Erika’s POV: Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern

Title: Where Rainbows End

Author: Cecelia Ahern

Series: Standalone

Genre: Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance

Format: Published November 8th 2004 by HarperCollins Publishers

Source: Own copy; bought in a secondhand bookstore in Cambodia

“I wake up in the morning and I feel like I’m missing something. I know
that there’s something not right, and it takes me a while to remember what it is . . . then I remember. My best friend is gone. My only friend. It was silly of me to rely so much on one person.” 

The Summary:

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?

My Thoughts:

“That’s what life is about: People come and go.”

Ever since I saw the trailer of Love, Rosie with Lily Collins and Sam Claflin playing Alex and Rosie, also, with one of my best friends obsessing over it. There was absolutely no way I wouldn’t read this!

As I started reading it, it was all letters. I thought that it was just the beginning so I scanned the whole book. I was shocked to see that the whole book is composed of emails, letters and pm’s. I have to admit I wasn’t instantly hooked. I didn’t feel a connection at first being that I was reading letters and the pacing was pretty fast. The letters were jumping from one occasion to another but I stuck to it which was an absolute great decision.

“Life is funny isn’t it? Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out,
just when you finally begin to plan something, get excited about something, and feel like you know what direction you’re heading in, the paths change, the signs change, the wind blows the other way, north is suddenly south, and east is west, and you’re lost. It is so easy to lose your way, to lose direction. And that’s with following all the signposts.”

Reading this book was a real journey. Rarely do I read books where you get to grow with the characters like literally know them from 5 to 50 yrs. old. It made getting over the book a million times harder.

“Twice we’ve stood beside each other at the altar, Rosie. Twice. And twice we got it wrong.”

From the start, you already know you’re going to ship Alex and Rosie. There relationship is the type you’d envy. You’d want to have your own Rosie or Alex. The problem with them is timing like Alex was suppose to be Rosie’s partner to this dance but his plane gets delayed so she ends up going with another guy which results in something NOT AT ALL great happening… It all goes spiraling down from there. Fate is a bitch. It seems like it doesn’t want them to be together but the whole time you want them to. Every time there is a missed opportunity, I’m the one holding the book tighter due to frustration but never the less you root for them.

The whole book will make you think that if a certain event happened then it would end up differently. This is what we have on our minds all the time but all those trials and hardships made their relationship so much stronger. I admit that there were some parts that I wish didn’t happen because I don’t think they needed the additional heartache but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!

“Our life is made up of time; our days are measured in hours, our pay measured by those hours, our knowledge is measured by years. We grab a few quick minutes in our busy day to have a coffee break. We rush back to our desks, we watch the clock, we live by appointments. And yet your time eventually runs out and you wonder in your heart of hearts if those seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades were being spent the best way they possibly could. In other words, if you could change anything, would you?”

This book makes you look forward to the future. This book makes me believe that if it’s meant to be, it will be. No matter how long it takes.

I find the casting for Alex (super perfect) and Rosie (who was super gorgeous, she wore little to no makeup and she still looked stunning) really great and the movie was super cute! If you’re not yet convinced, they had accents! Accents will be the death of me. So if you watched the movie and loved it, I highly recommend you read the book. The movie didn’t quite give me the feels as much as the book did. It was missing the journey like the feeling of time passage which is what strengthened their relationship.

“You always had me. I always had you.”

I’m seriously obsessed with this book. Still kind of hangover about it and now I’m planning to read more Cecelia Ahern!

Happy reading!!!