FICTION REVIEW: The Time of My Life - Cecelia Ahern

Release Date: 13/10/11

SYNOPSIS:

The stunning and magical new novel from the Number One bestselling author Lying on Lucy Silchester's carpet one day when she returns from work is a gold envelope. Inside is an invitation -- to a meeting with Life. Her life. It turns out she's been ignoring it and it needs to meet with her face to face. It sounds peculiar, but Lucy's read about this in a magazine. Anyway, she can't make the date: she's much too busy despising her job, skipping out on her friends friends and avoiding her family. But Lucy's life isn't what it seems. Some of the choices she's made -- and stories she's told -- aren't what they seem either. From the moment she meets the man who introduces himself as her life, her stubborn half-truths are going to be revealed in all their glory -- unless Lucy learns to tell the truth about what really matters to her. Lucy Silchester has an appointment with her life -- and she's going to have to keep it. Touching, warm, funny and poignant, Cecelia Ahern's new novel explores what happens when you stop paying attention to your life.


REVIEW:

OK, I’m going to be honest here, I knew the name Cecelia Ahern and had she not been the author of PS I Love You (yes I watched the film and enjoyed it) I more than likely wouldn’t have read this book which really isn’t my usual type of fiction. That said however I really didn’t expect to read all of it that quickly, expecting it to take me a good few days to work my way through it so that I could at least be honest and know that I hadn’t quit.

What occurred however was me hardly pausing as I made my way though, the lead character of Lucy felt like someone we could all associate ourselves with, the problems felt familiar and of course the way that Cecelia turned a conventional idea on its head was a pure joy to read. Add to this a great sense of pace, some light hearted moments and a story that says you can do it which left me with a warm inner glow after finishing the book. All in, a reasonable read and whilst I won’t say that I’m firmly in the Ahern camp, it was definitely a refreshing change to the usual type of title I pick and one that I was more than pleased I read. Great stuff.