Book Review: The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

16 year old Tamara Goodwin had it all - a loving set of parents, a huge house, enough money to buy whatever she wanted whenever she wanted it. But when she finds her father dead in his office and uncovers a huge load debts that he was hiding from her and her mother, Tamara's world comes crashing down around her. She's forced to leave her beloved home and move in with her mother's brother Arthur and his wife Rosaleen who are a tad strange to say the least.

Tamara hates living in the back of beyond with no shops around or social life to speak of. When the travelling library pays a visit, Tamara decides to give it a go, and uncovers an unusual book. It's got no author or title, and it's locked too. Eventually Tamara manages to get the lock open and is shocked to her core by what she finds inside the pages. The book seems to be telling her what's going to happen in her life tomorrow... but can Tamara believe it?

This is one of the year's biggest releases in the world of Chick Lit in my opinion - Cecelia Ahern has really hit the big time with her writing since the success of her debut novel PS... I Love You written a few years ago now. Since then, she's been bringing out magical books one after the other, and The Book of Tomorrow is her latest release. I didn't like Cecelia's debut at all, although I loved the film, and then last year I devoured her Christmassy-themed book The Gift and adored it so was hoping for similar feelings toward this book. I finally got my copy from the library a few days ago and sat down to enjoy this book.

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Book Review: The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

Everyday Lou Suffern battled with the clock. He always had two places to be at the same time. He always had two things to do at once. When asleep he dreamed. In between dreams, he ran through the events of the day while making plans for the next. When at home with his wife and family, his mind was always someplace else.

On his way into work one early winter morning, Lou meets Gabe, a homeless man sitting outside the office building. Intrigued by him and on discovering that he could also be very useful to have around, Lou gets Gabe a job in the post room.

But soon Lou begins to regret helping Gabe. His very presence unsettles Lou and how does Gabe appear to be in two places at the same time?

As Christmas draws closer, Lou starts to understand the value of time. He sees what is truly important in life yet at the same time he learns the harshest lesson of all.

This story definitely is a modern day fairytale style book, with a good storyline and a lot of magic thrown into the mix to create something unique and very  different to most of the other chick-lit out there. Cecelia Ahern seems to like using the impossible in her stories, as in PS I Love You where a dead man communicated with his wife from beyond the grave, and this novel also explores a magical element too. Gabe can seemingly move quicker than is humanly possible, and the reason for this is intriguing and something it took a while to get my head around as I was reading. But credit to Ahern here, because I can't normally stand unrealistic books, yet this one drew me in immediately and I just couldn't put it down, so much so I actually read it in just over a day - I was desperate to find out how it was all going to come together at the end.

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