The Book of Tomorrow

by Cecelia Ahern

Tamara Goodwin has always lived in the here and now, never giving a second thought to tomorrow. Until a traveling library arrives in her tiny village, bringing with it a mysterious, large leather-bound book locked with a gold clasp and padlock.

What she discovers within the pages takes her breath away and shakes her world to its core.

A mesmerizing story about how tomorrow can change what happens today...

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery

320 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 2009

About the author

Cecelia Ahern was born and grew up in Dublin. She is now published in nearly fifty countries, and has sold over twenty-five million copies of her novels worldwide. Two of her books have been adapted as films and she has created several TV series.

Reviews

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing I should say is that I picked this book up about 4 hours ago and haven't been able to put it down since. It isn't a short book, it runs just over 300 pages, but I simply couldn't stop reading. The story of loss and finding yourself again afterward hits close to home. I too have lost a parent - my mom, suddenly a week before my 19th birthday. Many of the feelings were familiar ones. The unexpected anger at someone, the sudden crying at anything sad, are all true to life. However, lest you think this book will drown you in sorrow, Ahern weaves a tight mystery throughout the book. Her writing picks you up and transports you into the story. Her descriptions in the beginning calmed me with a sense of peace. That was soon shattered by my frantic page turning a few chapters later.

I agree with this quote from the back of the book "...The Book of Tomorrow is an utterly unique story about grief, loss, and how sometimes it takes tomorrow to get us through today." I highly recommend this book. Anyone who enjoys books written in the style of The Thirteenth Tale will especially enjoy this book.

Received the book through Goodreads First Reads.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read all of Cecelia Ahern's books after falling in love with her book P.S. I Love You. I'm sad to say that her 2 latest books, this and The Gift, have been major disappointments for me. This one is the worst yet.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book. The main character finds a book with entries in her writing from the next day. She then uses that information to influence how she will live her next day. I was looking for a whimsical read when I picked up this book, and was sorely disappointed. There were so many weird oddities surrounding characters, mysterious people, and a seemingly hasty explanation at the end of the book for all of the unusual occurrences. This was a book I kept reading in the hopes it would get better, and then just finished because I was far enough along that I had to see it through. I'd much rather finish a book feeling sad that it's over rather than grateful I'm finished.

I am starting to get discouraged by Ahern's latest efforts. I don't read reviews before I pick up books that interest me so I can formulate my own opinion. However, I may have to start doing so for her future novels in order to not waste my time with disappointments like this one.

[♥ Becky 22 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, Cecelia Ahern, how I love you.

"The Book of Tomorrow" was unbelievably good. It was a modern fairytale. It was magical. It was mysterious. It was heartwarming and sad and funny and amazing.
It was one-of-a-kind and spooky and I'm running out of adjectives here, so I'm just going to say that I really, really loved it.



Cecelia Ahern's (still don't know how to pronounce her last name) books are really hard to explain. There's always this touch of magic in her stories, that makes the ordinary fascinating and fantastic. The Book of Tomorrow is no exception to this. It is set in our world, but the main character, Tamara (who acts like a total bitch sometimes, but whom I love nonetheless. Props to Cecelia for that!) finds a book that turns out to be her diary-from-the-future, and that tells her what is going to happen the day after.

If you have an open mind and you like stories full of mystery and with a touch of magic, you should definitely read this amazing, amazing book.

[Aimee (Getting Your Read On) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. I'm really shocked by this book. My jaw is literally on the floor with the content in this book especially being marketed to young adults (which is ages 15-21) 15 uses of the F word. Seriously? Wow. Every other swear word was also used, multiple times. The book is filled with sex, talk of sex, and references to sexual things which I just found crass. I'm really, really disappointed in this book. There would be these moments when I think "that was really great writing", or I loved an idea. Then it would be completely ruined by the language or some other nasty thing.

The 16 year olds in this book had sex, got drunk regularly, smoked cigarettes, swore, lied and stole. The main character thinks that by 16 she should have had sex and she is set on finding a guy to sleep with. Just because. And she does. They are found naked by the police after breaking into a home that isn't theirs. They have been drinking. The guy is 22, the girl 16. The main character says, "If the first man I sleep with ends up being the man I marry, I think I'll die." Wow, yeah. Wouldn't that be just the end of the world? Such commitment and love. Horrible.

Things are said like "sex the first time hurt worse than when a lesbian hit her with a stick between the legs." "She looks like she never had an orgasm." Sex is made out to be a game, sexual matters of no importance. Kids are making out with each other, different people each day. A girl has sex and then takes the "morning after pill".

I'm sorry I read this book. I'm no better for reading it. This book should be rated R and kept out of the hands of young people.

I received this book as an ARC from Harper Collins. I thank them for sending the book and wish I could have loved it.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cecelia Ahern has done it again with another fab book.

