Book Review - Where Rainbows End

How many times have you fell in love with a book, read it again and again, carried it along with you to sofa, bed, bath, kitchen, and wherever you go and finished it overnight ?  After a long time I came across a book that just engrossed me over!  And it's Cecilia Ahern again!

I loved her first book so much that I read it, re-read it and was truly, madly, deeply in love with it - PS I love you!  And she brings the magic again - this time in her 2nd book "Where Rainbows End".  I grabbed a copy of this book at a second hand charity store here, and completed reading it in 36 hours (after real long time).  

This novel is titled 'Rosie Dunne' in US and 'Where rainbows end' in UK.  It's a story about 2 childhood friends - Rosie Dunne and Alex Stewart who live in Dublin. They are struck with each other through thick and thin from their notorious childhood to cheeky teenage, when Alex's family moves to Boston.  Rosie plans to follow him, but things take an unexpected curve and Rosie will stay back in Dublin.  

Years roll by and although both of them are in touch, it puts their friendship in a tremendous strain.  Sheer bad luck, unexpected circumstances and mere misunderstandings take drive on both of their lives. But that magical connection between them was always alive. Are they destined to be together or will they just be friends is the rest of the story.

Spinning the story for over 5 decades through the life of Rosie and Alex, 'Where Rainbows End' is written in an incredibly unique way.  Entire novel is written in epistolary structure - in the form of chits, letters, emails, instant messages, greetings, newspaper articles etc.   

Initially when I started reading this, I was a little wary and when I flipped through the entire book at glance I wasn't so happy if this will turn out to be a good book.  But I should say, each and every page- was gripping, and I quite enjoyed reading it this way.  It gives better understanding of characters and keeps them alive...forever! 

While you read the book, you cannot stop, but fall in love with Rosie and Alex.  They are the pivotal subject of the whole novel and it's simply difficult to like just one of them!  Rosie is portrayed as a daring, young, caring, yet fiesty and fun-loving person.  She never gives up and faces the life's harsh sides at much young age.  Alex is such a sweet and supportive friend, an independent and lovable person, but shown vulnerable most of the times.  There are also other nice characters like Katie (Rosie's daughter), Ruby (Rosie's colleague), and some teeny weeny - Rosie's family members, her husband, Alex's wife and children etc.

I wouldn't do any justice if I write about how good Cecilia Ahern is!  I loved the way Cecilia portrayed the pair's friendship throughout the book. Their friendship is never given up or drifted apart, even during the tough times in their life.  At every page, I had this hope and was waiting for these two people to be together, for once at least!

Writing a novel that talks about 50 years of one's life may sound dragging.  But keeping the content interesting is a great challenge that Cecilia handled so well. Believe me, it's not dragging! Not even once!  If you like stories about childhood friendship, subtle romance and a bit of humor scattered throughout, you will enjoy this book!

It's definitely Cecilia's magical romance again!  

My rating: 5/5