Margot Wayward has always had a bit of a knack for predicting the future. It's part of her job description as a meteorologist. But recently, Margot utterly failed to see what was coming. Her fiancé left her at the altar, and she responded by blowing up the rest of her life. She has quit her meteorologist job and now attempts to support herself by posting "Margot the Meteorologist" reels on social media and accepting slightly dodgy sponsorship deals. Even when she decides to put herself out there again, her experiments in online dating are complete disasters, as if she's setting herself up to fail.

But Margot's prognostication abilities take a sudden turn for the better --- or at least the weirder --- when she starts seeing short visions (more like snippets, really) of herself spending time with a man. Specifically, he’s the waiter who has served (and observed) every one of her 16 blind dates at the Italian restaurant where he works. So when the waiter, whose name is Henry, asks if Margot would consider making him date #17, she figures Why not?

"This is a beautifully affirming, bittersweet novel about family, friendship, and finding the kind of love worth choosing over and over again."

As Margot begins spending time with Henry in the present, she continues to have visions of her future --- with Henry in it. The scenes are short and confusing, but they're filled with visions not only of their romantic relationship but also of a future Margot. She seems to have come into her own, with a fulfilling new job, a sense of purpose, and a flat that's colorful and cozy, no longer just full of boxes of her ex's old things. Oh, and she somehow owns a cat?!

But, of course, Margot's visions also include glimpses of sorrow, anger, heartbreak and fear. Both types of future glimpses --- the happy and the sad --- lead her to wonder: Are these visions set in stone? Or are they just possibilities, one of countless different versions of how the future may play out? In other words, is Margot fated to arrive at these circumstances she's already seen? Or does she have a choice in the matter?

In some cases, the future Margot sees allows her to finally approach her present decisions with confidence and strength, knowing (or at least strongly suspecting) that they'll work out as the fates have foretold. But in others, that foreknowledge causes her to recede from choices or opportunities that she fears ultimately will result in heartbreak or loss.

As time passes, however --- thanks in part to one very fundamental relationship in her life --- Margot comes to realize that this newfound ability to see the future is really just an amplified version of the choices we all make when facing our future. We know that any new relationship is likely to end in loss. Either it fails, or it lasts for a lifetime but culminates in the ultimate heartbreak of a partner's death.

And that's the lovely thing about Holly Smale's I KNOW HOW THIS ENDS. It has just enough magic to put the ordinary stakes of any new relationship in extremely high relief --- to cause not only Margot but also readers to reflect on the kind of bravery it requires to start any new endeavor, and the choices and chances we all have to affect the quality of our relationships even when we know we're risking our hearts. This is a beautifully affirming, bittersweet novel about family, friendship, and finding the kind of love worth choosing over and over again.