The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry
Synopsis: "Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves.
Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start... until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right. That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau. Emily Henry’s stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler’s Wife, and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we’ve left untaken." Review: This book has left me in one of those trances where when you close the book you can't seem to stop thinking. Emily Henry touches on SO many of life's lessons in just a short 396 pages. By using Native American influences stories, she is able to recreate a surreal story that has readers impossible to turn away. Let me just admit in the very beginning of the novel I was quite confused. (PS: this is NOT a good book for people easily offended by different religious views... good thing I'm not one of those people because I liked this book!) For me, this book didn't completely capture my attention until about 100 pages in, BUT once I was in, I was IN. The world Emily creates is gorgeous and although obviously is fiction is surprisingly good at mirroring our world. My favorite part of this had to be the Native American stories. Some just had the purpose to connect with the plot, but many really had me thinking about life. Each and every story drew me in and left me feeling sad, happy, confused, and about every other emotion possible. The fantasy aspect of this novel was very fitting with what seems to be very popular in 2016: Time Travel. Yes time travel is a very large part of this novel as well as traveling through dimensions. This was another aspect of the novel I really enjoyed. Emily Henry really knows how to describe the smallest details and makes it feel like all of us are right in the scene with Natalie and Beau! Talking about Natalie and Beau, this is how the young adult aspect kicks in. Their love is just the typical YA love, but just as cute all the others. It starts quick and feels slow until they hit a problem that threatens their relationship. The novel infers their love is true, yet at the same time I felt a bit skeptical even with their obvious connection with their abilities, it felt too quick of a romance for me. Overall the novel was an incredible read, but my one complaint would have to be the ending. I was SO CONFUSED. I still am... I understood some parts and others I really have no idea. I may just have to read that again. (Though I don't think I'm the only one who thinks this because I asked a friend in hope for some answers, but she was confused as well.) Oh well.. maybe we just weren't deep enough to understand the philosophy and analogies? I would really recommend this book to anyone looking for a romance + life lessons sort of book, someone who really wants to think about life, or even people who are solely interested in only the Native American stories (because those were quite amazing!). Cover: ★★★★★ (UM ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS COVER) Favorite Quote(s): " 'I saw my whole life for what it had really been, and even though I was goddam terrified of all the things that could happen to you, when I looked at you it was like all the bad things had been a dream, and I was finally waking up. That's how I know, sugar cube. This is only the beginning. If you want the good, you can't give up.' "(pg. 206) "The sky split open then. The stars fell like silver rain. The world stopped turning. The Universe held its breath." (pg. 389)
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Stephanie C.A fan of anything fiction, furry, & fun. Archives
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