This May End Badly
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“The bitingly hilarious, heartfelt This May End Badly takes your favorite fake dating trope and adds plenty of downright delightful shenanigans that’ll have readers tearing through the pages.”—Emma Lord, New York Times bestselling author of You Have a Match
Pranking mastermind Doe and her motley band of Weston girls are determined to win the century-long war against Winfield Academy before the clock ticks down on their senior year. But when their headmistress announces that The Weston School will merge with its rival the following year, their longtime feud spirals into chaos.
To protect the school that has been her safe haven since her parents’ divorce, Doe puts together a plan to prove once and for all that Winfield boys and Weston girls just don’t mix, starting with a direct hit at Three, Winfield’s boy king and her nemesis. In a desperate move to win, Doe strikes a bargain with Three’s cousin, Wells: If he fake dates her to get under Three’s skin, she’ll help him get back his rightful family heirloom from Three.
As the pranks escalate, so do her feelings for her fake boyfriend, and Doe spins lie after lie to keep up her end of the deal. But when a teacher long suspected of inappropriate behavior messes with a younger Weston girl, Doe has to decide what’s more important: winning a rivalry, or joining forces to protect something far more critical than a prank war legacy.
This May End Badly is a story about friendship, falling in love, and crossing pretty much every line presented to you—and how to atone when you do.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Markum's laugh-out-loud debut depicts a century-old prank war between two rival schools: all-girls Weston School and the all-boys Winfield Academy. This generation's pranks are spearheaded respectively by 17-year-old Weston girl Doe and her archnemesis Three, Winfield's golden boy. But Doe's plans to conclude senior year by forcing Winfield to surrender the war are derailed when she learns that the two schools are planning to merge, destroying the essence of the only place she's felt safe since her parents' messy divorce. Determined to maintain the status quo, Doe recruits Wells—Three's charming cousin, with whom she embarks on a phony relationship to irritate Three—and starts a series of pranks that spiral out of control. And when a troubling secret comes to light at Weston, Doe must decide whether rivalry is more important than protecting her peers. Though a jarring subplot regarding a sexually predatory teacher meshes poorly with the otherwise lighthearted tone, Markum blends fake dating tropes, a tight-knit girl gang, and messy family dynamics into a fast-paced narrative suffused with humor, drama, and romance. Supporting characters include BIPOC and queer representation. Ages 13–up.
