The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern
336 Pages


From Goodreads: Born into the lap of luxury and comfortable in the here and now, spoiled, tempestuous Tamara Goodwin has never had to look to the future—until the abrupt death of her father leaves her and her mother a mountain of debt and forces them to move in with Tamara's peculiar aunt and uncle in a tiny countryside village.

Tamara is lonely and bored, with a traveling library as her only diversion. There she finds a large leather-bound book with a gold clasp and padlock, but no author name or title. Intrigued, she pries open the lock, and what she finds inside takes her breath away.

Tamara sees entries written in her own handwriting, and dated for the following day. When the next day unfolds exactly as recorded, Tamara realizes she may have found a solution to her problems. But in her quest to find answers, Tamara soon learns that some pages are better left unturned and that, try as she may, she mustn't interfere with fate.

This book was magical in the same way P.S. I Love You was, a girl struggling in real life heals with a bit of mysterious magic. Tamara is 16 and dealing with the loss of her Father who committed suicide facing ruin. Her Mother has retreated into her own mind and Tamara is left to deal with everything on her own. They both move in with her mother's brother and his wife who live in a very tiny village. I personally thought the village sounded beautiful with castle ruins and green as far as the eye can see. Tamara is quite a character, while I feel sorry for her she is still a tough cookie with a sharp tongue. She says and does things that surprise me, but I think that's just what her character is, unpredictable. She is the narrator of the story and her voice is refreshingly real, I can relate to her because of the way she explains things. Her aunt Rosaleen weirded me out during the entire book, she refuses to let a doctor see Tamara's mom and seems to keep a lot of secrets from Tamara. She doesn't answer her questions or she goes around them to avoid answering. I felt as frustrated as Tamara, until she gets the book. Her entries start showing up and they turn out to be very accurate. Tamara starts using them to plan her days so that she may help her Mother and figure out what Rosaleen is hiding. The pacing is both slow (tiny Irish village) and fast (a lot happens). She meets interesting characters including Marcus and Weseley and of course Sister Ignatius who "never lies". The ending was very surprising, I was expecting something odd for sure but I got a lot more than I could've possibly imagined. I won't go into more detail, because it really is that bizarre and in a way very sad. I think some readers will greatly enjoy this book, I did not connect with it as much as I tried, but I still enjoyed the characters and story that have stayed with me.

I give this book 3.5 stars!

The Book of Tomorrow: A Novel

*note* This is a republication, Amazon's release date is February 1st, but you can pick it up almost everywhere else already including Barnes & Nobles.