Where Rainbows End (Love, Rosie) by Cecelia Ahern

 From naughty children to rebellious teenagers, Rosie and Alex have stuck by each other through thick and thin. But just as as they're discovering the joys of teenage nights on the town and dating disasters, they're separated. Alex's family move from Dublin to America - and Alex goes with them. For good.

Rosie's lost without him. But on the eve of her departure to join Alex in Boston, Rosie gets news that will change her life forever - and keep her at home in Ireland.

Their magical connection sees them through the ups and downs of each others lives, but neither of them knows whether their friendship can survive the years and miles - or new relationships. And at the back of Rosie's mind is whether they were meant to be more than just good friends all along. Misunderstandings, circumstances and sheer bad luck have kept them apart, but when presented with the ultimate opportunity, will they gamble everything for true love?
 

 

 

Published:     8th November 2004
Publisher:  HarperCollins
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source: Owned

 

MY REVIEW

On a whim, I decided to start reading and re-reading Cecelia Ahern's novels.  I have read some a very long time ago but there are some that I can't remember whether I have read or not and what better way to solve that than to work through all her novels starting from the earliest to the latest.  Now, I know this is not the first novel by this author (the first being PS I Love You) but I have deliberately not picked up that one first as I want to read that just before I read Postscript later on.  I had come to realise that I had definitely not read this one!

In this story, we mainly follow Rosie with Alex as a 'nearly' main character.  They are best friends at school, grow up and lead very separate lives which could have been very different if they had just chosen to be together rather than live their lives in separate directions.  

I loved this story.  Not only was the story addicting but the format of this novel was interesting to follow.  It is not set out as a straight forward novel but set out in a series of emails, notes and instant messaging.  Its been a long while since I had read a novel in this format and I loved it.  

For me, the relationship between Rosie and Alex was very real, rather than an exaggerated and unrealistic one that is sometimes found in novels like this one.  Not everything always goes according to plan and sometimes a character will make the wrong decision and have to deal with the circumstances of that, which also means upsetting the other friend.  No, I didn't always like Rosie because some of the decisions she made were just frustrating but then again me, as a reader, could see the whole picture but maybe she couldn't and made the best choice she could with what she knew at the time.  

I am so glad that I started with this one.  A truly beautiful realistic story.