The 2018 young adult novel “Little Do We Know” by Tamara Ireland Stone conveys the importance of friendship and the power it has.  “Little Do We Know” captures the attention of young adult readers through the eyes of three teenagers moving through skepticism and a dramatic love.

Main characters Hannah and Emory faced hardship in their friendship. A fight where words were thrown out that can not be taken back led to the distance Hannah and Emory faced. 

All throughout the book, Emory was focused on her opportunities and polishing a performing arts application from the University of Calif., Los Angeles.  Emory is not only focused on her opportunity at UCLA, she is concentrated on flourishing her relationship with her boyfriend Luke before going separate ways to different colleges.  

Hannah is a girl active in her faith-driven by her father’s actions and thoughts. The faith Hannah had was tempered whenever her family’s financial problems emerged which led to her possibly not being able to go to the college of her choice.  After the problems resulted in her newly acquired questioning character, she began turning to people out of the blue for answers. One unusual companion she turned to was her teacher/director at the church/school that she goes to. 

Throughout the novel, Hannah and Emory explore the idea of uniting as friends once again, but they never reach that point yet until something unexpected happened to the two neighbors and the boyfriend Luke.

Hannah sees Luke parked outside of her house waiting for Emory.  Luke frequently sneaks into Emory’s house late at night to see her and parks in the same spot each time. One night all that changed when Hannah finds Luke expectedly outside of her house waiting for Emory, but Luke was different. Hannah suddenly realized that Luke was slumped over in his car unconscious.

The aftermath of the accident revealed that Luke was completely dead for three minutes but came back to life. 

After Luke’s hospital stay, Luke was never going to be the same again. He could not sleep, eat and all he did for the next couple of weeks was searching up on other people’s stories similar to his. 

Emory, Hannah and Luke struggle to attempt an understanding of what happened on that night. 

Hannah convinces Luke to tell his story to a camera by making a short brief video explaining what he felt in those three short moments of death.  

Hannah thought that if he did that he could show it to Emory and she would realize the pain he went through and finally understood why he is acting the way he was.    

The video that Luke made was not set to be released to the public but is ultimately which went against Luke’s judgment. 

Once the video of Luke was shared, it became popular around the world and helped lift some people’s meaning of life who went through similar situations. 

Whenever a part of the secret Emory and Hannah are keeping between them comes to life, all three characters must reconsider the things they feel and who they hold accountable. 

This book is a drama filled love story between a believer(Hannah) and a skeptic(Emory) piecing their friendship together with a boy caught in the middle. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the novel after I read it. These types aren’t the types I normally read, but it made me recognize the other novels out there that are similar to this. It makes me more excited to read these types of novels in the future. 

Stone offers other novels as well and has received positive reviews from many. 

“Little Do We Know is a beautiful, affecting novel. Stone writes compellingly about the power of friendship, of love.”―New York Times best-selling author Luanne Rice