I admit, I knew i was stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something "different" to my usual genre with this book... Unfortunately, this didn't work out for me...

The book is made from short stories, each one about an unidentifiable woman and different stories. These are quite whimsical and although the message was understood I can't say i enjoyed the delivery.

For example, one story is about a woman who thinks her mirror is broken so she asks someone to fix it. She has recently gone through a divorce and the mirror now shows her as older and "unattractive". When the mirror repair man shows her favourable attention and places a red sticker on her arm and gives her a speech about how we perceive things, she then becomes happy with her reflection...

Not for me, sorry.

Like with many collections of short stories not everyone in this book was for me but I certainly enjoyed well over half of them immensely. Occaisionally the points/messages were a bit laboured but in a year where I've come to appreciate the short story and short novels this was a pleasure.

Cecilia Ahern’s Roar is a satirical collection of short stories centring around universally identifiable characters. Through her protagonists, Ahern explores and scrutinises the prejudices women experience in a patriarchal society. Feel the shame, the insecurities, the invisibility, the injustices these women feel - it will make you want to ‘roar’ with frustration, anger, but also for strength of character.

This a collection of short stories about 30 women each one at a different point in their lives each one experiencing some kind of dilemma for example 'the Women Who Unraveled' and 'the Women Blew Away'.

I enjoyed this collection it was thought-provoking with its messages presented in a unique and appealing way. Though some tales resonated more with me more than others they all feature issues which women experience in modern life, for instance, not being taken seriously by men in the workplace, being eaten by Mum guilt and feeling so embarrassed you want the ground to open and swallow you up.

It was very reminiscent of Aesop's fables but for a grown-up audience with each tale having a moral. My personal favourites were 'the Women Who Wore Pink' and 'the Women Who Had a Strong Suit'. It is the perfect book to dip into when you want a short sweet tale, amusing but with a valuable message at its heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

I found reading these short stories to be very frustrating, because the writing is excellent, as I would expect from Cecilia Ahern. However the content of the five stories which I read was utterly bizarre, and not at all uplifting or inspiring, if that is what was intended by the author. I found the stories to be a surprisingly patronising view of some women in ordinary circumstances, whether marriage or health situations or some other. Reading from the perspective of an over-60 woman, the stories were depressing and irritating, and came across to me as just lazy writing. Cecilia Ahern is so much better than this short story collection. Disappointing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I don;t generally like short story books as a rule but this is an exception to the rule. I liked everyone of the stories.

I am a big fan of Cecilia Ahern’s books but I don’t normally have much luck with short story collections, so I was not sure which way this book would go for me. The stories are all themed around women’s issues with the main character being a nameless woman. What I found hard to get my head around is that the titles to the stories are quite literal, for example one of the titles is The Woman Who Was Kept On The Shelf and the story was about a woman whose husband kept her on a shelf. They were like Fables I suppose. Once I got my head around this and knew what to expect from each story I quite enjoyed it. My favourite was The Woman Who Grew Wings as this was based around the school run. I think that every woman who reads this book will find at least one story that they can relate to.

This book was a joy to read from start to finish. Each story with a woman as the central character, was unique and fascinating, I just don't know where she gets her ideas from but they are truly brilliant. It's the sort of book I'd love to read again at some time in the future. Truly excellent, I can't rate it highly enough, one of the best this year.

Just what you would expect from Cecilia Aherne. A brilliantly original collection of short stories many of which shall leave you smiling. Not a book to devour at a sitting but rather to dip into. If you are curious why a wife would spend 20 years on a shelf being "cherished" by her husband or like to read about a society in which you can return your husband to a "store" as not satisfactory and swap him for another, this is the book for you. Suspend disbelief and enjoy!

7 Show more
Review *Disclaimer: this book was sent to me for free by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have only previously read a couple of Cecelia Ahern's novels and am not sure if I have experienced her short story writing before. This collection tells the stories of thirty female characters from different walks of life and has a touch of magical realism which is used to highlight issues faced by women in the twenty-first century.

