It Ended Badly: 13 of the Worst Breakups in History by Jennifer Wright - 5 stars

[Heather Reads Books]

This book was a lot of fun! Author Jennifer Wright brings thirteen historical tales of love and heartbreak, with some laugh-out-loud funny moments and some rather deep insight into history and the human condition. The tone is warm and conversational, and the conceit is that Wright is coaxing you through a breakup of your own. It's been awhile since I had my heart broken, but I appreciated this tone and found it helpful as I read about some of the more hair-raising and downright depressing events. (Anything about Oscar Wilde's life is generally a bummer to me. Wright has the good sense to warn us going into that one.)

Some figures I'd heard of, others not, but I came away with some new information and a lot of food for thought – not just for history, but relationships in general. If you're looking for a light, fun, but well-researched historical read, give this one a shot. I read this fresh off a really dour historical fiction book, and it cheered me considerably.

[Joanne]

This popped up the other day as a recommendation for me, and I rarely take their rec's seriously-but a 5 star from you, well I am going to have to add it!

[Heather Reads Books]

Joanne wrote: "This popped up the other day as a recommendation for me, and I rarely take their rec's seriously-but a 5 star from you, well I am going to have to add it!"

It was really good! I wasn't sure what to expect, especially as it's apparently shelved as YA at my local library, and I am very hit and miss with YA as a genre. Still, I'm not sure that's really the case here. I suppose makes sense because of the quirky, off-the-cuff tone... but the first line jokes about mainlining a bottle of scotch to deal with a breakup, something I don't think a lot of teens would relate to.

Anyway, let me know what you think if you read it! I found out rather delightful and almost surprisingly deep, given how hard it leans into the comedy angle.

[Robin P]

This sounds like a good one to keep in mind if you want to read something from the History tag, without getting into some long and scholarly book.

[Heather Reads Books]

Robin P wrote: "This sounds like a good one to keep in mind if you want to read something from the History tag, without getting into some long and scholarly book."

Absolutely! It's only about 230 pages, but still has a lot of good information without being too dense.