Really enjoyed this, super cute.

Five stars.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sixteen year old Tamara Goodwin is a very spoilt teenager who has everything she needs and wants and so much more. That is until the day her father commits suicide leaving her and her mother, Jennifer with nothing but debt. With no options left they are forced to live with Tamara's aunt, Rosaleen and uncle Arthur. Not long after moving in Tamara's mother seems to fall into a deep depression and she is unable to get out of bed. Tamara is concerned about her mother, but is told by her aunt that she just needs to rest and in time she will get better.

One day Tamara meets a young man named Marcus Sandhurst who runs a travelling library. Inside the travelling library Tamara picks a book off the shelf, but she soon realises it has no title and no author. Both Marcus and Tamara find this odd and want to know it's contents, but can't as it has gold lock on the front of it. Being called away by her aunt, Tamara takes the book with and hopes to open it soon.

Exploring her surroundings, Tamara meets and befriends a local nun by the name of Sister Ignatius. Sister Ignatius helps Tamara open her book only to find there is nothing, but blank pages. Sister Ignatius tells Tamara this might be a great opportunity for her to start her own diary where she can keep her own private thoughts on what she does or wants to achieve each day.

The next day Tamara decides it might be a good and fun idea to keep a diary, but when she opens the book it seems someone has beaten her to it. Tamara at first is confused as the diary hasn't left her and only a couple of people knew she had it. As she starts to read what is in the book, Tamara soon figures out that the entries are dated a day ahead of time. Tamara is reading about things that haven't even happened yet and soon discovers dark family secrets that will change her life and those close to her forever.

I must admit when I first started reading this book I didn't like it and wondered if I would be able to finish it. I'm glad I stuck with it because the the more I read I became quite intrigued and wanted to know how it was going to end. This was an interesting and enjoyable read with a magical twist. So what would you do if you knew what tomorrow was going to bring?

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave it 80 pages to decide if I wanted to keep reading, but when I spotted the wrong use of the word 'OCD' AND transphobia on the same page, I knew I was done. Other complaints include the main character's entire fucking personality, and too many mentions of sex and clubbing. Fuck this book.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a huge disappointment this was, and with such a promising premise, too!

Girl goes to live with her secretive relatives and finds a magic diary that predicts the future, based on her current course of actions. That sounds awesome, right? I don't understand how this was executed so poorly.

First of all, this was a very sleepy little story for the first 2/3 of the book. Characters did some mysterious things here and there, but the protagonist, Tamara, basically just wandered around, whined, and thought about how she was much better than everyone else. It was like listening to a driveling chavette version of Bella Swan. *Shudder*

Things finally get interesting at about 200 pages in, but you know what? That's pretty close to the end of the book, and all of the end content is rushed through at a break-neck pace. The diary makes predictions, and then the subsequent paragraph reads like, "and then Tamara did those things, and they turned out like the diary said!" (That's really not much of an exaggeration.)

Another thing: Why were there two love interests? There was absolutely no need for both of them. It would have made more sense if there had been just one guy who was the bookmobile driver, who was older than Tamara, and who forgave her for lying to him and helped her solve her mystery. It's not like they were really competing with one another, and having one love interest fade away halfway through the story was just distracting.

More than anything else, I think what bothered me was how painfully obvious the "surprise" ending was. This is why I hate mysteries. I'm never thrown off or surprised by the plot twists at the end. If they wouldn't make everything so glaringly obvious halfway through the book, I might actually enjoy the genre every now and then.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 all that a girl could ever wish for. 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. Nestled next to Kilsaney Castle, their gatehouse 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. Her eyes rest on a mysterious large leather bound tome locked with a gold clasp and padlock. What she discovers within the pages takes her breath away and shakes her world to its core

My Take: The mysteries of this story unraveled beautifully as the events unfolded. The author is incredibly gifted in succinctly handing out life nuggets while writing a story about a selfish little girl. She also uses symbolism to provide the reader with deeper meaning which gave me more to think about in the following days.

I enjoyed the concept of a diary that wrote itself for tomorrow. The protagonist, Tamera, decides to use the diary as a tool for making better decisions. She discovers that ultimately she is responsible for the consequences of her actions, which makes her more careful about her choices. This does not stop her from making mistakes but it does give her clues to the mysteries surrounding the castle, her aunt and uncle, her mother, her father, and herself.

My favorite character by far is Sister Ignatius. She was written to be old, wise, and of a good nature. Excellent comic relief.

I really wanted to like the protagonist better. But I didn't. She was supposed to be a rich and spoiled girl who lost everything which she was. She was also extremely crass (a lot of sex talk and "f" bombs) that didn't seem to add to the story. She grows throughout the book but not enough for me to really like her. Although I immensely enjoyed the first dialogue between Marcus and Tamera.

