Review: The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

I was intrigued by the title of this book and then the blurb that was written "What if we knew what tomorrow would bring. Would we fix it? Could we?" Don't we all wonder that? 

Author Ahern has written several books, among them PS I Love You, which was made into a movie. I have not read that one, or seen the movie but I had great expectations for Book of Tomorrow. 

The story centers around the life of Tamara Goodwin. Growing up in Ireland, daughter of wealthy parents, she was a typical spoiled rich kid. Bratty and privileged. Her fathers death and the financial ruin that follows, changes that world of privilege for this young woman. Her mother seems to have suffered a mental breakdown and they move in with her aunt & uncle , out in the country.Her uncle Arthur rarely speaks, her aunt Rosaleen is too busy cooking & cleaning to be of any console to Tamara. Her own mother barely comes out of her bedroom.

So, the girl has to keep herself busy and when she finds an old diary in a mobile library, locked with a padlock, another world opens up to her as she unlocks the book. 

A mysterious first entry in the diary leads to intrigue at the local castle, and mystery surrounding a neighbor. She begins to use the diary to sort out her family's past & future and begins to shape Tamara into a caring, less "superior" person. You begin to like her !

I have to say that I struggled reading this book. I put it down a few times, vowing to be done with it, and I rarely do that. Author Ahern has chosen to write this story as seen through the eyes of a teenager and I think I had trouble getting into the character. Also, at times the language was so "flowery" & wordy that I think I actually groaned at one point. Having said that, I think it may be a better read for a high school aged kid, someone who could sympathize with the main character and get some good out of the "coming of age" emergence of a kinder, gentler Tamara.