I have red all of Cecelia Ahern’s books and was excited to be approved for Freckles. I liked the main character, Allegra, and her relationship with her dad. However, I found the book quite slow and not very much seemed to happen. It took me a couple of weeks to read the book as I didn’t feel compelled to pick it up. That said, I’m glad I read it and will read the next Cecelia Ahern.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eArc of this book.

Another successful read by Cecelia Ahern. I listened to the audio book in the first instance and found it to be enjoyable and then I read the book which revealed lots of little nuances I’d missed on the other medium. As is always the case with Cecilia Ahern it was very entertaining and based round a novel and interesting concept. It shows many facets of being human. Well worth reading. .

From the author of PS I Love You comes a coming of age story where we follow a young woman, in this instance Allegra Bird, nicknamed Freckles, as she struggles to find her place in this world. Leaving behind her life on the rural Valentia Island, Allegra moves to Dublin and hopes to pursue a career in the Garda and find her mum who abandoned her as a child. However, she gets rejected from the Garda, is working as a parking warden and still hasn't reconnected with her mum yet so she feels dejected and there's a sense of detachment as Freckles' expectations for her life haven't come into fruition. Her life is tipped further on its axis after an encounter with a civilian who parks incorrectly who tells her "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with", but Allegra is stumped - she's lonely, and doesn't even know what five people have shaped the way she is, but she's determined to confront the situation and sets about assembling her group of five and maybe tackling her intentions along the way.

This is a novel whose premise focuses inherently on growth, and how the people around us can provide depth to our character and shape us. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped because the pacing was a tad slow for my liking, and the constant hardships and struggles Freckles faces are hardwearing and heavy. While the title Freckles lent me the idea that this would be a lighthearted and frothy read, instead its synonymous for the story's theme of connection, but also as when she's younger she attempted to connect the freckles on her arms in the shape of the constellations as means of grounding herself.

This is an intricate look at perception and our view of ourselves, and personally I would've liked more humour and uplifting moments that I love so much in Cecelia's other books, and if you're not in a fantastic headspace reading this (like I was) it can feel overwhelmingly morose.

DNF, I couldn’t connect with the story nor the characters. I was expecting to find something with the same vibe of “Ps I love you” or “Love Rosie”, but this wasn’t it.

Also, it makes me cringe every time authors use Spanish parents and catalogs them as dark and sultry. I was expecting that someone from Dublin would know that we’re Europeans, not POC.

Freckles by critically acclaimed Irish author Cecelia Ahern is a warm and unforgettable story of coming to terms with who you are and learning how to feel comfortable in your own skin. It tells the story of Allegra Bird, who was nicknamed Freckles as a child, as she tries to navigate her way through an uncertain and often difficult world.

Abandoned by her Spanish mother at birth, Allegra has been brought up by her father on a small island on the coast of Ireland. Spending most of her childhood away at boarding school, Allegra has always dreamed of working for the Gardai and becoming a detective. But when her hopes are dashed, she decides to leave everyone she loves behind and begin a new life as a Traffic Warden in Dublin.

Allegra is a quirky, often undeniably charming young woman who has an inncoence about her that I found incredibly endearing. When she has an encounter with an angry motorist, she is left reeling when he tells her ‘You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with’. Stunned by what he’s said and unable to stop thinking about it, Allegra sets off to find the five people who she believes will help shape her future.

What follows is an emotional, thought provoking and incredibly human story that left me with a warm feeling of hope as I turned the final page. Allegra is one of those characters who somehow manages to get under your skin, her voice coming through loud and clear in her own unique and honest way. Cecelia Ahern’s writing is beautiful and, although the writing style may not be for everyone, I thought it worked incredibly well here as it brought Allegra’s raw intensity to life, making the story feel believable and authentically real. I absolutely adored it!

Cecelia Ahern’s writing just keeps on going from strength to strength and, for me, this is her best novel yet. A touching, heartwarming story that’s filled to the brim with warmth and humour, Freckles is a book I would highly recommend.

This is a book following Allegra (nickname Freckles) navigating the highs of troughs in life. She has not quite achieved what she had hoped to. She also doesn't have as many friends as she would have liked. She works as a Parking Ticket attendant and during her work encountered the obnoxious (?) owner of a yellow Ferrari who kept parking without a ticket. From one of her encounters, he said 'they say you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with... Doesn't say a lot about the company you keep, does it'.
This hits her quite hard and she sits back and reflects about her life and what she needs to do to make this better.

