This is going to end in tears is a book about the complexities of friendship and relationships. Mostly looking at the relationships between Miller, Ash and Ollie. The strongest parts are about the 3 main characters and Nate's friendships. I did not expect the ending to happen, it came as a shock.

I really liked the beginning of this book - where the focus was on Ash, Miller and Olly - and the start of unravelling their complex relationship - from childhood through to eventual marriage of Ash and Miller and their time together as a threesome setting up their record company etc....
But for me it lost its way a little when other aspects of the story came in - and ultimately I felt just a little bit too much going on. I liked the simplicity at the beginning..
I really liked Tigers in Red Weather, and the authors style of writing I continue to like through "this is gonna end in tears" but I would just have liked a little less in terms of plot.

I thought I would love, This is Gonna End in Tears. As another reviewer has said, it sounded like a Taylor Jenkins-Reid plot, which are always fabulous. In fact, this novel did have a Malibu Rising feel about it. However, I just couldn't get into it.

Set during the 1980s, it centres around three teenage friends and what has become of their lives since they first hung out in the 1950s. There's a classic love triangle, a great 80s soundtrack running throughout and some nice twists. But ultimately, the point of view character hopping, combined with the multiple time lines, dislodged me from the story line too often.

However, if I judged a book purely on it's cover, I'd give it five stars, because I do love it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.

I thought this book would be right up my alley as I enjoy reading about complex relationships and not happy ever after but unfortunately, I struggled with this one, it just didn't hold my interest enough.

I didn't feel invested in any of the three main characters and thought the dynamic was toxic. The ending felt very over the top and then kind of brushed over.

I did, however, enjoy the music theme throughout.

Reading the blurb of this book, I was frantic to get my hands on it. It sounded brilliant and a little Taylor Jenkins Reid esque.

Unfortunately it missed the mark for me. It felt as though the alternative character chapters and storylines got too ambitious and at times it felt like there was so much irrelevant detail. It made it difficult to stay fully focused on what was going on.

Having said that, in parts it was a fairly easy read that didn't feel too heavy and the music theme throughout had my attention.

I loved this book. From the first words to the last I lost myself in the story. But is was the writing that shone out: poetic, muscular , unafraid and often joyous.
The story of friendships , first loves, hope , promise, life, betrayal, forgiveness, sex, music, art, yearning and hopelessness, add a backdrop of the burgeoning music scene in California in the Sixties, and moving through to the final scenes you are taken up in the lives of the protagonists and the life of the island of Wonderland. Intertwining the story of Moby Dick , of how we all search for self and in the end sometimes we get lucky sometimes we fail

I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I struggled with this, just because it goes backwards and forwards so much. I found it confusing to keep track of what was happening. I think the idea is good, it just didn’t work for me

Liza Klaussman’s This is Gonna End in Tears is set in the summer of 1984 when a few chickens come home to roost for childhood friends Olly, Miller and Ash. The premise is an attractive one: three people intimate with each other years ago are thrust together at a moment of crisis for them all when Olly, who has betrayed both his Ash and Miller in one way or another, comes home to look after his Aunt Tassie who brought him up. Once lovers, Olly and Miller have not seen each other for years. Miller’s marriage to Ash has long been in trouble, kept under wraps for the sake of 17-year-old Nate who’s about to go to film school. As the summer wears on, relationships become increasingly tangled, Tassie descends into dementia, while Nate, his best friend Cam and Suki look set replicate a similar triangle to the previous generation.

Klaussmann’s novel gets off to a slightly jerky start with lots of flashbacks and changes of perspective but once backstories are fleshed out, settles down into an absorbing read. The period touches are spot on with a pleasing early ‘80s soundtrack for those of us of a certain age. Klaussmann knows how to spin a story, weaving a nice thread of humour through her novel, and neatly resolving the question of Nate’s paternity at the end. An enjoyable enough summer read, the kind to pack in your suitcase if you’re planning to slip your brain into neutral.

This debut novel about complex relationships is primarily based around 3 friends and set in a US beach town. This story goes back and forth in time and involves a number of other interesting characters. Well written with a real musical theme running through the book with some interspersed well known lyrics as narrative. Good characters, good storylines. Overall I enjoyed this and it wasn't too taxing - the perfect read when in busy mode with a tired brain. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

I couldn't really get into this book, the style of writing just didn't appeal to me. I did give it a go and the story was interesting but just not my cup of tea. Anyone who likes an emotional, dramatic piece of writing about interwoven lives from teenagers up to the present day when the characters are in their 30's may like this

A great book that looks at long time friendships that change into other relationships and how things don’t always go smoothly. A well written book. Well done.

Miller, Ash and Olly are childhood friends growing up in a Quaker town, all destined for bigger and brighter things.

When Ollys (adult) life in L.A takes a turn for the worst he returns home to Wonderland where Ash and Miller still live.

With a complicated past to navigate, this story weaves between the past and present to tell the tale of love, heartache and family.

I loved the parallels of both Miller and Ollys first love and Nate and Suki.

Aunt Tassie was a brilliant character and I feel Liza Klaussman captured the perhaps bittersweet side of old age nicely.

I wasnt overly invested in the Moby Dick storyline, I can see where the author was trying to go with it but it was the weakest part of the book for me.

If you like stories about complicated relationships, whimsical beach towns and music this would be a great read.

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book and for a short while in the first third I detected some hope that I’d really enjoy it. But having got halfway, with the increasing realisation that the story wasn’t really going anywhere and I didn’t care about the outcome of the characters, I allowed myself to give up. No regrets.

Miller, Olly and Ash. Three childhood best friends, rarely seen without the others by their side. In adulthood, however, whilst Miller and Ash are not so happily married - Olly is estranged from them completely, until the film Moby Dick shoots in the town they all grew up in.

~

The synopsis of the story seemed so intriguing that I practically ran to request it. I’m sorry to say this was a bit of a let down.

The author juggles multiple storylines and characters, some of which seem entirely irrelevant to the plot - it made for a rather choppy read. I struggled to truly become attached to any character and felt that this was certainly case where less is more should have been applied, the chapters about Nate & his friends just felt like fillers. It felt like a story that should have been domestic, revolving primarily around 3 characters, and yet attempted to tell the tale of an entire town - losing the original basis of the story.

Just wasn’t really what I expected.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review :)

This book is beautifully written, capturing the many layers of the story and its characters in a confident and balanced way. The setting of Wonderland is masterfully crafted – nostalgic without being sentimental, both intriguing and familiar, and every quirk is backed up with real substance. I tore through this.