An unusual yet uniquely interesting book, considering the authors other books I had really high expectations and it didn't really reach them sadly. I found this a bit strange to be honest and it was a lot more character driven than their being a consistent, clear plot - It was just about Alice's life. Saying this, the writing was good and the characters were well written, unique and interesting but I just couldn't get into the story it was just not the style I like.

Wow. What an unusual book. Alice can see peoples auras but more than that she knows their true identity, good or bad. She cannot switch off this 'power' so has to try to find ways of managing it. Interesting, entertaining and engaging.

A story that will make you stop and think more times that I have wanted honestly. It’s all about kindness, acceptance of our different abilities in life and most of all , the fear of not actually firing in a mood that this society is so set upon and likes to put everyone in a box.
I never felt a book cover making justice to the Sri side it as this one has done.
It must be so lonely and frustrating and scary to try to live your life just like everyone else but to have no one to turn to for an advice or just to talk about your feelings and emotions.
I think this is one of the very few stories that will stay with me for a long long time.

I last read a Cecelia Ahern book way back in 2014 and it wasn’t for me. But I took the leap to try again and I am so glad I did. Such a beautiful, evocative novel that I actually looked forward to reading each day (I’ve been in a bit of a book wilderness recently). It will stay with me forever, one of those books I will refer to as memorable and life-affirming.

When Alice Kelly is 8 years old.she sees a strange blue mist around her depressed mother. When colours start to appear around everyone she sees, Alice realises she is able to read people and their moods and feelings.
The book then follows Alice through her life and her struggle to live a normal life whilst managing her gift.
This is a compelling read.
I felt that the latter stages of the book were rushed. We want to know how Alice lives through adulthood, marriage, children and old age, but we only received a snapshot of this compressed into a few pages.

The story begins with us meeting Alice as an 8 year old and her little brother Ollie and older brother Hugh. They seem uncared for and when Alice gets home from school one day, she sees strange blue colours coming from her mums bedroom and calls 999. She then realises she can see everyone's 'colour' and this was her mums depression and sadness

The book follows Alice through life and how she struggles to be in the real world with everyone's moods and auras affecting her - the older she gets the more it affects her and how toxic this can be - even in the real world.

I was rooting for her to absolve family responsibilities, not be dragged down and live her own best life. I was really wanting her to find her own happiness and love.

I loved the nature descriptions and how they provide the world with good energy. My favourite line was 'If you don't feel your pain you can not recognise it in others. Your own suffering cultivates the ability to help others.

I have read other Cecelia Ahern books and really enjoyed this character based story. I will be recommending to others and looking out for new releases.

Alice Kelly has synaesthesia, a condition that means someone experiences things through their senses in an unusual way, and for Alice it is seeing people’s colours. Their moods and inherent characteristics appear like an aura around them, and Alice has had this since she was 8 years old. It can be a blessing as well as a curse, but either way it is a lot for a person to bear as their senses are assaulted massively on a daily basis.

Alice comes from what is essentially a dysfunctional family in crisis. When the novel opens, she and her two brothers are being brought up by their single parent mum, as Dad disappeared years ago, and their mother, who is bi-polar (initially undiagnosed), is really struggling.

It is quite a while since I last read a Cecilia Ahern novel and to me this one felt different to any of hers I have read previously. There is romance in the story but it comes much later and isn’t the main ingredient from the outset. What we have here is the life story of someone overcoming the challenges and difficulties they were born into, as well as learning to deal with the otherness that a challenging condition brings, to find a life – and happiness - that works for her.

The characters are well realised and feel fully developed, and your sympathies are with Alice from the very beginning. There are numerous times in the story when you are moved to tears by the circumstances Alice finds herself in, and you desperately want her to find happiness living a life on her own terms. To do this she has to leave Ireland and make a new life in London, and after numerous jobs she finds ways to live with her synaesthesia and overcome the otherness that has previously shaped her life, so there is real positivity as her story unfolds.

The novel is mostly linear but it does sometimes jump about in the timeline and on occasions the transition isn’t always smooth which can jar sometimes.

