ARC Review: The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

The Book of Tomorrow

By: Cecelia Ahern

Published by: Harper

Publication Date: January 25, 2011

320 pages

I received this book from Harper via Library Thing

5 stars!


From the author's website...

Tamara Goodwin has always got everything she’s ever wanted. Born into a family of wealth, she grew up in a mansion with its own private beach, a wardrobe full of designer clothes, and a large four poster bed complete with a luxurious bathroom en-suite. She’s always lived in the here and now, never giving a second thought to tomorrow.

But then suddenly her dad is gone and life for Tamara and her mother changes forever. Left with a mountain of debt, they have no choice but to sell everything they own and move to the country to live with Tamara’s Uncle and Aunt. Nestled next to Kilsaney Castle, their gate house is a world away from Tamara’s childhood. With her Mother shut away with grief, and her Aunt busy tending to her, Tamara is lonely and bored and longs to return to Dublin.

When a travelling library passes through Kilsaney Demesne, Tamara is intrigued. She needs a distraction. Her eyes rest on a mysterious large leather bound tome locked with a gold clasp and padlock. With some help, Tamara finally manages to open the book. What she discovers within the pages takes her breath away and shakes her world to its core

Here is a book that I think will appeal to almost everyone. I absolutely loved it and will be picking more of Ahern's novels ASAP!! The Book of Tomorrow reads like a modern gothic, filled with family secrets, mystery, and a healthy sprinkling of magic. Tamara is the kind of character I love to read...one who changes, grows, and learns valuable lessons and insights about life when faced with life changing events. She starts off as a bratty, spoiled rich girl who thinks only of today and only of herself, but when her father commits suicide and it turns out her family is broke, she is forced to look at life in a whole new way.

Magic enters the picture when Tamara discovers a diary in the travelling library. But it isn't an ordinary diary...once blank pages fill up at night with diary entries of things that haven't happened yet...written in Tamara's own handwriting...dated for the next day. She soon discovers that the entries are accurate and that she has the power to change the course of events, that things are not set in stone and that she can create her own fate by how she chooses to act in certain situations. It is through this that Tamara grows as a person and begins to look at the consequences and repercussions of her actions.

Ahern's writing flows and is intensely readable, this is definitely one of those books that you can't put down. Nor is it predictable. With some books, you just know what's going to happen and what the outcome will be. Not the case here. There are mysteries galore...why won't Tamara's mom come out of her room once they arrive at the aunt's house? Is she consumed by mourning her husband, is she ill, is there something sinister going on?? Who lives in the house across the way where Tamara's aunt mysteriously disappears to every day? Is there more to the sweet old nun from the neighboring monastery than meets the eye? You won't be able to quit reading until you find out The Book of Tomorrow's Secrets!

I HIGHLY recommend this book and look forward to reading more of Ahern's work!



Visit the author's website here
(she also wrote P.S. I Love You!)