Reaper is her first novel.

Reviews

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well,well, well since I attended the murder house tour in Salem/ Boston where Lizzie Borden’s poor dad and stepmother have been butchered ( probably by her even though she has gotten acquitted) for my documentary project I have truly scared and pulled the plug my entire work indefinitely! But my obsession about reading true crime stories and have a great need to see the events from the perspective of the killer never ended!

The book’s opening quote from Borden, references to Helter Skelter already picked my interest as a modern approach to the mind of a killer.

This is not modern retelling of Borden murders but this is a remarkable and interesting story about loss, grief, madness, dysfunctional family issues, estrangement with lots of mean girls and dislikable characters!

Actually only characters you can connect and feel sorry for Charlotte and Maddi. You can feel their inner screams throughout their perspectives. As Charlotte gets more depressed and sadder, Maddi gets more furious, impatient. They’ve been told that their mother’s heart has suddenly stopped, found lying on the beach. Why someone’s heart suddenly stop without any reason?
But this is not the only trauma they need to deal with: their mother’s dear personal assistant Amber is having an affair with their father and now she seems like getting everything her mother had including her wealth, husband, jewelries including her wedding ring!

The girls find poison in their house and clues of foul play about their mother’s case! Could their father team up with his mistress to inherit their mother’s business, house,money by faking her death?
Well, the names and the traumatic incidents of this book are perfectly adapted from real life events and short but effective chapters easily grab your attention. This is fast, emotional psychological thriller. There are so many unlikable characters you want to slap! And of course you may guess how the story conclude because of the content of true crime story.

But there were still some smart and unexpected twists! Definitely heart pounding, easy to read!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House/ Delacorte Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

[Irena BookDustMagic · Rating 3 out of 5]

It Will End Like This is the first book I finished in 2022, but also the one I ended 2021 with.
I know, totally not important information, but still I look at it as fun fact (feel free to call me a loser if you want).

The book started good, with a tone that was so easy and also intriguing to follow.
Short chapters have the ability to make book seem like it reads faster, and the first person pulls the reader in characters' heads immediately.

To make things clear, I was thrilled with the way the book started, and the atmosphere the author described through monologues and happenings reminded me of a brilliant novel called We Have Always Lived in a Castle.

However, the more I read, the more I despised Charlie's inner thoughts, and since we are what we think, I liked her less and less, until I found her just... not my cup of tea.

Still, I could understand how all the things that happened could spin her head and awoke the anger and even madness inside her.

Her sister Maddie seemed like the stronger one, but on the other hand the author decided to focus mostly on Charlie, and explore her character and her inner self more, even if the book follows two POVs.

In the end, I just want to state that I hated not only one, but three side characters: the father, his new girlfriend and the new friend.
Books usually have one or two characters readers like to hate, so kudos to Kyra Leigh for creating not one, not two, but three of them, and if we include Charlie among them, we have a band of unlikeable personas.

[Brittany (whatbritreads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Shoutout to the publisher for sending me a copy of this to review!*

Apparently this novel was inspired by the Borden murders, I have no idea what they are so I’m just reviewing this as its own thing.

Starting with the positives, I read this book ridiculously fast. I was working 8+ hour days during the three days I read this over, and managed to fly through it when I had spare time. It literally would have taken me less than two hours to sit and read it in a single sitting. It was really fast paced and the plot moved forward really quickly to keep you engaged with the story. It worked well as a mystery thriller in that you didn’t get bored.

On to the things that didn’t work out for me, which is actually the majority of it unfortunately.

The sentence structure annoyed me endlessly. It’s written entirely in really short sentences. Which start to lose their effect. When overused. It just makes it hard to read. And kind of stunted. It was also told consistently in a first person perspective, so I have no idea why the thoughts were written in italics. The whole thing is literally her internal monologue, the italics were wholly unnecessary. Way too many italics. There was also a line break for almost every sentence that did my head in. I feel like this book just needed an editor to swoop in and sort it out.

Character wise, though it’s dual POV those characters felt like the same person and I couldn’t distinguish between the chapters at all and had to keep referencing whose chapter I was reading. All two (yes, there’s only two excluding family!) of the side characters were pointless and had no depth to them whatsoever. They didn’t even service the plot. Stephen’s character just aggravated me. Love interest turned prankster? Most underwhelming ‘plot twist’ ever. Speaking of plot twists, this book tried it but it didn’t work at all. And the connections they did seem to be making to try and crack the mystery, were actually insane leaps. I just don't understand their thought processes at all and it felt so forced and unnatural which took me out of the story.

It was predictable and made me cringe at times with reference to things like Juuls, Snapchat and TikTok. They’re high school students who barely ended up going to school. The scenes that took place in the school were just plain weird. The whole book just felt so disjointed and strange I didn’t enjoy it. It was confusing and unclear and the ending was resolved too quickly in a way that didn’t feel satisfying, just rushed to tie it all together. I don’t know what the point of this book was.