I must admit that the writing style is reminiscent of Kate Morton's "The Distant Hours" although in ways not as evident as it would seem. There's a castle, strange inhabitants (gatehouse for this book), secrets kept but it is the way the story is unfolded and particularly the way the authors provide life for inanimate things and places that I really enjoyed. In this book, the trees, forest, and castle live with the echos of those who have walked the way before.

Beautifully written. Some relationships I would have liked to have been better developed and I could have used a cleaner read for targeted audience but I liked it.

[Novel Novice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fans of Cecelia Ahern’s work will no doubt love her latest novel, The Book of Tomorrow, but typical YA readers may have a more difficult time getting into this beautifully written, but slow-paced story about a spoiled teen girl who learns some hard lessons about life, fate and how your actions affect the world around you.

The story follows Tamara after the suicide of her father. She’s grown up rich and spoiled, but after her father’s death, she and her mother are left with nothing — so they must move in with her aunt and uncle in the Irish countryside. Besides rebelling constantly against her apparently well-meaning aunt and uncle, Tamara meets the cute guy who runs a traveling library and picks up a strange book. The book, she comes to realize, is a diary … and each night, it’s pages are magically filled with her own writing about the day to come.

Ahern’s writing is beautiful, there is no doubt about that. But the story itself, and the pacing, may not appeal to all readers.

Let’s start with the pacing: for the majority of The Book of Tomorrow, it’s extremely slow, with small bits of action or advancements in the plot divided up by long, meandering passages of prose. Beautiful prose, yes, but largely descriptive or introspective. And while this sort of writing isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I often found some of the passages contradictory to who Tamara is as a character. As the narrator, these are her words and thoughts we are reading and I felt like she was often dealing with a split personality disorder. She tells and shows us frequently that she is not a good person, yet occasionally has thoughts that someone much nicer would have. Does she care, or is she indifferent? Is she rude and mean and hurtful … or is she kind and loving? I know teenagers are often going through a struggle to find their identities, but I never got a good grasp on what Tamara was really like — and when I came close, it was a person I didn’t like. Her negative qualities made it very difficult to like her as a narrator. It didn’t help that her supposed journey through the book never felt like much of a journey at all, or a very genuine one, at that.

The Book of Tomorrow is also difficult to place when it comes to themes and genres. Now, I am a fan of mixing genres when it is done well. But I felt like there was no truly consistent flow between the different aspects to this story. There are bits of YA, bits of contemporary fiction, bits of mystery and thriller, bits of romance, bits of the supernatural. But none of these bits ever fit together; they felt disjointed and as such, it was hard as the reader to get a good grasp on what kind of book I was reading and where the story was going. I’m all for surprises in fiction, but reading The Book of Tomorrow just made me feel lost most of the time. By the time we reached the climax, I felt torn: on the one hand, it was the most interesting/exciting part of the book. But on the other hand, it felt completely out of place from the rest of the story.

And I have to talk about the magical element to this book. From the very beginning, the narrator asks you to suspend your disbelief: okay, done. I’ve no problem with this. I love books featuring the supernatural or paranormal. But I felt like The Book of Tomorrow either needed MORE magic in the story, or none at all. The little bit that is there just didn’t feel right. There wasn’t enough to make it fit well in an otherwise contemporary, realistic story, so instead it just kind of sticks out.

That said, Ahern has truly created some genuinely interesting characters, my favorite of whom is Sister Ignatius, who is developed into a vivid, multi-dimensional part of the story. Some intriguing side characters — Marcus, Weseley, Arthur and Rosaleen, to name a few — also add color to the story and keep things interesting.

The Book of Tomorrow definitely has something for everyone, it’s just not certain whether everyone will enjoy the way these elements have been combined.

[Katsumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I wish it had existed when I was a teenager. Still I couldn't put it down even as an adult. This mystery had me up late at night wanting to know what happens next. The idea of a diary that told about tomorrow today hooked me in. This is a coming of age story that had all the grit of reality with some exciting mystery thrown in. You really care about the characters. They are real and complex. It dealt with difficult themes that many teenagers have to face either in themselves or in their peers. There was enough mystery of ruined castles and glimpses of strange shadows and family secrets to keep anyone hooked. There are many aspects to the story that make you go ah-hah when the pieces start to fall together and I love moments like that. The little bits of information the author slips in and ties it all in at a later moment - those are the best. Ahern certainly has a way with writing and many pieces of the ending were a surprise, yet made complete sense. The book is funny, it's sad, and overall it's charming.

