A review by madisontremble
When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry

3.0

This was a 3-star for me most of way through, but then I liked how everything came together so much that I almost bumped to 4. Almost!

Emily Henry always has lovely writing, but I think I would’ve enjoyed this more in maybe 3rd person or multiple povs. Franny’s narration annoyed me at just a few points - however, the audiobook definitely could’ve contributed here. In general, I would’ve enjoyed hearing more directly from the other characters and seeing them develop a bit more as well.

It also leaned into one of my personal storytelling pet peeves which is when a character holds back important information from others. I think that the withholding went on slightly too long and maybe diminished the strength of the friend group a tiny bit for me. I might’ve looked fully past this if the fallout from it had been resolved a bit more solidly or if there had been more focus on growth after it.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that the story tried to be a lot of things at once and got resolved a little too late, but overall it was still enjoyable and included great emotional beats. I’ll read absolutely anything Emily Henry writes and will definitely be picking up her other older novels as well!