"Where Rainbows End" by Cecelia Ahern

I have a confession to make: I love chick-lit. Generally I like to read things that will make me think in broader terms about the world around me, or expand my limited personal horizons, but I have a soft spot in my heart for well-written chick-lit, especially if there is a British or Irish setting somewhere in there. I had heard of the author Cecilia Ahern, and I was impressed that she’s my age and already has all of these bestsellers behind her belt. I proceeded to look her up at my library, to see what titles my library had. I have to confess that the subjects all looked a little sappy to me, but I had read a little about “Where Rainbows End” and I thought that it looked interesting. Last Sunday my HTB (husband-to-be) had had a long day and he went to bed at 9:30 P.M. I wasn’t tired yet and I didn’t want to disturb him with the T.V., so I stayed in the living room and watched the Academy Awards. I seem to be unable to just sit and watch T.V. (it’s against my nature!) so I picked up this book and started to read. And read. And read. The next thing I knew it was 11:30, I was completely engrossed in the book, and I wasn’t even watching much of the Academy Awards (although “Transformers” should have won the award for best sound mixing!)

This book follows childhood friends, Alex and Rosie, as they grow up, change, and experience all that life has in store for them. I was initially wary of this book because it is made up of a series of instant messages, e-mails, and letters written between the main characters. I generally don’t like this style of writing because I feel it doesn’t give me a chance to get close to the characters, and I end up not really feeling attached to them or to their situations. However this book is an exception to the rule; the book flowed without skipping a beat. I grew attached to the quirky and lovable characters right away, and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to everyone. Ahern proved me wrong about my initial thoughts on the book. This is why I don’t like to (ha ha) “judge a book by its cover”. Sometimes my initial feelings about a book are correct and I don’t read past the first couple of chapters, but in this case I was glad I took the chance. I would recommend this book to any lover of chick-lit, this was a great read, and it makes you feel good at the end (an important feature of any chick-lit!). I’ll be checking out some of her other titles in the future.

This book gets four delicious stars out of five from me :)

Note: The library called today to let me know that “A Thousand Splendid Suns” is in for me. I can’t wait to read this book!