The Clearing by Heather Davis

Summary: Amy, a sixteen-year-old recovering from an abusive relationship, moves to the country to start a new life with her aunt–all she wants is for everything to be different. In the clearing at the back of Aunt Mae’s property, she makes an amazing discovery—Henry, a boy stuck in the endless summer of 1944. Henry and his world become Amy’s refuge and she begins to learn that some moments are worth savoring. But when the past and present come crashing together, both of them must find the courage to face what is meant to be, even if it means losing each other forever.




My Thoughts: We are introduced to Amy who comes to live with her Aunt Mae. All we know about her at first is she is fleeing from an abusive relationship. She moves in with her aunt and starts to go to school. She meets a few friends but she basically spends all of her time alone and one day she goes out far in the backyard and finds a mist. She steps into the mist and she's swept away in another world, literally. Its another time period. She meets Henry who she notices right off the bat that he is really old fashioned. At first she just thinks his family really are country folk.

Amy and Henry get to know each other and fall in love. She starts to realize she really cares about him and starts questioning things like why he never comes over and why he says some of things he does. For example, they never go into town. It dawns on her, there really is something magical about the mist. They really are living in another time period.

Honestly, this book sounds really simple but its not. Its complex, its beautiful, and you just can't fully understand that unless you read it. What if you loved someone and had no choice but to never be with them? It just isn't physically possible.

My favorite part was probably the ending. Amy wakes up and realizes things. I liked the way things worked out.

Overall: I thought this book was really good and it was written beautifully. The only thing I, myself kept wondering was what about her ex? What exactly did he do to Amy? We realize he apparently hit her and treated her like crap. But I wanted more details on that. I felt like I could have understand Amy a lot more at first if I had more details on what she had to go through. I know it really wasn't relevant for the story (between Amy and Henry) but I still wanted to know.

Cover: I'm not a big fan of the color green but the cover is ok. I like the quote on the front though.

What I'd Give It: