Where Rainbows End

by Cecelia Ahern

[Leah]

Rosie Dunne and Alex Stewart have been friends since they were 5 years old. Years later Alex and his family move to Boston. Rosie plans to follow him there but something happens which forces Rosie to abandon her plans. As the years go by, the pair keep in regular contact but their friendship is put under tremendous strain through a variety of things. Are the pair destined to ever be together or will they always be just best friends?

Following on from Cecelia Ahern’s hugely successful debut, PS, I Love You, I was always going to be wary that her second novel (and subsequent novels) wouldn’t live up to the hype. Thankfully any wariness was dispelled pretty quickly as Where Rainbows End is a fabulous story. So good, I’ve now read it twice. I find I form a better opinion of a book on the second reading for some reason.

Where Rainbows End is written in an incredibly unique way. It’s written through a series of letters, instant messages and emails and that’s the whole book. When I first read it I was worried we wouldn’t get to know the characters properly but, surprisingly, we get to know the characters better this way as they reveal their inner-most feelings in the letters, emails, etc.

I loved Rosie Dunne, and in turn, Alex, too. To like this novel you have got to like both of the main characters as they are featured the heaviest, writing notes and emails and things to each other. I couldn’t help feeling for the pair of them and hoping that, for once, fate would allow them to be together. Even though there was a lot thrown in their way, their friendship still remained and I loved how Cecelia managed to keep that up. I love that they didn’t drift apart, even through the rough times.

There are also emails between the other characters we meet in the book, Katie, Rosie’s daughter; Toby, Katie’s best friend; Ruby, Rosie’s friend; Stephanie, Rosie’s sister; Kevin, Rosie’s brother; Rosie’s parents; as well as Alex’s son Josh. Cecelia manages to weave the story and all of the emails/notes in perfectly well and the book flows easily.

Where Rainbows End is the ultimate love story. It goes on for decades, which makes it sound long-winded, but it’s not. It also doesn’t drag at all, which it could have easily have done especially in the way it’s written. It really is an immense book and is well worth a read. Cecelia is an outstanding writer and her books are like fairytales for grown-ups! I can’t praise Where Rainbows End enough, it really is that good.