Title: The Love That Split the World
Author: Emily Henry
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Published: January 26, 2016 by Razorbill
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.
- The “Grandmother” in this book is basically Grandmother Willow from Pocahontas. And yes, I came to this revelation before I realized the protagonist is half-Native American. Sheesh.
- DIVERSITY BONUS POINTS! Rachel is both half-Native American and adopted. So. Yay!
- This book features insta-love at its very worst. As a defender of insta-love, I find this maddeningly disappointing. There’s absolutely no chemistry, it’s simply: You’re attractive and I’m attractive so let’s get together! Ugh. Please.
- Rachel is a plain bean. I felt like the author relied solely on the fact that her MC is diverse in order to make her interesting. Sorry, but that’s not how it works.
- WHAT IS THE PLOT? It took longer to move than it takes me to get the urge to exercise! Hardly anything happened until the last 50 pages, where everything happened, making it utterly confusing. Basically, the pacing is pathetic.
- I rolled my eyes 465 times. More or less. The author tries to make everything a bigger deal than it is, which is both laughable and irritating.
Nice try, book. But you’re entirely pathetic. Sorry sorry I’m too mean.
What insta-love romances have you found to be terribly done?
Thanks! It took many midnight ponders lol. WAHOO.
I love the emoji idea at the start of your review, it’s really cool, and we seem to have very similar taste in books. Consider yourself followed! 😀
LET US JOIN IN OUR COVER-JUDGING!
Yeah, it’s a shame. Well-done, I can love insta-love! But this romance was a tragedy.
I had no idea what this book was about, but the cover is gorgeous so I was interested in it 😂 #shallowbookworm When I read the summary though, the first thing that came to mind: oh no, insta-love. And if you’re a defender of insta-love and you hated it, then nope, this book is not for me!
[…] The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry. Meh. This book was a mushroom. ★★☆☆☆ […]
I do enjoy a nice, slow romantic plot line too! I get your point.
Thanks so much 🙂
No rainbows here. Sorry.
Haha I actually love negative reviews. Oddly. I am odd. It’s not even a Time Traveler’s Wife tale, it’s a let’s distract the readers with romance and not move the plot forward instead tale, which is even worse.
Instalove is so overused and sometimes ridiculous, I get the love at first sight thing but it’s always how they look like, I wish characters would fall in love with one another’s actions and words instead of looks. Thanks for the review!
I’ve only seen mostly positive hype and rainbows for this book and so it’s nice to see a negative review for this (as bad as that sounds?). Not that I’d read this book to begin with because I just don’t care much for the Time Travel’s Wife-ish story line.
I KNOW. SUCH A SHAME. I actually usually don’t mind insta-love, but this kind was ridiculous. No chemistry. Uugh.
Awww, that’s a shame, I was really looking forward to this one – but instalove? Now I’m feeling hesitant about it 😦 Its a pity the character isn’t great because the book sounds like it could be great! I’ll probably still check it out, see what I think about it (because GOSH DARN that cover looks awesome).
Insta-love instantly brings up the Infinite Moment of Us which, if I were to put it nicely SUCKED (romance especially). There was the eyes-locked, marry me scene and then the romance never got better so thats a no-no for me XD
JOSIE. Slaying with the nicest comments ever! I know, I was pretty excited since I’d heard so many amazing things, but alas my opinion ended up being unpopular. Oh well. I suppose I’ll embrace it.
BECCA. Slaying it with the unpopular opinions, girl! 😉 I haven’t read this book yet, but it’s great to see the other side to this book – lately all I’ve been seeing for this book is praises and people saying they loved it. I love that you bring this other perspective to the table!
THEY ARE SO GREAT. UNPOPULAR OPINIONS SHALL CONQUER THE WORLD. Thanks so much! They’re a joy to create.
Unpopular opinions , yes yes yes ! haha, I love me some disagreement. I’ve heard people raving about this one and yours is the first “bad” review I’ve read. I haven’t read this book yet and I’m still debating whether to read it or not.
By the way, your emoji reviews are hilarious !
Oh dear! That’s too bad. Thanks!
I absolutely hate insta-love! It’s in my tbr and now I have to kick it out from it. Great Review! 😀
Anytime! And trust me, her books are the best romance books I’ve ever read! Simple and yet, profound!
I’ll have to check out some Colleen Hoover magic! Thanks for the recommendations 🙂
I’m glad it was of service! It was a disappointment to me too 😦 Characters are really important and they really weren’t the best in this book.
I find the idea of insta-love very overdone, but according to me, only Colleen Hoover does it right. November 9 and Ugly Love are great examples of insta-love.
Thank you Becca for this honest review! I have this book on my TBR and was looking forward to reading it, but ugh, WHY insta-love? I really hate this. And hm, I love it when characters are well thought of, and three dimensional, and I feel like it’s not the case here… too bad. Thank you! 🙂