This is by far one of the best short story collections I've ever read. There were a few misses for me personally but the majority of the stories were impactful and memorable. I love how Ahern has taken contemporary issues and twisted them slightly to give a strange atmosphere to each story without it becoming stale at any point.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book. It's one that I feel different people would get different things from and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I would like to thank HarperCollins and NetGalley for letting me have a copy of ‘Roar’ by Cecilia Ahern in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
This book is a collection of thirty short stories written for women and about women. I admit that I’m not a great fan of short stories, I prefer to spend time reading a full-length novel that enables me to dig deeper into the characters and immerse myself in the narrative. ‘Roar’ consists of some interesting short stories that are ideal if you have the odd five minutes to spare. Some of these stories made me smile, some made me laugh, but all of them were interesting with unusual characters. If you’re looking for something quick and easy to read then this is a must for you but for myself I’m happier reading one of Cecilia Ahern’s full-length novels.

Each chapter is a short story (of varying length) that often takes a whimsical or even absurd twist, very cleverly done, to convey allegories of common phrases and realities of women throughout their lives (such as being "eaten up" by Mum guilt, gender policing, access to birth control, or "wanting the ground to swallow you up" after humiliation).

These stories are modern day parables for women. All women. Older women, trans women, Mums, married women, refugee women, grieving women, daughters, successful women, women who make unpopular decisions, etc.

I think the interesting thing about these stories are that they will resonate differently with you depending on your life experiences and what stage in life you are, but there will, I guarantee, be at least one story that hits you hard.

There were several favourite chapters of mine: The Woman Who Wore Pink, The Woman Who Spoke Woman, The Woman Who Found The World In Her Oyster, The Woman Who Was Pigeonholed, and The Woman Who Ate Photographs. This final one I recommend to any parents watching their kids grow and feeling that tug between holding them tightly and letting them go (welled up just writing that let alone reading the chapter!). The writing and the way significant, current issues are interwoven through the stories, presented from a woman's perspective, was both emotive and powerful. As with most feminist literature, this isn't packed full of ways that men are horrid (quite the opposite in many of the stories), it simply presents the reality of situations from alternative perspectives and with wit, satire and intuition.

This is definitely a book both women and men need to read. I truly adored it.

Also, a TV series focusing on the stories within this book is in production so it's my top tip to be the next "Big Little Lies" particularly as Nicole Kidman is one of the producers.

Totally different from any Cecilia Ahern books I have read. These short stories are easy and quick to read and dip in and out of.

I do enjoy a short story and these ones written from the viewpoint of different women made for an enjoyable read.

The ideal book to grab and short story while the kettle boils or dinner cooks. Quite odd little moralistic stories to shake up your thoughts, nod in agreement, laugh and even cry.

It’s not the best book I read this month but different, quirky and would make a great present for a female friend.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. This is a book of 30 short stories all about different fictional women. What had drawn me to it was the author but it is quite unlike anything else she has written. The idea is quite interesting and many of the short stories are sweet and funny but several of them are just plain bizarre. Each story taps into a different insecurity that women are seen to have so it does become quite clichéd at several points. It's an enjoyable read for the most part but just as you start to get into one of the stories- it ends.

Maybe it's just me, but these stories make me feel totally disempowered as a woman. Whilst I'm sure that the writer intended the complete opposite, these trite 'modern' fairytales have left a nasty taste in my mouth. Probably the first book I've never read to the end. I got half way through these thirty stories, hoping that they would get better.....

I really wanted to like these short stories....I have loved many Cecelia Ahern books in the past, but for me the collection over all wasn’t for me....

However I can appreciate the need sometimes for short stories for when I don’t have time to begin a whole book, and I still have a few stories left to do this with maybe. The ones I have read left me feeling like I’d just read a magazine short story with little depth, and the “strong women” theme running between them I found a little annoying.

I have come to the conclusion I prefer stand alone regular length novels with more character development and questions. I definitely prefer Cecelia in full length form!!

I really enjoyed this book and it’s one that will definitely stay with me for a long time.
The collection of stories are insightful, touching, modern and relevant.
Cecelia Ahern is one of those authors where I love one book and then detest the next one, however this is definitely one of my favourites. The writing is beautiful and very clever.

Not the usual Cecelia Ahern book that I read and I found it a little bit of a struggle at first. Once I had understood that it was to be picked up to read a short story and then put down, the stories then continued to bubble in my head and I enjoyed it much more. Great stories about women and their lives which once understood was great to read.

Very surprisingly it’s not for me. Have heard how clever and subtle the very literal interpretations of female psyche are, yet I found them clunky and overly obvious. Sort of like a teenager trying to be clever. It’s a brilliant idea, but the storytelling is too heavy handed and impersonal to resonate. Sorry -