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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
Just everything deserved better. The poor bookmobile guy deserved better, the "book of tomorrow" deserved a better place in the plot (it was barely used), the readers deserve better (it's not a twist if all the information comes out of absolutely nowhere in the last chapter and suddenly changes the entire story), the main character was a bit of a prat but even she deserved better. And the end? You can't stick a book in a plastic bag and bury it under a tree and expect it to be okay later. They have an entire ruined castle down the street to hide it in, but no, let's bury it in the ground. Made as much sense as the rest of the book, I suppose.
Tamara Goodwin is a girl who has always gotten and received what she wanted. When her Dad commits suicide, she and her Mother lose everything and must move in with her Aunt and Uncle. Tamara is bored and lonely until she find a diary on the traveling library bus. In that book, she discovers what will happen tomorrow.
I really enjoyed this book. It had Cecelia Ahern's usual touch of magic and whimsy to it. This is a book about a girl who has always lived for today never thinking about tomorrow. She started having to think about decisions she made and how they would affect her and the people around her tomorrow. I liked how the mystery of her life and the things that had happened around her slowly unfolded. I also liked how she thought about how she was going to handle the next day when she already knew what could happen.
I liked the ending and the acknowlegement that all decisions we make even one made as a young child will continue to affect us and the ones around us for the rest of our lives.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery with some life lessons involved. I received this book as a free giveaway in goodreads first reads.
I really enjoyed this book. It had Cecelia Ahern's usual touch of magic and whimsy to it. This is a book about a girl who has always lived for today never thinking about tomorrow. She started having to think about decisions she made and how they would affect her and the people around her tomorrow. I liked how the mystery of her life and the things that had happened around her slowly unfolded. I also liked how she thought about how she was going to handle the next day when she already knew what could happen.
I liked the ending and the acknowlegement that all decisions we make even one made as a young child will continue to affect us and the ones around us for the rest of our lives.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery with some life lessons involved. I received this book as a free giveaway in goodreads first reads.
This really is one of the worst books I can ever remember reading. I liked Cecelia Ahern's first two books. The next three were increasingly ridiculous and bad. I skipped the 6th but something about this one intrigued me and I decided to give it a try. Well it took me ages to read because it was so damn boring. Nothing happened and none of the characters was likable or engaging in the slightest. I kept at it because I generally finish the books I start and I felt that *something* had to happen. The pace did finally pick up two-thirds of the way through. Literally, on page 180 of a 242 page book, it became eventful. Along with the problems of pacing, character, uneven narration there was a ridiculous supernatural element that was just a plot convenience and was never explained or motivated. So it dragged on for the first two-thirds and then became hugely melodramatic, PLUS had an absurd touch of magic. No more Cecelia Ahern for me!
About fifteen pages into this book, I already disliked the main character, sixteen year old Tamara. She is a snotty little bitch and the only reason I continued to read was because Tamara acknowledges this and constantly used the past tense: "I was nasty. I was not a nice person." This use of the past tense gave me hope that she does indeed change and I was only able to continue with this hope in mind. I'm glad I continued with the story. Although I can't say I ever really warmed to Tamara to the point where I would say I actually liked her. I certainly hated her a lot less.
Tamara has lived a charmed, privileged life. She is someone you could imagine on one of those MTV shows like My Sweet Sixteen. The bratty, get whatever she wants, teenager. But something happens that changes the course of Tamara's life. Her father dies. And while she doesn't immediately change into decent human being, this loss is enough to make her think about more. More than her pathetic, materialistic existence.
After Tamara's father dies, his insurmountable debt leaves Tamara and her mother no other choice but to live with Tamara's Aunt Rosaleen and Uncle Arthur out in the Irish countryside. While some of us might find this idyllic Tamara, a Dubliner, sees it as a kind of death sentence, the death of her social life. Her only peers include the cute guy in charge of the traveling library, Marcus, and Wesley her Uncle Arthur's right hand man.
Tamara picks up a book from the traveling library which turns out to be a journal. Tamara's neighbor, Sister Ignatius, encourages Tamara to write in the journal to work out all her feelings about her father's death. But when she goes to write her first entry she finds an entry in her own handwriting...for the next day. Tamara is scared, angry and confused until the next day when everything in the journal proves to be true. Tamara uses the information in the journal to make changes in her daily decisions, decisions that begin to unravel a mystery about Tamara's past that will forever change her understanding of herself.