The pacing is a tad inconsistent and the last section of the novel felt very rushed compared to other sections, with decades collapsed and compacted into one chapter as the story heads towards its conclusion.
However, on the whole this is a satisfying, well-told, and ultimately positive story about learning how to live with a fascinating, if sometimes overwhelming condition.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this novel, in exchange for an honest review.

This isn't a light read, rather one that makes you sit and reflect upon it as you go through it. Alice develops the ability to see people's emotions as auras and how this interacts between different people. She struggles with her mother, who is later diagnosed as bipolar, and younger brother, but is supported by her older brother. The story follows Alice through her life and the detrimental effect that her ability has on her interactions with others.
I have heard of synaesthesia where people see music as colours, but limited on those who see people's auras. It certainly makes you think on how it would affect you if this happened to you. It was one of those books that I became totally absorbed in, not light hearted as I normally enjoy, but contemplative especially towards the end. One to read when you want something a bit heavier, but not depressing, and totally different. Highly recommended.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influenced my review of the book.

I was drawn to the pretty cover of this book and chose it despite not reading the blurb. The vibrant colours stand out and I think they fit well with the story. I know Cecelia Ahern is a very popular author but I haven’t read her books before as I didn’t think they would be for me. I’m glad I decided to choose a book based on its cover! Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for my advance copy which is published on the 13th April.

The story centres around Alice and follows her through her life. Growing up in Dublin, she has a difficult childhood. She’s bullied for being different as she sees people’s moods and personality as colours. Her home life is tough, especially when her older brother moves out. Her mother has a lot of issues and doesn’t seem very affectionate or supportive towards her children. As Alice gets older she tries to navigate her life with synesthesia.

I quite liked the likeable characters in this book but Alice could be a bit grating at times. I found the story to be character driven. Although things happen, it’s following Alice through her life. It explores the relationships Alice has with her family and how they change over time. She manages to make friends and build a life for herself away from Dublin.

The author has centred the book around a little known condition and I think she’s described it well. She also deals with other issues such as mental illness and childhood neglect.

This is a well written book but I felt the chapters were overly long. However, I liked that they were each named after a colour. The story jumped between timelines seemingly randomly which I found a little jarring at times.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I’m glad I decided to try something different.

3.5 stars rounded to 3.

A very interesting read. Slow to start but a new concept for me to deal with. I keep wondering will I start looking at people to see if they are showing me colours.

I need more stars to play with. It seems mean to give this only 4 stars but looking back at the books I've given 5 there really has to be something that blows me away.

However, this is a really good book. It's very easy reading. Good story, some lovely touches, very human. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though I wept quite a lot on and off all the way through and it observes human nature very well. There's some really funny bits in it too. The one thing I'm delighted by (and I have not read a Cecilia Ahern for many years) is that her writing has really matured and I don't get the sense she's trying to be Marian Keyes any longer. (I love Marian but there really is only one of her).

In a Thousand Different Ways tells us the story of Alice Kelly who has the gift (even though it doesn't seem that way at times) of being able to see how people around her feel. How wonderful you think. But when you do think about it, it really must be exhausting. Not only does Alice see how people feel but she sees how others soak up others' feelings.

We follow Alice through her difficult childhood and teenage years with a selfish, uncaring mother, one brother who wants out and another who seems to sop up all his mother's negative energy.

It's a truly interesting look at people and the way we interact with each other. It's funny, it's sad and its a really good read. I read it in two sittings.

I liked this book a lot but I found it hard to get into at first. The first quarter of the book dragged but once I'd got through that, I was flying.

I hadn't realised this was Cecelia Ahern - I can't see the authors on my kindle when I'm looking at ARCs and I hadn't even realised at first that it was set in Ireland and then the UK. I was quite confused by Alice's mother, Lily, and what was wrong with her, but once Alice had got away to school and then to London, it all fell into place.

I've heard about synesthesia before but never read a book so overtly about it. The nature of such a condition - is it a gift or is it a curse - is examined in great detail. The physically draining aspects of being visually assaulted by colours you can't stop and can't switch off is very interesting.

Quite why Alice's husband had no colours was never really clear to me. Little touches like losing her ability to see emotional colours during pregnancy were very intriguing.

