The Ending Writes Itself ⭐⭐⭐

The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke


G👀dreads About Summary

Six authors.
One private island.
Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives.

Arthur Fletch, one of the world’s bestselling novelists, is a reclusive genius known for his iconic protagonists and fiendish twists. When six struggling authors are invited to spend a weekend on his private Scottish island, they arrive to discover a shocking secret: Arthur Fletch is dead . . . and his last book is unfinished.

Desperate to publish the novel, Fletch’s agent and editor have summoned these writers in the hope that one of them will imagine a worthy ending for this final book. To sweeten the deal, they are offering an irresistible prize: in addition to ghost-writing the last chapter––for a mind-boggling sum––they will also help the lucky writer successfully re-launch their own career, guaranteeing future bestsellers. The catch: the writers have just seventy-two hours to finish Fletch’s magnum opus.

Starting is often the hardest part. But getting to the end could be murder.

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
I'm adding Satire

The How/Why: Influenced by my mystery/thriller junkies.
Update: Ugh, why do I fall for that?!?! Just kidding, they have influenced my way into some really good ones. 

⭐⭐⭐

🎉 Overall Storytelling? 🎉🎉🎉

🎣 Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣

🗣️Would I recommend it to anyone? No ➖

🕮 Would I want a sequel? No ➖ 

📚 Would I want to read more books by this author? Maybe 🤷 Evelyn Clarke is a pseudonym for authors V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke. I haven't read any Schwab yet and it looks like Clarke is mostly YA.

💣💥 📢 Content Warnings? MŪrdɇr, Vi0lɇncɇ & Gorɇ, Alc0h0lism

🌶 Spice? No

🌪 Plot Twist? Not really. Its supposed to be a twist but it wasn't twisty enough for me.

👟 Pace? Uneven - It started slow with character development. I get it, there are a LOT of characters (thus my cheat sheet at the end).
There are like nine Chapter 1's. The second time the narrator said "Chapter 1" I thought I had accidently hit the back button! 

💻 Tidbits ~ Caution F word below.
I’m lingering in the middle of the road on this one.

Six struggling writers, one dead best selling author, a final book that needs to be finished. 
Pulling writers from different genres was bound to result in very different endings to the book in progress. Plus their personalities were wildly different, stuck together on the private island. 
It does explore the pressure that writers and publishers face with looming deadlines. Desperate times, desperate measures. 

I liked the idea of it but in the end I didn’t love it, nor did I hate it. Thus a middle of the road 3 Star.

I enjoy a good Mystery/Thriller but maybe I need to steer clear of satire when it comes to this M/T. It was hard for me to take the life-or-death danger seriously.
Yes, I enjoy humor thrown in with my mysteries, but I've never been one to appreciate satire, which wasn't listed as a genre in GR. 

Favorite Quote: Caution F word ~ "Why didn't you wake me?" "Because I'm not a ƒucƘ!nᵷ alarm clock". 
Malcolm and Sienna - Couples Goals! 

BTW: I will be calling Toilet Paper "Loo Roll" from this day forward! 🧻
Disclaimer – I live in America and had never heard TP referred to as loo roll before. Even when traveling to Europe.

🎧 Narrator: Fiona Hardingham 😑 This one might have benefitted from a cast instead of a straight narration. There were a lot of colorful characters that were unvoiced. Maybe this is one that would have been better to read instead of listen to. 🤷

🎧11.43 hours (Libby) 🕮 343 pages

Extra Tidbits: 
Character List Cheat Sheet

Host/Publishing Pros:
Arthur Fletch - world famous mystery novelist - dead.
Eleanor Vanderberg - Fletch's agent.
Rufus Beaumont: Fletch's editor.

Competing Authors and their genres:
Cate Newhouse - A young, inexperienced, 22 year old newbie. Her first and only Murder Mystery remains unsold.
Penny Stonely - Pen name for Sienna Wood Buchanan and Malcolm Buchanan, married husband-wife Thriller duo, career and marriage are on the rocks.
Priscilla Renee Fox - Highly disciplined Romance author, famous for wearing only pink. 💗
Kenzo Gray - Smart, cynical, observant Horror writer. Prefers to work in all black as a night owl.
Jaxon Knight (Oswald Jackson) - A pretentious, gym-bro Sci Fi writer.
Millie Mitchell - A loud, bubbly, enthusiastic YA/Fantasy writer. 


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