[°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Το πρώτο βιβλίο της Cecelia Ahern που διαβαζω και η απογοήτευση μου μεγάλη.
Αρχικά φαίνεται μια ενδιαφέρουσα ιστορία με ανθρώπινες καταστάσεις και γεγονότα καθημερινά! Ο τρόπος που τα περιγράφει η νεαρή έφηβη της ιστορίας μας ειναι αρκετά εντυπωσιακός και θα τολμούσα να πω βαθυστόχαστος.
Μετα την τραγωδία που ξεσπά στην οικογένεια ολα βαίνουν ομαλά για τον αναγνώστη και πολλές φορές μεσα απο τα λογια της αγγίζει και προσεγγίζει τις συνέπειες του αναποδραστου με κάθε δυνατό τρόπο! Ο πόνος ωριμάζει τον άνθρωπο- τιποτα δεν ειναι δεδομένο-αν υπάρχει το "πάντα" υπάρχει και το ποτέ" ειναι μερικά απο τα μηνύματα που εκλαμβάνουμε και καταλήγουμε φυσικά πως μεσα απο τα λάθη πληρώνουμε,μαθαίνουμε,γινόμαστε καλύτεροι, αλλα ο πόνος και ο χρόνος οι καλύτεροι δάσκαλοι μας φωνάζουν πως η ζωη συνεχίζεται! Δεν σταματάμε την προσπάθεια και ελπίζοντας ονειρευόμαστε!
Ύστερα όμως υπεισέρχεται με ρεαλιστικό πάντα τρόπο το στοιχείο της μαγείας,του μεταφυσικού,του φανταστικού,του παραμυθιού,της θεϊκής παρέμβασης;;; Παραμένει ανεξακριβωτο ως το τελος του βιβλίου... Μπλέκονται οικογενειακά μυστικά, πάθη,λάθη,εμμονές ψυχωσικες διαταραχές που προσπαθούν να μας εξηγήσουν την "ψεύτικη αλήθεια".
Καπου εκεί καίγεται το "βιβλίο- ημερολόγιο"μεταφορικά και ουσιαστικά!
Κάπου εκεί απογοητεύεσαι και προσπαθείς να εξηγήσεις τα παράλογα που επιμένουν να σε κυνηγούν ανεξήγητα ως την τελευταία σελίδα!!!

[Phrynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly light piece of chick lit, the sort of thing you might like to read on the beach on a hot summers day. It starts out a little dull but the story becomes more engaging as the book progresses. There are some oddities though. The character of Marcus with his travelling library seems to be an important thread but then it just dies away. Magic is introduced in the form of the fortune telling diary and I love magic but at the end the rather rushed and garbled explanations of all that has occurred have a total grounding in fact. Magic is not needed at all. So basically just an okay read and not one I would really recommend.

[Ruzaika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another version of this review can be found on: http://reading-is-dreaming-with-open-...

“What if we knew what tomorrow would bring? Would we fix it? Could we?”

By now it should be pretty clear to you that I love Ahern's style of writing. She uses the perfect selection of words and sprinkles them with just the right amount of magic to end up with one dazzling, breath-taking story. She did it with If You Could See Me Now, she did it with The Gift- and yet again, she did it with The Book of Tomorrow.

The story starts with us being introduced to our protagonist, 16 year-old Tamara Goodwin, who is possibly the most pampered, spoilt, brat you'd ever encounter in your lifelong traversing through YA fiction. At least she was, until this story happened. She has always had a wealthy life, where point- and she'd get what she wanted. Despite being so well-endowed, Tamara just wouldn't appreciate all the good life had to offer her. Instead, she always took it upon herself to make the lives of everyone around her miserable. She never appreciated what her parents did for her, nor did she care for others around her. She simply took what she wanted and lived life.

All goes well until one day, Tamara's father takes his own life- and then her life starts spinning off-kilter. Tamara and her mother are left alone to fend for themselves and as if things weren't bad already, they learn that they are drowning in debt. It so happens that the only people willing to take Tamara and her mother into their home is her aunt and uncle whom- surprise- they never really cared for. Despite their initial reluctance, they finally make it to the tiny countryside village and so the story takes off.

If you've read the synopsis already- and guessing by the title of course- you'd know that this book revolves around a book. The Book of Tomorrow. Tamara chances upon this mysterious book that shows entries for the following day in her own handwriting- and what's more, things start happening exactly the way they were written in the diary. What happens next-whether Tamara would be able to save herself and her depressed mother from being forever stuck in a house where they are apparently not very welcome and how the diary helps/not helps her- forms the crux of the story.

Characters, plot line, writing, this book satisfied me in every possible way. I was hooked to it from the minute I started reading it and the desire to know what exactly happened to make Tamara's life turn out to be the way it was only increased form page to page. But I should mention here that the pacing felt a tad bit slow at the beginning. The author could have made things move a bit faster. And Tamara. Oh, Tamara was such an unlikable little brat. I did feel bad for her at most points, but then she'd do or say something extremely stupid/hurtful and I'd be back to hating her.