This is a book that will stay long in my memory.

WIth thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy.

I would just like to say a big thankyou to Harpercollins publishers for such an incredible book .

I was over the moon when I got a copy of cecelia book as I'm huge fan of hers. I just love how she really has thought outside the box with the story well she dose with all books but this one blow me away . She really knows how to make you feel so much emotion with this story .

Cecelia writing style is beyond phenomenal she's so quirky in the ways that she tells her stories and I really love that about her.

Alice which is the main character She can see your feelings with colours so like blue is for feeling sad .I was very Captivated by Alice as a character herself self and really felt Sadness for her, As I can imagine it's pretty overwhelming Not just feeling your own emotions but everybody else is around you. But it also comes from places so maybe that she can get an image image in her head and she can't get that out and it can be massive overload of emotions.

The Story over all I felt had quite a bit of magical realism in bit of magical realism in it which really drawn me into the story itself, If your a fan of T.J klune then I think you will live this .
This story is pretty fast pace and I think and I think the writing is just absolutely wonderful clearly wonderful Celia never disappoints me. It's definitely one of those stories which is unforgettable and I don't really want to give too much away so that people actually get to read it and enjoy it like I did

I promise you that you will not be disappointed with this story I wrote this book a very moving 5 stars

Sorry but I found this all rather odd and could not get into the story so had to give up.

I have previously enjoyed books by this author but this just didn't hold my attention.

I'm obviously aware of Cecilia Ahern as a best selling author, but have never read any of her books, so I'm not sure if this one is indicative of her usual style. I can appreciate that she is writing about people who are "othered" due to their different behaviours and labelled, but I found it difficult to get into the story or care about any of the characters
Thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins for an advance copy of this book

"In a Thousand Different Ways" is the story of Alice Kelly and her dysfunctional family. Alice's mother struggles to raise her 3 children on her own but, as they grow up, they all leave home for different reasons. Alice suffers with what she thinks of as a curse but some others see as a blessing, not that she tells many people about seeing colours around everything and everyone.

As Alice matures she searches for her own place in life, with a career and a home of her own. She tries to come to grips with her synesthesia and learns different coping mechanisms. This is an uplifting tale of people coping with different problems (for example, Alice's best friend from school has Tourette's syndrome) and managing to succeed.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

So Cecilia Ahern wrote many novels since P. S. I Love You, but this is one of my favorites.

Her descriptive prose takes us to the near distant past where a little girl is the middle child of a bi-polar single mother. Her older brother is a light and her younger brother becomes her nemesis.

Speaking of light, she sees colorful lights around people (auras) which overwhelm her when she is a child and help her know who to trust when she is older.

It’s an amazing story and I truly enjoyed it.

What I wish I had seen more of was her interaction with Natalie, or even Poh. Both women were interesting characters who floated on the periphery of Alice’s world.

Additionally, I wonder if the name Alice was chosen because of its association with Wonderland, because truly seeing the world her way brings us to wonderland. I was given an ARC from Net Galley for my unbiased review.

Alice sees colours as auras and has done since she was 8. It’s a problem as well as a gift and marks her out as different from everyone else. There are some very unpleasant people in her life but she also finds kindness and love. I found myself wondering if this was a ya book for the first part although this did change as it progressed. Not sure about the ending which raced through many decades but it’s a very different and interesting story.

Wow what a fantastic book. The concept of seeing a persons emoticons as an aura and how it affects the life of the person seeing the aura.
I absolutely loved this book.
A difficult home life and seeing people's auras leads to residential schooling and how to cope.
I totally felt for all the characters.

I’ve yet to read a book by Cecelia Ahern that didn’t induce a huge range of emotions in me and this is no exception. Welcome to Alice’s world. From the first line as I stepped into it I was completely invested in her. Alice has a gift, or is it a curse? She sees people from their colours. She’s affected by their moods, their loves, their likes, their joys, their sorrows and their bitterness, she’s drained by it and it shapes her whole world. Everyone she meets has colours, until one day she meets someone without.
A fabulous read that will stay with me long after I’ve finished it.