That ending did have me absolutely shook though not even going to lie. It was so vivid and tense and graphic and the fact it’s based on a real story terrified me. I legitimately had to sit with the lights on for fifteen minutes and distract myself because I got scared, lmao. This book had so much potential, but the execution of it ruined it completely.

[Amber | TheFireKissed · Rating 3 out of 5]

My actual rate is 3.5 stars - this book wasn't necessarily bad. It was good in some parts and then was boring in others. I disliked Charlotte more than I should of and Maddi was 50/50 for me. I feel like what I was waiting for all happened within the last 80 pages of the book which disappointed me a little bit. I wanted more action to happen throughout, not just be pushed off. This story was just one big misunderstanding and that had me a little confused. I wouldn't not recommend it - but there are a few holes towards the end.

[AziaMinor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall Rating : B-

"Depression hurts from the inside out."

After Maddi and Charlotte's mom's heart gave out and died, they have struggled to get through the normal day to day life. It gets even worse when their dad gets engaged to their housekeeper. Feeling all alone, both of them try to make sense of all that's happening, especially when they get suspicious about how exactly their mother died. Here, you follow their journey through grief, depression, and the uncertain knowledge that people - including yourself - aren't always what you believe them to be.

This made me feel so many emotions I got whiplash. My grief, anger, confusion, and disbelief were practically the same as the girls. And just like the quote says, "Not every story ends happily ever after.".

[Brend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everyone sucks except for my girls. They did nothing wrong. Good 4 them. Keep it up.

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

0.5 ⭐️
I had a hard time finishing this book, the writing was juvenile and the story should have been fleshed out more. I understand the connections between the Borden Murders and it was reason I was initially interested in the book. All the characters and motives have to be explicitly explained to the reader rather then shown to us through the narrative.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley and Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.

I know it was supposed to be Lizzie-Borden-esque, growing-paranoia et cetera et cetera. Instead, it just read as special-snowflake, melodramatic, high-key annoying narrator. That's a lot of not-great adjectives all right in a row, I know. It wasn't all bad. It just wasn't... all that good.

Anyway, my full book review (first of 2022!) will be featured on Gateway Reviews on January 14, 2022.

[Annabel Rianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special but not bad either. Absolutely stunning cover though.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I see Amber when she was part of the family. When she and Mom were friends. When she was like a sister. I see her, and then I picture her dead. Chopped up on the bathroom floor. Strangled in the hallway. Beaten and bruised out in the garden."

I've been fascinated by the Borden murders since I was a kid, so I know a lot about Lizzie and her infamous axe. We're all familiar with the rhyme, but do we know the true story? I don't think anyone will ever know what really happened on that August day. When I discovered that this book was inspired by those murders, I had to read it.

RTC

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve been obsessed with Lizzie Borden since I was ten years old. Having read every book, seen every movie/miniseries and staying overnight at the murder house, I was eager to read IT WILL END LIKE THIS.

Since I’m sympathetic to Lizzie she what may have been her motives for the murders, I was disappointed to like neither Charlotte nor Maddi. Charlotte behaved like her grief was a license to treat others poorly, everyone except her beloved sister. Maddi didn’t have much of a personality other than her devotion to her sister. Whether the teens were right to fear their dad and his fiancée or whether they were clinically paranoid or a little of both hinges upon the reliability of the narrators.

I think several (obvious) plot points were supposed to be twists, but they couldn’t have been more obvious.

Both audiobook narrators sounded so similar they were interchangeable.

Overall, IT WILL END LIKE THIS is disappointing.

[Kärt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately this one did not do it for me. I love the cover so I was hoping for something amazing, but I shouldn't have judged the book simply from that.

It felt like a teenager or someone with a very limited vocabulary had written it (maybe that was the point, who knows, but it just didn't do it for me. Apologies if that is the case). The plot was all over the place and it was predictable.

Some parts/sentences kept repeating (heart doesn't just stop etc) and I know it was meant to build tension, but it didn't work that way for me.

All in all, not the best read. Shame.

[Elvina Zafril · Rating 3 out of 5]

It Will End Like This is a propulsive modern thriller inspired by the Borden murders. I enjoyed reading this book It was quite an interesting story about loss, grief and dysfunctional family..

The story started good. It was told from dual point of views. Charlotte and Maddie. They are sisters who had just lost their mother and were in grief.

I had higher hopes for this but there wasn’t a lot of thrills happened. Most of the things that happened in this book were just about the sisters’ family secrets and typical high school issues. Talkig about the family secrets, I couldn't believe the person who was really close to them can be so cruel. I grew tired of Charlotte inner monologues. I only liked Maddie, she’s the strongest one.