What I loved most about the story is not because of it's characters, however well-done they were. Come to think of it, I don't think I liked any of the characters at all. Wow. Yes, I didn't. But what made this book work for me is the story itself, and the way the author drew me into it. Toward the end, things picked up so fast that my nose was practically glued to the letters as my eyes whizzed by devouring them. Definitely a great story.

All that being said, I should also mention that this book might perhaps not be for everyone- the language used by Tamara for one, not a typical 16 year-old's choice of words, but of course, it should be more than clear to you now that Tamara is not the typical mid-teen girl. Also, I don't know why this book was classified as chick-lit, because this is hardly it. YA, yes, fantasy and romance, yes, but with a touch of darkness as well. Read this if you want to try something that's classic Cecelia Ahern- and dive into it with an open mind.

“All families have their secrets, most people would never know them, but they know there are spaces, gaps where the answers should be, where someone should have sat, where someone used to be. A name that is never uttered, or uttered just once and never again. We all have our secrets.”

The story idea: 4/5
The realization of the story: 4/5
The characters: 3/5
The cover: 4/5
Enjoy factor: 5/5

Final Rating: 4/5

[JackieB · Rating 1 out of 5]

I nearly gave up on this twice. The first time was after reading about a quarter of the book. The plot circled around the same three or four subjects over and over again, largely repeating what the author had already told me. However, just as I decided to give up, the plot had edged it's way to a point where it appeared to be moving forward at a decent pace, so I decided to keep reading. However, although the plot did eventually get moving, some aspects were handled in such a naive way that I checked the publisher. I genuinely thought that this was a children's book (I don't mean a young adult book) which had been shelved as an adult book by mistake. I don't say that to insult to the author or the readers who enjoyed it, but obviously this book was not working for me. I thought again about abandoning it, but by this time the ending seemed pretty obvious (although in my opinion, far fetched) and it wouldn't take long to read to the end, so I decided to finish it. The ending was as I expected. I really think that the material in this book was really padded and stretched out. I think it would have made a decent novella (or even short story), but there wasn't enough meat to the plot for a full length novel.

[Susan Buchanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I actually had read this book before, but couldn't remember what happened. Ridiculous memory of mine, as the book was fantastic, very different and pretty dark for Cecelia Ahern. Read it!

[Rea Cobb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading The Book Of Tomorrow I had only read one book by Cecelia Ahern which was The Gift. I did enjoy The Gift but it didn't make enough impression on me to put Cecelia Ahern at the top of my favourite authors list and so I did not rush out to find any of her other books. When searching for a book I always try my Library's returns section and this is where I found The Book Of Tomorrow. From the cover it looked to me to be a bit of a mystical book, and when reading the back for further information on the book it tells you very little but the little bit of information it does give is another to make you curious as it mentions a strange padlocked book. I thought I would give it a try as it sounded like my kind of book and it wasn't until I got home and started to read that I noticed from the inside of the cover that it was by an author I had already read.

**PLOT**
I am not going to give too much away when it comes to telling you the plot as this is why I loved this book as it felt like you were walking down a dark tunnel and not knowing what was going to come next.
Our main character is 16 year old Tamara Goodwin who has always had everything she could dream of and more due to her father's wealth. She lived in a glamorous home in the city, had many friends who she spent time with down on the beach and had many holidays throughout the year.
Tamara's life gets turned upside down when she walks in to find her Father dead on the floor after committing suicide. It later comes to light that her dad was in financial trouble which he couldn't get them out of and decided to take his life due to the pressure. Problem was this meant that both Tamara and her mum have nothing to their name so they have no choice but to go and stay with Uncle Arthur and Rosaleen in the middle of know where.
The story then comes to light due to the find of a locked book which has mysterious quality to it. Tamara's mum doesn't talk and sleeps nearly all day. Tamara feels Rosaleen has something to hide will Tamara get to the bottom of all the mystery.

**My Opinion**
I really enjoyed this book, and I find that all the books that I have read I cannot compare this book to any other that I have read. Personally I find that this book was in a completely different league to The Gift.
The main character Tamara took a little while to warm to as at the start of the book she is a typical selfish, spoilt teenager and I found myself gritting my teeth reading the first few chapters as I found her quite unbearable. Once she had moved to her uncle her character started to grow and you saw a change in her although she was still immature in some places which is only right for a teenager you actually started to enjoy her character.
As I mentioned earlier you have no idea what is going to happen next there is no inclination at all which I thoroughly enjoyed in this book. It was mystical but not magical and silly it was just enough to make the book still believable.
I found that the first few chapters slowly build you upto the pace of the book but then all the way through you are gripped there didn't seem to be any low parts in the book which you could skim over without missing anything. I also like the fact that the ending was tied up nicely without it feeling rushed.
I would highly recommend this book if you like a kind of mystical element to your books. I wouldn't say that this book was a light read as there is alot going on in the storyline which meant that you couldn't leave the book half way through a chapter.


