This Won't End Well

Written by Camille Pagán

Narrated by Amy McFadden

An ingeniously witty novel about the risks—and rewards—of opening your life to new people by Amazon Charts bestselling author Camille Pagán.

No new people: that’s Annie Mercer’s vow. It’s bad enough that her boss sabotaged her chemistry career and her best friend tried to cure her with crystals. But after her fiancé, Jon, asks for space while he’s gallivanting around Paris, Annie decides she needs space too—from everyone.

Yet when Harper moves in next door, Annie can’t help but train a watchful eye on the glamorous but fragile young woman. And if keeping Harper safe requires teaming up with Mo, a maddeningly optimistic amateur detective, who is she to mind her own business?

Soon Annie has let not one but two new people into her life. Then Jon reappears—and he wants her to join him in France. She’s pretty sure letting anyone get close won’t end well. So she must decide: Is another shot at happiness worth the risk?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Feb 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781799749981

Camille Pagán

Camille Pagán is the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of six novels, including I’m Fine and Neither Are You, Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties, and Life and Other Near-Death Experiences, which has been optioned for film. Pagán’s books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She has written for the New York Times; O, The Oprah Magazine; Parade; Real Simple; Time; and many other publications. Pagán lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her family. Learn more about her novels at www.camillepagan.com.

Reviews for This Won't End Well

[Gail Martineau · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed the characters and how it ended. One of her best, I would say.

[bookanonjeff · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

... But It Actually Does. Pagan once again creates a great story of a woman finding herself through a difficult and unexpected situation. In this particular scenario, it happens to involve a situation I've lived a version of, as a science professional leaving a job unexpectedly and forced to pick up seemingly menial work. Mostly light hearted with just enough punch to make things interesting, this is one that long time fans will love and new readers will quickly become fans. Very much recommended.

[mjspear_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An engaged woman's fiance runs off to Paris for a month and asks for 'space.' Trouble? Ya think?! Annie vows to hole up and hunker down through this unexpected, unwanted exile. She vows "no new people." This, of course, means lots o' new people enter her life, including a free-spirited single woman and a oh-so-cute Private Investigator (can anyone top their meet-cute story?) Annie finally boards a plane to Paris where the descriptions are cliched and hackneyed (think: lots of dappled sunshine, wine, and cafe sitting). Oh well. The character growth is handled well and the dialogue is at times humorous. It ends as it should, with everyone a bit better off. Harmless, fun, forgettable. Points for being set in Detroit.

[shelleyraec · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This Wont End Well by Camille Pagan is a charming tale of love, friendship, endings, and new beginnings.“Why would I open myself up to new problems? By problems, of course, I mean people.”Things aren’t going well for twenty-seven year old, research chemist, Annie Mercer. A little more than a week after she is forced to resign from her workplace after being betrayed by her lecherous boss, her fiancé, Jon, calls her from the airport to announce he needs some ‘me’ time and is on his way to spend a month incommunicado in France. With her best friend, Leesa, too busy with her new career as a LiteWeight™ Brand Evangelist, and her mother, with whom Annie lives, too emotionally fragile, to lean on, Annie decides to avoid further complications in her life by keeping people out of it.“I wanted to tell him that I already knew it would end badly—there’s really no other kind of ending, if you think about it.”Told in an epistolary format through a series journal entries, texts, and emails, This Won’t End Well is a well written and pacy read.Annie is a delightful character, she has her quirks (her thinking and behaviour suggests she is on the autism spectrum) but she’s honest, loyal and sweet. Quite sensible and serious, Annie is bewildered by the rapid changes in her life but faces them with a quiet dignity. I really enjoyed her character development, which I thought was both realistic and relatable.Annie’s resolve to avoid new relationships makes perfect sense to her, but is soon tested when Harper, a glamorous but seemingly vulnerable young woman moves in across the street, and Mo, a charming P.I., asks for her help. Her burgeoning friendships with these two very different characters, and some well timed advice from her dear friend Violet, and her mother, prompts Annie to re-envision her plans for her future.It’s not all fun and froth though, Pagan briefly raises the issues of workplace sexual harassment, racism, grief, and PTSD. These subjects are effortlessly worked into the story however and don’t pull focus away from Annie’s personal journey.Witty, warm, and winsome I enjoyed This Won’t End Well, and I would like to read more of the author’s backlist.“If you’re willing to look for joy and open yourself to new possibilities, the end is not an ending at all. It’s a beginning.”

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a story that happens every day. A fiancée/boyfriend needs to “find himself”. A workplace situation becomes untenable and unemployment is the result. A best friend doesn’t’’ “get it”, doesn’t apologize and a close friendship is put on hold. The perception that a parent’s needs are paramount or is it an excuse?! And what about the wedding favors and a cake tasting appointment? Told in an easily identifiable, logical, and very humorous narrative, I admired Annie’s desire for predictability and her inability to obtain it. Her journaling was the perfect mechanism to allow us into her inner most thoughts and her self-assessment. Her “no new people” theorem was as ridiculous as it was hilarious as she trips over a new neighbor and a peeping tom.This was a very clever book by a very talented writer. Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy

[fredreeca · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Annie’s life has recently taken a turn for the worse. Her fiancé has just up and left for Paris, WITHOUT HER! She has lost her job as a chemist because of a supreme *$#@**. Now she is cleaning houses to try and make ends meet. Annie decides she is just going to take a break from everyone. However, this doesn’t work out as well as she wants it to. She has a new neighbor, Harper. Harper sets off alarm bells and Annie just cannot seem to stay out of Harper’s business.Annie tickled the mess out of me. She just can’t seem to get it together. She is smart and efficient, but things just keep twisting around and creating havoc in her life. Does she take this lying down….oh never! She continues to try and get her life back on track. And it is a challenge!This is a cute and entertaining story. It moves quickly and you just can’t help but be captivated by all of Annie’s antics. Sometimes you just need a light hearted book to get you through. This tale hit the spot!I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

[susan0316 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Annie is a young woman at a crossroad in her life. She is hyper-intelligent, totally organized and set in her ways. Her dream was go to MIT but she ended up moving to Michigan to stay with her mother and taking a job as a scientist. She loved her job and she loved her fiance Jon, a high school French teacher. All at once, everything goes wrong - she is fired from her job due to unfair circumstances, she is frustrated living at her mother's and to top it all off, Jon calls her from the airport to tell her that he is following a dream and going to spend a month in Paris and doesn't want her to contact him. All of a sudden her organized life has been up-ended and she isn't sure what to do. So she starts cleaning houses - but only for people she knew because she's decided that she has sworn off people and doesn't want to interact with old friends or make new friends. Life has a way of changing your plans and Annie soon had two new friends - Harper, the glamorous woman who moved in next door and Mo, an amateur private detective who is investigating Harper but wants to spend time with Annie. When Jon invites Annie to visit him in Paris, she realizes that she needs to make some deep decisions about the rest of her life. Should she follow Jon to Paris or should she change her life and start living more freely.Annie was a fantastic main character who was trying to decide how she wanted to live her life. She was also very funny and there are lots of laugh out loud moments in the book. Watching her deciding whether and how to change her well planned life and break out of her shell makes this a fantastic feel good story.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.