I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review in any way.
From the bestselling author of 'PS, I Love You' comes a delightfully enchanting novel about what happens when two people who are meant to be together just can't seem to get it right.
Rosie and Alex are destines for one another, and everyone seems to know it but them. Best friends since childhood, their relationship gets closer by the day, until Alex gets the news that his family is leaving Dublin and moving to Boston. At 17, Rosie and Alex have just started to see each other in a more romantic light. Devastated, the two make plans for Rosie to apply to colleges in the U.S.
She gets into Boston University, Alex gets into Harvard, and everything is falling into place, when on the eve of her departure, Rosie gets that news that will change their lives forever: She's pregnant by a boy she'd gone out with while on the rebound from Alex.
Her dreams for college, Alex, and a glamorous career dashed, Rosie says in Dublin to become a single mother, while Alex pursues a medical career and a new love in Boston. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel, structured as a series of clever emails, letters, notes and a trail of missed opportunities, Alex and Rosie find out that fate isn't done with them yet.
First off I'm just going to say straight away that I adored Love, Rosie. Honestly, I don't think there was anything that I disliked about it at all.
I haven't seen the film so I was going into Love, Rosie completely blind. Lots of my friends at uni have read Love, Rosie and seen the film and they all loved both, so I kind of knew I was in for a treat! And luckily I wasn't wrong!
Love, Rosie is an epistolary novel, told through the various letters, emails and instant messages sent between the characters. I've never really read anything like Love, Rosie in that sense, sure some of the books I've read have emails and letters in, but they're usually an aside to the main narrative. And yes I've read Lady Susan by Jane Austen, her short epistolary novel, but it didn't have anywhere near the same affect as Cecelia Ahern's Love, Rosie.
Alex and Rosie are best friends, and they have been since they were five. Through their letters we follow their lives, when I started the book I honestly wasn't sure if I'd like the fact that there was only letters and not the normal narrative found in novels. It didn't take me long to realise I was being stupid, I loved the fact that Cecelia Ahern used written communication, it really helped to build the characters. How did it do this I hear you ask, well the information shared between Rosie and Ruby differed considerably between the information shared between Rosie and Alex. The fact that Rosie would receive a letter or email from Alex and then instant message Ruby with her reaction really built her as a character, and revealed a lot about her relationship with Alex.
And boy what a relationship it was. I'd have got annoyed if I didn't like the two of them so much! So be warned, Love, Rosie is definitely a slow burn romance, their lives take over and they never seem to have good timing. And Rosie really doesn't have any luck.
When I say Rosie has no luck I don't mean she walks under a ladder and breaks her heal before a car splashes her from head to toe. No, I mean everything Rosie plans falls through. Everything. Yet she still stays strong and resilient. Rosie was by far my favourite character, sure she was dealt some bad hands but she just got on with it. I found that she was a very admiral, and very real character.
In my mind Rosie is the leading lady and everyone else are the supporting cast. That's not to mean that I didn't like them, quite the opposite in fact. I loved every character in the book, aside from the ones you clearly are not supposed to love. Ruby and Rosie are both hilarious, they were a salsa dancing comedy duo. Alex is lovely, he really is. The fact that he books a flight for Rosie instantly made me swoon just a little.
One of the things I really loved about Love, Rosie was that one minute I could be laughing out loud and the next tears were streaking down my face. I think that shows just how emotionally engaged I was with Love, Rosie and all of the character's lives.
The relationship between Rosie and Alex is cleverly mirrored in the lives of Katie, Rosie's daughter, and Toby, Katie's best friend. This really made it feel like you were watching as the characters grew, from 5 to 50.
I feel like I've gone on and on about Rosie, we're not just treated to letters and messages between her and other characters, oh no. We get to see the letters and messages between the other characters too. For me this really developed the story and made it feel very full, if that makes any sense.
I feel like that was a very gushy review, but I did warn you! I am definitely going to be watching the film adaptation. It's always interesting to see how books are adapted into film, and especially so for an epistolary novel.
Have you read Love, Rosie? Let me know what you thought in the comments!
'Love, Rosie' by Cecelia Ahern
5 Stars
Labels: 2015, 5 Stars, Book, Cecelia Ahern, Love Rosie, Published 2005, Review, Where Rainbows End
