Author: Cecelia Ahern
Genre: YA Romance
Published: Harper 2014
Pages: 558
Rating: 3/5
Read: April 2016
Read: April 2016
Blurb:
Best friends since forever, Rosie and Alex have shared their hopes, dreams - and firsts. But one awkward moment at eighteen, one missed opportunity, and life sends them hurtling in different directions. Although they stay in touch, misunderstandings, circumstances and sheer bad luck seem to be conspiring to keep them apart. Can they gamble everything - even their friendship - on true love?SPOILERS*
Review:
Okay, so this review might be a smidgen bias... only because Love, Rosie is one of my all time favourite movies and I did see this before I read the book. And I'm glad that I watched the movie first!
I enjoyed the book, and was able to finish it in a couple of days. However, I did find it hard to get into as the whole thing consisted of letters, emails and text messages. Ahern seemed to make these very detailed.
There were many time jumps within the novel, which I personally found to be quite disorientating. Sometimes I want to be whisked away, in fact all the time, I want to be whisked away to where the author has created their own fictional world. I didn't have that experience with Love, Rosie. I actually felt that reading this books felt more like work than it did a hobby or simply my love for reading.
I enjoyed the characters immensely. But, this is one of those books that is quite cliche'd and actually irritating because really how hard is it for two in love people to just decide to be together. I couldn't wrap my head around the insanity! Haha! And it took the main characters until they were fifty years old to finally decide! Ugh!
Life definitely got in the way of the two main characters, Rosie and Alex... I found myself rolling my eyes whenever they would say that it wasn't meant to be. I mean I've seen the movie... I know what happens. But I can't imagine readers not knowing what happens...
Ahern seemed to use the mistakes each main character had made in order to prolong the story. I wished it would have been a shorter novel, because they could have decided to get together within a few pages. There was a big twist in the book (it's the same as in the movie) the kiss that happens at Rosie's 16th Birthday Party. And this is what makes them both realise they could have been together from the very beginning!
Overall the novel is about missed opportunities, and that true love will withstand all... and you will find your soulmate, if you have enough guts to go out and chase them!
I still prefer the movie, but what do you think? Many people rated this novel 5 stars, however I just couldn't justify it honestly. Sometimes I had to put the book down to give my eyes and head a break from all the drama and emails. I felt as though I was working at an office whilst reading it. My favourite thing about it is the friendships I read about, especially between Rosie and Ruby. I loved the characterisation and setting, and I enjoyed how detailed Cecelia Ahern was throughout the emailed messages. However, all of this could have been written in a much smaller novel. Just because Ahern did so well with her first novel, P.S. I love you (review here) doesn't mean the next needs to be prolonged to be just as good. A shorter novel with a earlier stage in life ending would have pushed all the buttons for me... unfortunately this novel wasn't quite there for me.
Favourite Line:
“Our life is made up of time; our days are measured in hours, our pay measured by those hours, our knowledge is measured by years. We grab a few quick minutes in our busy day to have a coffee break. We rush back to our desks, we watch the clock, we live by appointments. And yet your time eventually runs out and you wonder in your heart of hearts if those seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades were being spent the best way they possibly could. In other words, if you could change anything, would you?” (page # unknown)
Let me know your thoughts? Did you enjoy the book or the movie? Did you not enjoy either?
Leave me a comment and I'll get back to you! x
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