Ahern's writing is simply beautiful; there is no doubt about that. The only complaint I have about the actual writing is that the first part of the novel is mostly Tamara telling us readers everything versus showing. I know she's catching us up to speed on what's happened but I don't know how many times we reviews express disappointment in being told something by the characters instead of shown through dialog or actions, which keeps the book interesting. However, like I said, Ahern's writing is truly exceptional.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. My first impression was not good, I was gearing up for a negative review so I was making notes of all the issues I had with Tamara and while I continued to be frustrated with her attitude, I was sucked into the magic, mystery, and intrigue of the story. The Book of Tomorrow is a beautifully written story of family, love, loss, and self discovery.
Tamara has lived a charmed, privileged life. She is someone you could imagine on one of those MTV shows like My Sweet Sixteen. The bratty, get whatever she wants, teenager. But something happens that changes the course of Tamara's life. Her father dies. And while she doesn't immediately change into decent human being, this loss is enough to make her think about more. More than her pathetic, materialistic existence.
After Tamara's father dies, his insurmountable debt leaves Tamara and her mother no other choice but to live with Tamara's Aunt Rosaleen and Uncle Arthur out in the Irish countryside. While some of us might find this idyllic Tamara, a Dubliner, sees it as a kind of death sentence, the death of her social life. Her only peers include the cute guy in charge of the traveling library, Marcus, and Wesley her Uncle Arthur's right hand man.
Tamara picks up a book from the traveling library which turns out to be a journal. Tamara's neighbor, Sister Ignatius, encourages Tamara to write in the journal to work out all her feelings about her father's death. But when she goes to write her first entry she finds an entry in her own handwriting...for the next day. Tamara is scared, angry and confused until the next day when everything in the journal proves to be true. Tamara uses the information in the journal to make changes in her daily decisions, decisions that begin to unravel a mystery about Tamara's past that will forever change her understanding of herself.
Ahern's writing is simply beautiful; there is no doubt about that. The only complaint I have about the actual writing is that the first part of the novel is mostly Tamara telling us readers everything versus showing. I know she's catching us up to speed on what's happened but I don't know how many times we reviews express disappointment in being told something by the characters instead of shown through dialog or actions, which keeps the book interesting. However, like I said, Ahern's writing is truly exceptional.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. My first impression was not good, I was gearing up for a negative review so I was making notes of all the issues I had with Tamara and while I continued to be frustrated with her attitude, I was sucked into the magic, mystery, and intrigue of the story. The Book of Tomorrow is a beautifully written story of family, love, loss, and self discovery.
This book kept me up all night, despite my resolution to sleep before 1. Well, I definitely didn't and stayed up all night to finish it. The beginning was a little slow but it eventually picked up and the mysteries kept piling up, and the secrets got more exciting. It was definitely a great read. And I love the book itself. With it's little strip of bookmark, you know, the tassle-like part. Anyways, if you're in the mood for some mystery, romance, secrets, humour, this is a good book. Cecelia Ahern's novels are captivating, fun and definitely a good read.
A nice novel, but a few unresolved story lines involving magic.
fast-paced
Book #3 for the March 2018 Irish Readathon which I participated in and found through Aoife's youtube channel - for the prompt "read a book by an Irish author published in the last 10 years".
I went into this book with anticipation, since I read one of Cecelia Ahern's books before and quite enjoyed it, but unfortunately I ended up disappointed. The story itself wasn't that bad but the main character spoiled everything for me and took a lot of my enjoyment of reading. She was absolutely the worst kind of teenager and while I realize that such kids exist in real life, it was a pain to have to stay in her head for so long. The only thing that kept me turning the pages was the mystery surrounding Tamara's family. I still ended up very disappointed, because this story had a lot of elements that I love in books, except for the main character, so I felt that it could've been a lot better.
