Young Love

Whilst reading the Fifty Shades trilogy, a few of my friends were consistently recommending books from their collection that they thought I would enjoy, and I had promised that as soon as I had finished I would get straight to it and the first one handed to me was;

 ‘Eleanor and Park’ by Rainbow Rowell

This book juggles between the viewpoints of a 16 year old boy (Park) and a 16 year old girl (Eleanor,) who go to school together but come from very differing backgrounds. Whilst struggling with school, family circumstances, bullies and the likes, these 2 young adults begin to venture into the world of the unknown to them… a world of a relationship. With the insecurity of whether you could call her your girlfriend, or getting used to the emotions that come with touch….not just any touch… THEIR touch they show what it’s like to be young and in love for the first time.

This was a wonderfully heart-warming book for me to read as I was 16 when I first delved into the realms of relationship, whilst I wasn’t ‘asked out’ until I had just turned 17, I met him when I was 16 and those emotions and feelings from the book are still so clear in my own memory. When they tell you they like you for the first time, and then the way your heart stops for a moment as they tell you they LOVE you for the first time, that saying never gets old. How when they hold your hand, you know it’s them even if you hadn’t seen them take it because you know the feeling you get when they hold your hand…innocent raw emotions, and this book was written so simply yet it came across so powerfully. The quiet reflection you get with yourself when you put the book down doesn’t consist of the love story of the 2 characters you’ve gotten to know so well, but it consists of paralleling the feelings those characters got to the ones you experienced and it sends you back in reminiscing.

Whist it is one of those books that leaves you with such a frustrating ending wondering what happens next, I don’t want to read a follow on because you just get that warm feeling that you already know where they are heading, you put the pieces together in our brain and there’s a content feeling knowing that they are both happy. Wherever they are, however the story continued, they are both happy.

 I truly fell in love with this book, it’s timeless.