The writing was pretty easy to follow and plot-wise I thought that this book is lack of suspense and good twists. However, the author managed to wrap up this book pretty nicely.

Thank you Times Reads for sending me a copy of It Will End Like This in return for an honest review.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not what I was expecting at all. I was thinking it would be a solid murder mystery type of YA thriller full of twists and turns, but instead it was a psychological thriller where things weren’t quite what they seemed.
I did correctly predict a lot of the reveals, but I enjoyed reading the story. I wish there had been some more clarification on some of the flashbacks on when they’d happened, but I liked the back and forth of the timeline.
I thought the emphasis on mental health and specifically depression and grief was an interesting angle for this kind of story. The end gave me chills.
I found it moved quite slowly and it was pretty repetitive. I enjoyed the chapters of Charlotte and her mom in the flashbacks.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good. I liked the idea behind it. And I like how it let’s me choose how it ends.

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlotte and Maddi’s mother died six months ago, and their father is already sleeping with her assistant, Amber. The girls are suspicious of the circumstances surrounding their mother’s death, and the more he acts like she never existed, the more they wonder whether he and Amber had something to do with it. People’s hearts don’t just stop. It seems like Amber is determined to take everything from them, but nobody is prepared for what happens when the secrets finally come out. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Random House/Delacorte Press. Trigger warnings: parent death, suicide, mild gore, drug use, mental illness, depression, infidelity, grief.

I had higher hopes for this, but while it’s at times an interesting character study, there aren’t a lot of thrills to be had until the end. Most of the novel hinges on the family’s secrets. Some of them are appropriately twisty, and some of them are fairly typical high school problems, but all the reveals come rapid-fire at the end. It nicely ramps up the tension there, but it also means that the rest of the book is fairly lackluster, plot-wise. There’s a lot of time spent wondering what’s happening and not much spent on things actually happening.

I enjoyed Charlotte and Maddi’s sister relationship, and their loyalty and care for each other make it easily the strongest relationship in the book. A close second is probably the sisters’ relationship with their mother. Even though she’s not on the page, the flashbacks to her last months kept me guessing about how she really died. I’ll admit that I had a lot of trouble distinguishing Charlotte and Maddi though. They’re close in age, and while Maddi is the more responsible older sister, their inner monologues are practically the same. I kept forgetting whose chapter I was in.

If you’re the kind of reader who needs all questions answered, this is a good book for you, since everything wraps up pretty neatly by the end. I was interested in the conclusion and guessed some things, while others were a surprise, but I’m not sure how satisfying it is overall. I understand the reasoning for the ending, but there’s a kind of wishy-washiness to the final twist that takes some of the punch out of it. I enjoyed it well enough, but it’s a bit forgettable overall.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

[Afreen Khalil Inscribed Inklings · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea this book was based on a true story until I read the last few pages of the book. I felt like if I knew it was based on the case of Lizzie Borden right from the outset I would have liked it more. I am a true crime aficionado and I love reading about them. However, I was really confused during many parts of the book.

There was no clear picture till the end about what happened. It had a bit of an open ending. We sort of have to come to our own conclusions and I am not a big fan of that. It was YA thriller about 2 sisters, Charlotte and Amber, who lose their mom. They were told that their mom's heart stopped and she died suddenly. Their dad soon gets engaged to their mom's young assistant, Amber.

The narrators were both Charlotte and Maddie. The book focussed more on Charlotte's reaction and breakdown more than Maddie's. The dad was always depicted as the villain. There was a lot of deception and cruelty in the book. It was overwhelming at times. The crimes in the book were very violent too. So if you are okay with that, you can definitely give this one a go.

-Afreen

[Andee · Rating 2 out of 5]

BLOG|INSTAGRAM|TWITTER|YOUTUBE

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is marketed as a Lizzie Borden retelling, but unfortunately, if you are even mildly versed in that particular true-crime case- you'll be disappointed. This book has all the pieces of a truly unique thriller but the writing and attempt at retelling fails to provide it. You read primarily from Charlotte's point of view, Maddie's being very secondary. For some reason, the author included every single irrelevant thought process and internal dialouge for Charlotte. This ruined any interest I had in the book and frequently made me want to scream.

[Ashley (wickedreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gives verity but not as good.

I really liked it for a while and I thought the intrusive thoughts were a really interesting plot device. The last 20 pages really killed the whole thing for me…


!!! SPOILERS !!!!

Things that would make this book better IMO:
1. Disclosure of what mental illness runs in their family. It could be BPD but it could also be any number of other things. I need answers.

2. That bit with her ex and his new GF at the end? Just cut that. Unnecessary and weird.

3. Some interaction with Alex in the end. Whatever happened and whoever did what, I think any conversation between them would have been interested.

