PS I love you - Cecelia Ahern > Reviews > Do you believe in life after love?

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?
Story
Characters
Listenability
How does it compare to similar audio books?
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?

Advantages:	An excellent believable storyline,very emotional and inspiring,excellent writing by the author
Disadvantages:	none at all

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

*** About the Author ***

Name: Cecelia Ahern
Age: 22
Born In: Ireland

This is Cecelia’s first book and it’s already made her a millionaire. It’s an international bestseller and has been published in 23 countries.

You may be surprised to know that her sister is married to Westlife singer ‘Nicky Byrne and Westlife helped her launch her book. It is also a fact that due to the success of the book, Wendy Finerman who worked on ‘Forest Gump’ has bought the film rights to turn the bestseller into a film.

*** The Plot ***

Do you believe in life after love? This is a question many people hope they won’t have to find the answer to. But for one woman, that question was soon about to be answered.

Holly and Gerry found their whole life’s happiness in each other. They found what some people spend their whole lives looking for…their soul mate. They had their ups and their downs just like everybody else did, but mainly they understood each other. Their dreams were simple; grow old together and start a family.

Fifteen years of marriage later and their dreams of the future were sent crashing down with a huge thud. After complaining for a few days of headaches, Gerry finally gave in and went to the doctors. He and Holly didn’t think much of it; at worst they thought he might need glasses. They were in no way prepared for the shock that was to come. For it wasn’t stress or in fact the need to wear glasses that was causing Gerry’s headache, it was a tumour.

In less than a years time Gerry was gone and Holly was left alone with nothing but an empty house and a million memories. How could she ever get over this? Why was she left all alone when other people got the chance of happiness? A hundred questions going round in her head, questions that could never be answered.

Locking herself away from the rest of the world and surrounding herself by Gerry’s possessions was all that she could do to cope with things. That is until one day she gets a phone call from her mother asking her to pick up an envelope that had been at their house for quite a while. She didn’t want to bother Holly but she thought it might be important as above her name were the words ‘The List’ and she didn’t know what that meant. Holly dropped the phone. It couldn’t be! It just wasn’t possible! But what if it was?

See Gerry and her used to joke about if she ever had to cope without him. He finally came to the conclusion that he would leave her a list of things to remember to do just so she’d cope better. However, they never actually thought they’d have to use that list.

She finally plucked up the courage to collect the parcel and sure enough it was from Gerry.

There were envelopes containing little messages for the rest of the year ahead. She’d missed a couple of them but the ones she did have left she vowed she’d follow through with whatever Gerry had told her to do. She now had him back, not physically, but she knew he was there watching over her, and while she had the envelopes for each month, she still had Gerry.

Through the rest of the year we follow Holly as she learns how to live again surrounded by friends and family who love and support her as much as they can. We follow the ups and downs of grief, and eventually the possibility of opening your heart to somebody else.

*** My Overall Opinion ***

I bought this book from Asda priced at £3.99 and mainly went for it because it sounded so different from other women’s modern lit books. I was extremely surprised at how well this new author writes. Never before as a book made me cry as quickly as this did. I was immediately drawn into the plot and found myself feeling what the character must have been feeling. Whether that was because I have found my soul mate too and I could relate to how I would feel if I ever lost him, I don’t know but I do know that this woman has a serious talent.

The plot flowed really well, leaving no boring or slow bits, and the more I read, the more drawn into it I became. It opened my eyes to life after love and how to cope. There were times when I laughed so much due to the superb wit Cecelia had managed to squeeze in. Holly was a lovable character who messed up just like everybody else did. It was a realistic plot, and though some of the things that happened to Holly were really eccentric, they were also believable and things that could actually happen.

It’s really refreshing, and I can see how it would be a comfort to somebody who has been in the same situation as Holly. It’s almost real, real emotions, real characters. If I ever recommend a book for reading it would be this one. At such a great price you can’t go wrong and believe me you’ll thank me for it! It’s different than other modern women’s lit, a lot different.

I could write pages and pages on how much I adored this book but I think I’ve made my opinion clear enough. I really hope I’ve convinced you to try it and thank you for reading :)

Aimee xxx

PS- You should find this in most bookstores as well as online. Amazon and Ebay usually have some great deals on books so check them out if you can. If those fail as I said I got mine from Asda for £3.99 which I feel is a great price for such a fantastic book!