A very well written and often moving read, “How It’s Done” has quite a few parallels to “Good” by S Walden. While not strictly a student-teacher romance (since Michael is not Grace’s teacher/professor) there are the same themes of a girl in the last year of high school, a hyper religious father, an older male with a lot more life experience and sophistication.

I’m not sure all of it was realistic. Michael suddenly expecting Grace to give up her high school party and act like a corporate wife seemed contrived.

Grace’s mother was an interesting and sympathetic character, and in some ways I wouldn’t mind re-reading this novel told from her point of view.

The ending will probably disappoint due to its abruptness. But that’s part of the theme of this book: Grace’s life is still unwritten. So it wouldn’t make sense to give her a detailed, fixed ending. Because she doesn’t know where she’s going with her life and nor do we.

The point is that for the first time in her life, her future is hers to choose.