[Hana B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a new to me author, and this book will definitely not be my last by this author! She irrefutably wrote a book that provoked an all-nighter to finish the book!
So this book is told from two girls' perspectives, which they are both struggling with daily life stemming from their mother's passing. While that situation alone is enough to manifest a stressful situation with pain surrounding everything. The girls are seeing their father move on with their mother's assistant and moving her into the family home.
While the girls are struggling with these situations a girl from school starts showing them letters that the girl's mother had written to her mother. So the letters create more turmoil with the girls, then their father parading the assistant in their house and taking their mother's things and such, it all starts to get to them. Then, the girls find poison in the house and they start suspecting their father for murdering their mother with his new fiance.
So while all of this is going on the girls are falling deeper and deeper within the rabbit hole of the whole ordeal. I know my review cannot do this book enough justice, but as the girls start spiraling as the reader you will notice that some of their attention shifts, and the tone of the book starts to shift. Then that twist happens, the one that you want to kick yourself for not connecting the dots sooner! Reading late into the night was totally worth it for that twist!
If you love crime, the descent into madness then you will love this book and while you are trying to figure out what is actually going on and what is going to happen then this should be your next read!
I would like to thank Netgalley and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read and review this one! It was definitely a treat!

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: death of a parent (in the past), late miscarriage (in the past), postnatal depression (in the past), mental health, drug use, poisoning, suicide, murder

3.5 stars.

This is a Lizzie Borden retelling, which essentially tells you everything you need to know. That being said, modernising the story meant there were plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing, and it definitely helped that both the narrators are pretty unreliable.

On the whole, I quite liked this but at the same time I feel like it would have worked better for me if I didn't know the details of the Borden case already.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars. While the book was good, it wasn't quite as interesting as I hoped. I did like that we didn't quite get definite answers though. You get to decide what you think happened.

[presley regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

hhmmmm. very interesting i think this is good overall. i will say literally nothing about this book is happy in the slightest so definitely not great to read while depressed buuut it was good. the writing was good!! two unreliable main characters. everyone else was horrible. it was exactly perfect for how it was supposed to be i think. would i recommend this, no but was it good, yes

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you so much Netgalley, Penguin Random House and Kyra Leigh for my advance e-ARC in exchange for the honest review.

After what happened to their mother they think that their mom’s heart won’t stop that easily. They think there’s more of it and they both discovering what really happened.

Charlotte and Maddi’s dad was an asshole. After their mother died he didn’t even felt sad and now, he’s engaged with Amber their mother’s assistant. Their dad has been with Amber from the beginning. His been cheating even though his wife was pregnant. And for Amber she acts like as if she’s the mother. She used their mother’s bedroom, used their mother’s favorite necklace and even the wedding ring. She doesn’t care what the siblings feel.

I like Maddie, because no matter what happened to them she always stick to Charlotte’s side. She always keep her temper inside her so Charlotte can come down. I love how strong she is, how she manage all the chaos that’s going on in their family.

Finally after reading a lot of crime books this is the first time I discovered what really happened to their mother. But…… there is one thing that I still didn’t guess because that twist makes me shock. I know she won’t do it, but she did. Overall, I love this book so much. I love reading crime or thriller books. So if you have any recommendations just make a comment.

[sol ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book was a rough start, i was so ready to give up because of the writing style. however my theories for the ending kept me interested and even though i basically predicted it i was still gagged and i do love the way the author made me realize who the killer was, instead of blatantly stating it. the writing style did get a little better towards the end and i could not put it down :)

updated: when i was telling my friend about the book it felt like i was describing a “wattpad fanfic” (her words lol) but it really did feel like this at first too. there were some parts to this book that felt unnecessary and none of these characters had any personality or development towards them that made me want to connect with them. literally the ending was what made me give it three stars at first but i wouldn’t really recommend others to read it.

[rachel ☼ lilranchreads · Rating 1 out of 5]

i have this book a big ol’ chance by reading the whole thing, but i feel like i just wasted my time and that disappoints me. this book was based off the lizzie borden murders, but i personally see maybe one or two similarities, which were at the very end. i was bored the whole time and even wondered why some characters were even introduced in the book. being such a huge fan of true crime, i was very excited to see an adaptation of such an infamous crime and had high hopes. in reality, i was angry and upset with this book. the story felt like it was going nowhere and then was rushed into the last 2%. could’ve been way better…sorry.

[Abigail J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my god, what did I just read and why was it so good. This was 100% one of the best books I've ever read - if not number 1. This is a must-read for everyone. It had everything.......EVERYTHING! I'm speechless. And the author's note...like, YES PLEASE!

[viciousbibs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dont even know what to say….?!?im just disturbed rn

[Cez · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 re read