Read How it Ends Online

Authors: Laura Wiess

How it Ends

“Laura Wiess boldly goes where other writers fear to tread” (A. M. Jenkins, author of
Damage
and
Out of Order
) in these splendid and unforgettable must-read novels…

LEFTOVERS

“Like her equally gripping debut (
Such a Pretty Girl
), Wiess’s suspense story delivers an outsize jolt of adrenaline…. Wiess’s clear insight…and her layered storytelling bump up the ‘best friends against the world’ theme to a much more challenging playing field.”


Publishers Weekly

“The climax is explosive, but it’s the feisty heroines who will resonate more.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“A riveting story…. I love this book.”

—Laura Fitzgerald, author of
Veil of Roses

“Dramatic and disturbing…a captivating book that will keep you turning the pages.”

—TeensReadToo.com

“Reading Blair and Ardith’s story is like scratching a mosquito bite—you can’t stop scratching until it bleeds. And as much as it hurts, you won’t be able to put
Leftovers
down until you finish it.”

—Lyn Seippel, Bookloons.com

Critics and authors adore
SUCH A PRETTY GIRL
Chosen as one of the ALA’s 2008 Best Books for Young Adults and 2008 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers

“Brilliance comes in a small package.
Such a Pretty Girl
is deep and ravishing, dark and true. In the character of Meredith, Laura Wiess has created a girl to walk alongside Harper Lee’s Scout and J. D. Salinger’s Phoebe. Read this novel, and you will be changed forever.”


New York Times
bestselling author Luanne Rice

“Such a Pretty Girl
hooked me on page one and Laura Wiess’s masterful prose kept me turning the pages. This is the first book in a very long time that made me say, ‘Wish I’d written this.’”

—Ellen Hopkins,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Identical

“Wiess has created a spunky heroine—tough, darkly humorous, yet achingly vulnerable…. A nail biter of an ending. [A] gutsy and effective thriller.”

—Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

“[A] gritty, terrifying novel about a father’s abuse of power and trust…. A page-turner that ultimately sends a startling message of empowerment…extremely satisfying.”

—Booklist

“Powerful…. Mature teens who enjoy realistic fiction with an edge will devour it.”


VOYA

“Strikes just the right balance between hope and despair, and Meredith’s will to survive and ability to take action in the face of her terror are an inspiration.”


KLIATT

“Such a Pretty Girl
is a riveting novel and Meredith is a wholly original creation: a funny, wise, vulnerable girl with the heart of a hero and the courage of a warrior. This gut-wrenching story will stay with you long after you finish the last page.”

—Lisa Tucker, author of
The Cure for Modern Life

“Beautifully written and painfully real. Laura Wiess has crafted a gripping story that is heart-rending—and important, with a capital ‘I.’”


New York Times
bestselling author Barbara Delinsky

“Gritty yet poetic, gut-churning yet uplifting—a compelling, one-of-a-kind read.”

—A. M. Jenkins, author of
Damage
and
Out of Order

“So suspenseful you’ll wish you’d taken a speed-reading course. But slow down, because to rush would mean missing Laura Wiess’s wonderfully precise language, her remarkable access to Meredith’s darkest emotions, and a shocker of an ending, which you’ll want to read twice.”

—Tara Altebrando, author of
What Happens Here

“Spellbinding…. We need more characters like Meredith in our world and more authors like Wiess to spin them into heartbreaking, enchanting heroines.”


TeenVoices

Also by Laura Wiess

Leftovers

Such a Pretty Girl

 

Available from MTV Books

Pocket Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2009 by Laura Battyanyi Wiess

MTV Music Television and all related titles, logos, and characters are trademarks of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 866-248–3049 or visit our website at
www.simonspeakers.com
.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wiess, Laura
   How it ends / Laura Wiess.—1st MTV Books/Pocket Books trade pbk. ed.
      p. cm.
   Summary: Sixteen-year-old Hanna learns about life, love, happiness, and pain when she finally starts dating the boy she has had a long-time crush on, and when she discovers the complicated truth about her beloved Gran.
   [1. Coming of age—Fiction. 2. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 3. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. 4. Old age—Fiction. 5. Love—Fiction. 6. Country life—Fiction.] I. Title.
   PZ7.W6372Ho 2009 [Fic]—dc22         2009012785

ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-6422-8
ISBN-10: 1-4391-6422-3

Visit us on the Web:
http://www.SimonandSchuster.com

For
David C. Gold,
who knows that
a dream goes on forever.

Acknowledgments

I’ve said it before but it still holds true: When it comes to support, guidance and insight, I could get no luckier than with my agent Barry Goldblatt and my editor Jennifer Heddle. Thank you both for everything.

I owe a lovely debt of gratitude to Louise Burke, Anthony Ziccardi, Jacob Hoye, Lisa Litwack, Regina Starace, Johanna Farrand, John Paul Jones, Erica Feldon and Kerrie Loyd at Simon & Schuster/MTV Books for their hard work, enthusiasm and expertise.

Heartfelt thanks to Stewart Russell, and to Lou, Nancy, Bud, Connie, Jess, and Jake Winters, who not only made me welcome and taught me how to build a respectable fire, but generously continue to share their knowledge, humor and lives with this former flatlander.

Sincere thanks to the Wiess family, Pat Schaal, Barbara Gauch, Bonnie Verrico, A. M. Jenkins, Shelley Sykes, and Dave Gold for the love, friendship and support.

I’m very grateful for the privilege of having known Carol Bon, Florence Sellner and Julia Battyanyi, strong, uncommon women who left their own indelible imprints on this author.

The deepest curtsy, given with love, goes home to Bill and Barbara Battyanyi, Suzanne Dial, Paul Pinaha and Scott Battyanyi for always believing in me, no matter what.

“I would not willingly peel back the scar tissue protecting the deepest chambers of my heart and reveal the bruised hollows pooled with the blood of old wounds—the terror comes just thinking about it—but now, facing darkness I am left with no choice.
I love you, and because of that I am going to try and raise the dead.”

—Louise Bell Closson,
How It Ends

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