This book gets a full 5 stars from me as there is nothing negative I can say about it and the way the book was wrote so you had no clue what would happen next was what made this book for me.
Also on my book blog http://reabookreview.blogspot.com/

[Simona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3/5 || Recenzia pe Secretele Cărților

Înainte să mă apuc de această carte nu ştiam prea multe despre ea, coperta şi descrierea fiind singurele care mă atrăseseră într-un mod ciudat.

M-am apucat de lecturat la scurt timp după ce am comandat-o pe elefant.ro la o promoţie şi am descoperit-o astfel pe Tamara, o tânără care pare să le aibă pe toate: haine de firmă, o casă luxoasă, o plajă privată. Însă viaţa ei ia o întorsătură neaşteptată când tatăl ei moare. Tamara şi mama ei merg să locuiască la ţară alături de cumnata mamei, Rosaleen şi unchiul Arthur.

De-a lungul şederii lor, mama Tamarei este din ce în ce mai afectată de moartea soţului ei, refuzând să mai iasă din casă. Tamara este rănită profund să îşi vadă mama în acestă stare dar lucrurile se mai îmbunătăţesc atunci când o bibliotecă ambulantă îşi face apariţia iar ea găseşte aici un jurnal care...scrie singur despre...viaţa ei! Fie că este vorba despre o zi normală, despre un băiat sau despre mama ei, Tamara este mereu curioasă să vadă ce are jurnalul de spus despre următoarea zi din viaţa ei.

Cu toate acestea, jurnalul este doar o mică părticică care îşi joacă rolul în ceea ce Tamara are să afle despre ea, despre mama şi tatăl ei, despre Rosaleen şi Arthur, despre castelul Kilsaney aflat în apropiere.

Mi se pare o carte interesantă însă nu este chiar ceea la ce mă aşteptam eu. Parcă aş fi vrut să se întâmple mai multe lucruri, dar autoarea nu a permis acest lucru.

Mi-a plăcut de Tamara deoarece a fost tare de caracter în anumite momente dificile. Mama ei m-a plictisit, prezența sa la acțiune fiind mai mereu prin intermediul gândurilor Tamarei, moartea soțului său transformând-o într-o persoană aproape inexistentă.

Arthur mi s-a părut că apare doar de dragul de a nu disparea din acţiune, el neimplicându-se decât foarte rar în diversele tergiversări apărute, iar personajul care m-a enervat la culme este Rosaleen. Mereu făcând lucruri care nu îşi aveau rostul, aceasta pare să urmărească mişcările tuturor din casă. Finalul este unul care te lasă fără cuvinte, Rosaleen dându-și arama pe față.

Sora Ignatius este printre singurele personaje care mi-au plăcut, ea zicând de fiecare dată cuvinte înțelepte, iar cadrul în care ea este surprinsă de cele mai multe ori (grădina) este foarte bine ales, oferindu-i cititorului o stare de bine și relaxare.

Concluzia ar fi că această carte nu este o lectură obligatorie. Este o poveste interesantă care parcă îşi pierde din farmec pe alocuri, însă finalul este singurul care parcă explică tot ceea ce se întâmplă. Este o lectură care te poate relaxa, însă nu este una dintre cărțile care să îți rămână în suflet peste ani și ani.

Citate:

Când zidul s-a terminat, am cotit şi l-am văzut continuând. Apoi deodată am auzit o femeie fredonând un cântecel, dincolo de zid, şi am avut un şoc. În afară de unchiul meu, Arthur, nu mă aşteptam să dau peste vreo formă de viaţă. Am strâns cartea la piept, ascultând murmurul acela. Era blând, duios, vesel, mult prea degajat pentru a fi vorba de Rosaleen şi prea vesel ca să fie al mamei mele. Părea să fredoneze ca să-i treacă timpul, să se gândească la altceva, era o melodie pe care nu o ştiam sau poate o inventase pe loc. Briza verii aducea cu ea un miros dulce şi cântecul ei. Am închis ochii şi mi-am sprijinit capul de perete, ascultându-l.

[Nan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally finished a book by Cecilia Ahern! And it was good!

I've tried to read Ahern's books before. I tried both Thanks for the Memories and Love Rosie, but I couldn't finish them. For some reason, I bogged down in the middle of the book, and it simply could not hold my interest. Still, I could tell that Ahern was a very good writer, and I kept giving her books a chance because I knew that one of them would work for me eventually.

This one was it.

It's the story of Tamara Goodwin, a very self centered sixteen-year-old. She's a brat, and she knows it. As the first person narrator of the book, she's looking back on her recent life and able to condemn the choices she makes, so we know right off that she shouldn't be a jerk by the end of the book. Something is going to happen in the meantime that will allow her to see herself for the first time.

