The Love That Split the World

Wow, this was a mess. There was way too much going on - it was magical realism plus time travel plus insta-luv plus Native American folklore - and I still don't know exactly what happened in the end. I think I'm done checking out Emily Henry's backlist. I loved [b:Beach Read 52867387 Beach Read Emily Henry https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1589881197l/52867387.SX50.jpg 67832247], but her YA novels aren't working for me. I'll just have to hope she continues to write more adult novels.

I dragged my way through this book. I admit I bought it for the pretty cover in a moment of weakness looking at book sales and had no idea what it was about. Still at first I was intrigued, I liked Natalie's humor and was interested in the multiple world “glitches” she was seeing. The stories Grandmother told seemed interesting too. But then the story dragged with very little answers, no clear plot just seemed to be all over the place for majority of the book. Then the last few chapters where you finally get to figure out what's going on? Hated them. They were confusing, and to me completely unsatisfying in the end. Really though, what was that ending? So many questions left unanswered...

~Full review here on The Bent Bookworm!~“No matter how hard it feels, you don't need to be afraid to move on, and you don't need to be afraid to stay either. There's always more to see and feel.”^How I felt after finishing the last page of this book.What this book is: 90% emotions/feelings. Glorious, ooey-gooey lovey-dovey, feelings that make me want to actually try to hope for HEAs and the best in life and love. Adorable. Cute. Romantic.What this book is not (i.e., please don't pick it up if you're into these things): deep, extremely thought provoking, realistic.First of all, I'm so stinking proud of myself for READING AND FINISHING this book! At long long LOOOOONG last, as it came in my February 2016 OwlCrate. Yikes. I read like one “meh” review of it and lost all my enthusiasm for the story...which I sort of regret, but I also realize that at the time, this sort of ooey-gooey-ness would probably not have sat very well with me...and quite possibly would have resulted in it being thrown across the room, never to be finished.The Love That Split the World is an adorable summer story of love, loss, and teenagers finding themselves and each other. Sprinkled in between the emotionally intense, physically warming scenes (but never explicit or very graphic, and there is no actual sex in the book) are gems like the quote above, and others I desperately wish my 16-18 year old self (hell, even 19, 20, or 21 year old self) had read or known.“You shouldn't be scared of someone you love.”The book briefly addresses the issue of consent – even for “just” making out, and one scene in particular left me feeling rather nauseous even though “nothing happened.” Alcoholism is also brought up, and addressed in one of the most succinct ways I have ever seen – painful, as it always is, but it was done so, so well. Huge props.Oh, and the characters!! I've discovered yet another book boyfriend – Beau, your beautiful soul has won my heart. I will also confess that in high school, I admired the football players from afar so...yeah...piano AND football playing Beau is just totally swoonworthy. And I always, ALWAYS get hit right in the feels by the broken-but-still-strong hero types, the ones who just remain good people at heart despite having been given the shit end of the stick in life. Natalie's spirit – her need to KNOW, her intense desire to find herself, to make something of herself – really resonated with me. While I don't know how it would feel to grow up a minority (not only in your town, but in your FAMILY) in a small southern town, I spent a lot of my growing up years in places not unlike her Kentucky hometown and to some extent, I can imagine. Especially in small town America, people who don't look (or act) exactly the same are often viewed with suspicion and outright dislike. In Natalie's case, her biggest struggle seems to be with not sharing her looks or personality with her adoptive parents, and the fact that she was hassled about it by her classmates when she was younger.I adored the time bending/travel aspect of the story. I was a little (ok, very) confused for awhile, but eventually I realized what was happening...mostly. I still DID NOT see that ending coming and my poor little heart nearly burst with ALL THE FEELS. I didn't quite CRY, but my throat squeezed very very tight, my eyes burned, and I blinked rapidly for a few moments. Then I had to read the last few pages about 5 times to make sure I hadn't missed anything!Diversity: This was my first pick for the January topic, Biracial Awareness (check out the suggested bookshelf!), in the Platypire Diverse Books Reading challenge. Natalie is bi-racial, and adopted. Another main character is Korean. The author does not belong to either of these groups, but she seems to have put a great deal of effort into making her story authentic and respectful especially to the First Nations cultures she draws from in the writing of the book.I gave this book 5/5 stars. It is an amazingly fun and cute romance with enough time-turning stuff to keep that side of my brain interested too.Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+———————————HO-LY SHIT. WTF just happened?!?? My heart is in complete shards right now but it is painfully hopeful. Actual review to come.

I picked up The Love That Split the World on a whim. I think I had read one or two good reviews, and then I saw it on sale for the kindle so I took my chance. And I'm glad I did! Also look how beutiful that cover is AHHH.

I've tried to write a summary for this story several times, but I just can't quite seem to get it right, so I'll copy Goodreads' here: 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 preschool 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.

Right off the bat, cw for abusive relationships, rape, and alcoholism. I won't be discussing any of these in-depth, but they are present in the book.

I'll be honest, for the first 20-30 pages, I struggled a bit with the writing. Natalie herself was a somewhat irritating as a narrator and it kept feeling like the whole book was trying too hard. Some of Natalie's inward thoughts felt petty and I rolled my eyes several times. But the writing evened out some and I adjusted to the style and fell into the story.

Things got better very quickly. I liked Natalie, I loved Beau more than I could ever love a real human being, I really appreciated the importance of the deep friendship between Natalie and her best friend, and I was enthralled by the plot itself. Emily Henry wove a beautiful tale, interspersed with indigenous peoples' myths. I liked this concept, but was a little wary–and with good reason. A cursory search led me to this piece, which I highly recommend folx read. As a white person, I cannot speak to the accuracy of Henry's novel, but I will admit a lot of the discussion of indigenous peoples made me feel deeply uncomfortable. From the White Savior adoption aspect to the depiction of indigenous peoples as bad people who live in bad places, I felt that more bad than good came of Henry's attempt at inclusion–but I'm no expert and I'd rather defer to the opinions of non-white folx on this one.

Examining the novel from an enjoyment standpoint alone, I'd say Emily Henry did a great job with her debut novel. It wasn't perfect, but it was compelling, interesting, and heart-wrenching. I tentatively recommend it, but with the caveat that it deserves some serious examination when it comes to reinforcing negative sterotypes about indigenous peoples.

You can find this review and more like it on my blog.

A Love that Split the World was voor mij een boek met een vreselijk interessante premisse, maar een jammerlijk gebrekkige uitvoering.

Meer hier: http://charami.com/2017/03/20/gelezen-in-februari/

This book broke my heart, but in a good way