ARC Review: THE LOVE THAT SPLIT THE WORLD by Emily Henry

Release Date: January 26, 2016

Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin

Page Count: 400

Rating: 5/5 Stars

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.

I absolutely, positively, CANNOT stop gushing about this book. It is every bit as cute and witty and adorable and lovable and perfect as the reviews have led it to be. 

This book has such a unique concept that it's nearly impossible to describe it in words, or without spoiling it. It's basically like this: take the cutest love story you can think of (for me, it's ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS) mix it with some heartbreak (in the style of CLOCKWORK PRINCESS) and throw in some time travel-ish elements, and BAM. You have this book in a nutshell...kind of. While that is a good portion of it, there's so much more to this book than just that. 

The thing that truly made me love this book was Emily's writing. It was just clever beyond words. Every word, every sentence, was perfectly placed. The mix of humor and the overall serious undertone tone of the novel was brilliant. This book is the perfect example of an author who is so, so talented. The writing was just so beautifully crafted, I can't stop gushing about it. It makes me all the more excited to read Emily's upcoming novels, as I'm sure her writing will get even better in the future. 

Another aspect of this book that really stood out to me was the world building, which is not something that is ever really associated with contemporary novels. And, even though this novel took place predominantly in a high school, the world outside the high school was so complex, so intriguing, and a world I wanted to know so much more about. It was absolutely captivating, and I couldn't get enough of it! I wanted to know more, though that's not to say that this story lacks information, because it doesn't. It has the perfect amount to keep you engaged and in tune with the plot, yet still wondering and questioning everything. 

The characters were absolutely adorable. I loved Natalie; she was so fierce, so easy to connect to, and even reminded me a bit of myself. She was the perfect balance of charming and daring, of bold and sensible, and it made me adore her so much. Not often do I find myself relating to characters in contemporary novels, especially other high school age characters, yet Natalie's head was so easy for me to fall in to. And Beau...oh gosh, Beau!! Can I get one in real life?!?! He was so cute and dreamy and swoon worthy and agh! I get the feels all over again just thinking of how cute him and Natalie were. 

To me, this was such a special read. It nearly broke genres, in the fact that it's a contemporary that felt almost like a fantasy. It swept me away to another world, and provided an escape from reality. It was SO stunning, SO enthralling, and I wish so badly that there would be a sequel. I cannot get enough of this book. This was a stunning debut for Emily, and one that I am sure will place her amongst the ranks of Rainbow Rowell, Stephanie Perkins, and David Levithan. I'm still so excited about this book, even weeks after reading it.