As the novel opens, Tamara's father kills himself after losing his fortune in bad investments. Suddenly poor, Tamara and her mother move in with Tamara's Uncle Arthur and Aunt Roseleen. Shortly after their arrival, Tamara begins to see that something is desperately wrong. Her mother goes catatonic, speaking in simple phrases and unable to leave her bedroom. Roseleen says that it's just grief, but Tamara thinks she needs help. The house is increasingly tense, and then Tamara finds a book at the local mobile library that changes everything. It's a journal, except that someone is writing in it. That someone seems to be Tamara from one day ahead. Suddenly able to know the consequences of her actions, Tamara finds herself adapting and changing her future . . . and herself.

This was a truly magical novel and everything I'd hoped it would be.

Considering the age of the narrator, I'd think this book should be shelved in YA, but most bookstores shelf it with Ahern's other fiction for adults. It's possible that they consider it too literary for teens, which is a shame. I think this book is an excellent introduction to the world of good fiction, a way to bridge the gap from books like Hush Hush to fiction written for adults. I recommend it highly.

[Sleepless Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Wow. Wow, wow, wow. This book is so good. It is so good.
I feel like I've uncovered the secrets of the world.
I feel like I've embarked on the journey Tamara lived.
I can't put it into words how I feel about this book.
I just keep thinking "It was so good."
This is my first Cecelia Ahern book. I don't know whether I'll read another, but by god this book was good.
I read it as an ebook and now I'm going to go by the hard copy. I don't care that I've already read it. I just need to have it on my book shelf, so I can look at it from time to time and jump back into the awed state I am in right now. Maybe pick it up one day and read through the pages once again.
I loved it. I loved how the characters kept surprising me.
How things never happened how I wanted nor thought it would. There was just enough clues to piece some parts together so you feel smarter than the heroine but not enough to work out what the hell was going to happen.
I loved how Tamara grew. I loved how Weseley was in the back ground but then came forth at the end. I love the nun. She most defiantly my favourite character.
It was so suspenseful. I wanted to whack Rosaleen over the head the whole time, she was so perfectly creepy. Sometimes I just wanted to put the novel away because I didn't know if I could handle what was coming, but I couldn't stop reading. I was being drawn under.
It was so good. God, it was so good.

[Joanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

After thinking about this book for a bit I've decided on 3 stars, not 4. This book could not decide what it wanted to be. It's all gold and purple and sparkly and it starts out like chick lit but it really wants to be a dark, gothic novel. Okay, maybe not so dark but definitely gothic-a crumbling castle, mysterious people living in little cottages, to say more would be to step into spoiler territory but you get the point. And while I'm totally okay that there was no explanation given for the mysterious diary that reveals what is going to happen the next day, I am not okay with there being no explanation for how they hid Laurie from the mom in the months right after the fire even though she continued to live there. Didn't he have to go to the hospital? Wouldn't the fire department have come? Where did he hide while people were investigating things? It just doesn't make sense!

I realized something about myself while reading this book-I will happily suspend disbelief for something magical, fantastical, mythical, etc-that doesn't bother me at all. Vampires can have babies? Sure, no problem. A girl can relive the same day over and over again a la "Groundhog Day?" I'm down with that. What I can't handle is a book that fails to explain things that are supposed to be real or possible, it makes me nuts.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Book of Tomorrow has a great premise . Following the death of her father, Tamara and her mum, Jennifer, have retreated to her aunt and uncle's home on a country estate. There is a ruin of a castle in the midst of the estate and lots of perplexing secrets. A beautiful old leather bound locked book seemingly awaits Tamara's discovery in a mobile library. Upon unlocking the book only blank pages are found. Tamara is encouraged to express her inner thoughts and work out her grieving by using the book as her diary. Before she can write anything down she finds her own handwriting has filled several pages describing the events of the following day. Each successive day the old entry disappears and the next tomorrow entry appears.With the diary mirroring Tamara back to herself she can begin to see herself more clearly and try to make changes even to try to alter the occurrences of tomorrow. The strangeness and unanswered questions about everything send Tamara on a mission to find out what is being withheld from her knowledge. This was a fun story to while away the afternoon. The idea of a diary reflecting the next day is intriguing. How convenient to see as a 'dry run' your own snappy retorts and choices before everything becomes totally unmovable. TBOT has plenty of magic and charm in an entertaining story. Also, the edition that I read had a yellow ribbon page marker that was fun to fiddle with while I read! 4 stars

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catching up…

It was quite a while ago that I read this one. While browsing the library shelves, I was reminded of this book, and decided to re-visit it and provide my review to Goodreads.