I grew to love Allegra and felt all the emotions she felt - my heart was also pounding reading this waiting to see what would happen next. I felt anger at some of the characters and how she was treated, routed for others. I loved this book and was so invested in it and in Allegra. This book makes you sad, make you cry, but most importantly gives you hope that all will be well in the the end.

I am extremely grateful to have received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A great read.

Freckles is the nickname of Allegra. She is a parking warden in Dublin, and a chance encounter leads her to meet serial parking offender Tristan. He is angry with her and tells her she is the average of the 5 people she spends the most time with her. When she realises that she doesn't even have 5 people she sets out to change this by reaching out to people. One of these is the mother she has never met and the reason she is in Dublin, but as everything around her seems to fall apart, who does she have to count on?

I would have liked to have seen more of an epilogue to see what happened next.

Firstly thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this book before its release. Many years ago I said that if I ever had the opportunity to read a Cecelia Ahern book before its release I would gotten to exactly where I wanted to be. Thank you for making that dream a reality. Cecelia Ahern is one of my ultimate favourites. She is one of those authors where I don't need to even read the plot before I pre order! Once again her amazing descriptions and loveable characters attach themselves to me like glue. ❤ Adored it. Allgera Bird is like no other,I related to her in more than one heart breaking way,we are quite similar. Awkward, unusual and was raised by her father. Her dreams haven't worked out the way that she had planned and things are a little higgledy piggledy. A story about how light can be found in even the darkest of places.

Allegra Bird is not the most conventional human on the planet!

She’s left her eccentric father behind to move to Dublin, where she works as a traffic warden and a part time life model. Because she needs to be in Dublin to connect with a special person from her past.

Then a random encounter with a stranger leaves her wondering who are the 5 people in her life she spends most time with. Allegedly we are all the average of those 5 people!

And so begins Allegra’s journey to confirm who her 5 are and who she really is!

A heartwarming story of love, friendship and basically trying to work out who you really are.

A wonderful read, I laughed, I cried, I wondered and I think deep down there’s a wee bit of Allegra in us all.

I loved this book, a worthwhile read.

I really enjoyed this story. Allegra came across as so awkward but loveable and I just found myself rooting for her and wanting things to work out in her favour, even though the rigidity of her routines made her seem a bit unreachable.
I've loved all of Cecelia Ahern's books, although I found the writing style has changed over the last few from the P.S I Love You days, but I still find her books make you laugh, cry and think about some things seriously.
The aspect of being made up of the 5 people who influence you most in your life was really interesting and did make me have a good think, especially in today's social media age about how things aren't always as great as they seem and you don't always know what people are dealing with.

My thanks to Netgalley and the author for my copy in return for my honest review.

I didn’t read a single thing about the actual plot, because I didn’t want to ruin anything and wanted to see where it went as I was reading.

The story followed the main character Allegra, who is a bit of an outsider. She was raised by her father and wants desperately to know what happened to her mother. She’s a bit of a loner and a stickler for routine, so all of these things are explored within the book as she tries to work out who her ‘5 people’ are, that ultimately make her who she is.

The book was thoughtful and poignant, showing that sometimes, you’re closest people who care about you most are not who you expect. It dealt with some tough subjects and I really enjoyed it.

4 stars from me!

"If the five people who you spend the most time with make you who you are, then who are your people? That's what Allegra questions in Freckles. She moved away from her Pops and her friends to a small town near Dublin, with pretentious Ferrari drivers parking without paying so she has to ticket them, after she finds her landlord cheating on her husband in Allegra's bed, and with a secret which brought her here that might just consume her.

This was a fascinating look into building close circles of support. Allegra, a 25-year-old parking warden, is in the midst of a transitional period in her life, finds herself with only one person out of the five that she should have. Since she left her friends behind, they've moved on, and she hasn't made any new ones in Dublin. Even old friends from school who she would aspire to be like, such as Instagram Influencer Daisy, don't turn out to be who she hopes. This story is an amazing look into how the power of one sentence can impact your life forever."

I’ve been a fan of Cecelia Ahern for over ten years. Over that time, my taste in books has grown and changed and her writing style has matured too. But, while not quite a whimsical as her earlier stories, there’s always something comfortingly familiar about her writing, and she still finds a way to show the hope and love in the mundane and everyday.