I went into this book with anticipation, since I read one of Cecelia Ahern's books before and quite enjoyed it, but unfortunately I ended up disappointed. The story itself wasn't that bad but the main character spoiled everything for me and took a lot of my enjoyment of reading. She was absolutely the worst kind of teenager and while I realize that such kids exist in real life, it was a pain to have to stay in her head for so long. The only thing that kept me turning the pages was the mystery surrounding Tamara's family. I still ended up very disappointed, because this story had a lot of elements that I love in books, except for the main character, so I felt that it could've been a lot better.
My first experience with Cecelia Ahern was P.S. I Love You, and even though I loved the movie, and even though it seems like the kind of book I should adore, I couldn't finish it. I can honestly say that it is maybe one of 5 books I have ever not finished in my life - I got maybe three or four chapters in and then gave up. And to this day I still can't say why.
Still, since then, I find myself for some reason always attracted to her books and wanting to read her other ones - and not letting myself because I remember my experience with P.S. I Love You. Well, with the Book of Tomorrow, I finally decided to get over my Cecelia Ahern boycott and give one of her books a try. And boy am I glad I did. To the point in which I'm now thinking I've got to go try P.S. I Love You Again.
The Book of Tomorrow is fast-paced and exciting and creative and well-written and, just, wonderful! I couldn't put it down. I LOVED it!
In the beginning, Tamara Goodwin, our first-person narrator, is bratty and self-centered, and I wonder if there is any way for her to ever redeem herself. She announces to us right off that she is going to, but frankly, I had trouble believing. Tamara's life changes when her Dad dies and leave them in debt. With her mom, they have to move to live with her weird Aunt and Uncle in the country. Her life then proceeds to change even more when she discovers a journal in a traveling library (how COOL is that?!?) that seems to contain entries that SHE has written from the next day.
With the help of the diary, crazy mysteries are uncovered and Tamara (who by the end does, indeed, become an almost likable character) discovers that her life is actually way crazier than she ever could have imagined. The Book of Tomorrow will have you excitedly sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting for the next foretelling entry in Tamara's life - and wondering how Tamara is going to deal with whatever new revelation she discovers. Ahern does a great job of writing this in a slightly choppy, self-obsessed way, as if she really is a teenager writing.
Ahern has created a beautiful story of love and revenge, and if you can remember what it feels like to be in the mind of a teenager, you'll love this book. Especially if you were a slightly bratty teenager. :-P I think this book is worth checking out!
Still, since then, I find myself for some reason always attracted to her books and wanting to read her other ones - and not letting myself because I remember my experience with P.S. I Love You. Well, with the Book of Tomorrow, I finally decided to get over my Cecelia Ahern boycott and give one of her books a try. And boy am I glad I did. To the point in which I'm now thinking I've got to go try P.S. I Love You Again.
The Book of Tomorrow is fast-paced and exciting and creative and well-written and, just, wonderful! I couldn't put it down. I LOVED it!
In the beginning, Tamara Goodwin, our first-person narrator, is bratty and self-centered, and I wonder if there is any way for her to ever redeem herself. She announces to us right off that she is going to, but frankly, I had trouble believing. Tamara's life changes when her Dad dies and leave them in debt. With her mom, they have to move to live with her weird Aunt and Uncle in the country. Her life then proceeds to change even more when she discovers a journal in a traveling library (how COOL is that?!?) that seems to contain entries that SHE has written from the next day.
With the help of the diary, crazy mysteries are uncovered and Tamara (who by the end does, indeed, become an almost likable character) discovers that her life is actually way crazier than she ever could have imagined. The Book of Tomorrow will have you excitedly sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting for the next foretelling entry in Tamara's life - and wondering how Tamara is going to deal with whatever new revelation she discovers. Ahern does a great job of writing this in a slightly choppy, self-obsessed way, as if she really is a teenager writing.
Ahern has created a beautiful story of love and revenge, and if you can remember what it feels like to be in the mind of a teenager, you'll love this book. Especially if you were a slightly bratty teenager. :-P I think this book is worth checking out!
I couldn't decide between 2 or 3 stars...I went for the higher number mainly because of the ending. The main character was one whom I despised about 90% of the time. Tamara is spoiled and whiny. Once in a while she does something smart or says something fairly profound...the rest of the time, not so much. I liked the mystery and the history in the end...but the rest was a sob story with a mysterious book thrown in the middle. Not too bad, not too good. Just meh.