This story is probably more suited for young adults, but it can be somewhat entertaining for anyone who enjoys a little magical adventure, light read.

In some ways this is a mystery, a coming-of-age story, about a once spoiled girl, who through boredom finds a magical diary and everything changes.

Consider this…

You find a book and begin to read a page. You don’t think much of it. But when the events of the day play out the same way as what you had read in the book, what are you to think?

What if you knew what was going to happen tomorrow and because you knew and didn’t like what you knew, you could change the outcome – would you?

Or was there a story in-between those pages for you to learn, that you needed to know?

What will you do?

Perhaps…pick up this book and read it?

[Box · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my shelves for years and I'm only finally picking it up. I didn't know what do expect when picking up this book but it was a real page turner, to me at least. The writing style wasn't the most intricate but it told the story well enough.
I wish we would have gotten more backstory about where the 'Book of Tomorrow' originated from but its clear from once you get into the book that it's not the main focus of the story.
I would have liked to know anything about Marcus and Marcus and Weasley's relationship but this is already quite a big book so it was probably for the best to cut it short. The ending was satisfying, tying up the loose ends of the mystery whilst getting to see Tamara's growth in character.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conform recenziilor de pe goodreads, cartea asta ar fi mediocra spre praf, însă eu nu am perceput-o chiar asa. Ba din contra. Mi s-a părut chiar draguta. Subiectul, interesant ales te prinde și te intriga, neștiind ce sa crezi. O adolescenta gaseste o carte în care ii este scris viitorul, iar acest lucru ajunge sa o faca sa descopere niște lucruri din trecut.Tot misterul din jurul cărții, din jurul castelului, a familiei fetei m-au cam ținut în aceasta poveste. Poate nu e cea mai extraordinara scriitura, însă nu e o pierdere de timp. Mi-a plăcut tare mult un lucru: cum se pune accent pe faptul ca orice carte își are cititorii sai si ca, ea își alege cititorul si nu invers. Mi s-a părut dragut.
Ii dau 4 stele.

[Penny-sue Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by Cecilia Ahern and I really enjoyed it! A complicated back story which is enhanced by a magical diary. Definitely worth a read!

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars

What a strangely compelling story this was.

I was not crazy about this novel when I first started reading it. There was a “Clueless” (the movie) type main character, and there was some over-the-top flowery prose. Both left me cold.

"The tree trunks were fascinating, aged and wrinkled like elephants’ legs. They twisted around one another like lovers. Some rose from the ground arched as though in agony and reaching out, then growing on, turning and shifting to a new position. The roots snaked their way from under the surface, rising above the ground and back down again gracefully, as though they were slippery eels in the waters. I tripped often on a raised root, and was caught each time by a helpfully placed tree trunk. The trees did that—tripped me and caught me, tickled me with their leaves and webs, and smacked me in the face with their branches. I pulled back branches in order to pass by, and felt them immediately spring back like catapults to spank me cheekily on the behind." - The Book of Tomorrow

Not terrible writing, but the book was losing me by the end of Chapter 7. This was not at all what I was looking for.

I picked up the novel again today while I was having lunch… and that’s when the story took off. The writing became much more straight forward, and the overblown imagery went away. There was a minimal amount of foreshadowing that was absolutely necessary to the story, and in no way did it interrupt the flow of the narrative. In fact, it helped to drive it forward, and kept me turning those pages. I had a list of things to do today that was a mile long, and I blew off everything and just READ for the rest of the afternoon.

I have to say that the book was somewhat unevenly written, but when the story got good, it became captivating reading. This just might be a “love it or hate it” type book. In my case it was a little of both.

[Abril Camino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pfffff... (esta podría ser mi reseña reducida).
Sé que cuando me enfrento a un libro de Cecelia Ahern no sé lo que me voy a encontrar. Y normalmente valoro eso en un autor, su versatilidad y su capacidad para sorprenderme. Pero en esta ocasión la moneda ha caído en cruz. Un libro del que no he entendido prácticamente nada hasta una resolución extraña y poco explicada a falta de pocas páginas para el final. Me ha costado hasta acabarlo, a pesar de que la narración es sencilla y la extensión no es excesiva.

[Fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting book overall but I have some questions left unanswered and the twist that was introduced didn't really answer the most important question I had in my mind. Why book why. But I would still recommend as this is a book about a girl whose life changes after she is faced with a tragedy. I love these kind of books where characters grow to be more mature in the midst of adversities.

[Rawan Omar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really didn't want this book to end, I enjoyed every second spent reading it.
here is my favorite quote from the book :
" I've heard people say that when they dream about a loved one that has died, they feel that it's real, that the person is really there, sending them a message, giving them a hug. That somehow dreams are a blurred line between here and there, like a meeting room in a prison. You're both in the same room, yet on different sides and really, in different worlds. " 🌻