Having said that, I did struggle a little to absorb myself in Freckles. And, I think this is mainly because of the protoganist – Allegra, AKA Freckles. Allegra is an awkward, complex character.

“Human interaction is often like a dance I can’t catch the rhythm to.”

She’s lonely, with the only constant presence in her life being her father, Pops. She moved away from her small coastal town in her early twenties to the big city of Dublin to pursue her dream of joining the Garda. But, she’s fallen short, and she’s working as a traffic warden instead.

While not her first choice, Allegra is proud of what she does. She’s a stickler for the rules, and sees her job as integral to ensuring that city life runs smoothly. She’s a creature of habit and routine and, while that’s what makes her who she is, it meant I found some of the earlier scenes quite tedious. It did feel a little like a day in the life of a parking warden, and I was struggling to understand what really made the protagonist tick.

But, in a way, that’s the beauty of Ahern’s writing here. She hasn’t created an instantly loveable character in Allegra – but maybe she’s better for it. She’s a complicated character, she has more layers to show as the story goes on, and she doesn’t have it all figured out.

When a disgruntled driver tears up her parking ticket and tells her “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”, it’s a catalyst for Allegra. Who are her five people? Does she even have five close friends or family members? It forces her to take stock, and our quirky parking warden starts trying to change her life in some of the most unexpected of ways.

So, this book did have a slow start but at some point I realised I was completely swept away with Allegra’s story. This is a light “chick lit” tale but it also explores some deeper issues of loneliness, family and relationships. The ending caught me by surprise, and I even shed a few tears. It’s not her best, but this author hasn’t lost her magic.

A gorgeous story that will set you thinking. Are we truly the average of the five people we spend the most time with? When Allegra hears this claim for the first time it puts her into a tailspin. Who are her five people? What does this say about her? How can she change this, for the better. While worrying so much about making herself a better person, Allegra fails to realise that she also counts as several someone's five. A journey of discovery as much for the reader as for our heroine, this is a delight of a book that delivers more than a great way to pass the time.

I found this book a little tricky and slow to get into. I usually love Cecelia Ahern but something held me back on this one. It may have been the strange writing style, no marking the dialogue, or that Allegra was a hard character to like for quite a while. It did grow on me, as I understood her and her loneliness, her unusual upbringing and her want the most fit in more. It took a while to finish but was worth sticking with.

Took a few chapters to get into and a couple more for me to warm to Freckles but when I did, I started to really feel sympathy towards her.
She’s a very complex and interesting character and the characters that surrounded her were well written and appealing.
I lived the Dublin setting and Freckles job of being a traffic warden was very original.
A heartwarming story with a bit of bitterness, and a little twist.
Loved it!

In the world of social media, everyone has more perfect lives than Freckles…or do they?
Allegra is an intriguing character, complicated and damaged. When she’s told that her five closest contacts make her what she is, she realises that she doesn’t have any friends…but she’s wrong.
Beautifully written, I could see the people, the city, the countryside clearly, and I enjoyed it all very much.

This book follows Allegra as she navigates a particuarly tricky few months of her life. I liked the theme of the 5 closest people, but found the remainder of the book relatively slow paced and the introduction of a 'youtuber' really felt like a millennial check list tick.

I enjoyed the general lighthearted writing style, but feel the storyline maybe just wasn't for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review Freckles.

Allegra was brought up by her rather eccentric father when her mother abandoned her at birth. She dreamed of joining the police but when she failed the interview she decided to be the next best thing- a traffic warden .She is punctilious at her job- which needless to say does not really endear her to many. A yellow Ferrari is one she seems to constantly book. After a confrontation he tells her she is the sum of the five people closest to her & he dreads to think who they are! Allegra is definitely on the spectrum- & being prone to obsessions Allegra tries to find out who her 'five' are.

Having read Celia Ahearn's books in the past I was expecting to be more engaged with this more than I was. I was close to abandoning this because I was becoming so irritated & bored with Allegra. Somehow she won me over & I read it to the end. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

Wow. What a book.
Now to be fair I found it very slow going to start with, I had no idea where it was going and whether I wanted to continue but my goodness I am so glad I did. I fell in love with freckles and her story and the idea of your 5