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.

'I have had a life-long relationship with colours. Enduring them, accepting them, surrendering to them.'

Alice realised at 8 years of age that she could see the colours of people's moods swirling around them, changing with their thoughts and desires; manifesting their actions. Bewildered by her curse (or is it a gift?), it causes her to be distracted, distant, and different, as others' auras reach out and attempt to affect and influence her too. She must even deflect people's happiness because, 'you shouldn't steal someone else's happiness. You have to make your own.' Alice needs to find a way to live with herself and live her life, in spite of the colourful insights she sees, 'wondering why it is that I see every part of everyone and most of them never see me at all.' This book is her journey: hiding, deflecting and manipulating and finally accepting: her differences become her strength.

This book is special. Cecelia Ahern writes in such a descriptive and evocative way. The feelings and moods she describes are visceral. Beyond that, the reader is presented with a unique premise with which to digest not only human behaviour but mental health. I loved reading about Alice's journey and was captivated by her colourful insights into the people she met. 'One by one and all at once, I have seen and felt, All the colours of living.' I highly recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, Harper Fiction for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was absolutely compelling, Alice is probably one of my favourite characters so far this year. Written with empathy, she is so strong even at her weakest moments. A wonderful insight into the struggles of trying to fit in to a world that challenges in ways most of us can only imagine. One of the author’s best books!

I really loved this book. The main character was really interesting and seeing her learn to grow and use her gift really drew me in. I enjoyed this story a lot.

This was an incredible book. It wasn’t one I would normally rush to start reading but the concept and style of writing had me hooked from the beginning. Alice, despite her unusual gift felt so relatable and the idea of people giving off colours seemed totally believable. All of the characters and the settings were beautifully written and Alice’s journey through the book was filled with real lows. The descriptions of the colours related to a persons mood or character must have taken a lot of thought and connected up different elements of the story well. I’ve already recommended this to my husband, which I don’t often do. A joy to read and I’m sad it’s finished!

In a Thousand Different Ways by Cecelia Ahern is a story about a young woman who has ‘Synaesthesia,’ which means that Alice sees the best and the worst in people. She sees and feels a thousand different emotions every day.
She sees everyone in colours by their auras, the gold, the black and all the colours in between. It makes her life harder that people could ever imagine.
When she is older and left home after being her mother’s carer, she lives in London and her neighbour helps her to live with the condition.
She then meets a young man who has no colours and no auras, she then searches for him again, knowing he will be important in her life. She has met the man she will marry and have three children with.
The storyline is interesting and reminded me of a book called’ The Colour of Bee Larham’s Murder’ by Sarah J Harris,where the young boy has this condition.
Highly recommended

This book feels drawn out and yet correct.. its a strange thing to think about.
This story has so many layers like an onion..
if you have any triggers go away as this was has a HUGE focus on child neglect/abuse.
it rips your heart out, then mends it and then crushes it all with the colors that surround people.
I think it was a refreshing way to tell a story.

It is quite difficult to review this book as it falls, for me, into many genres. The basic premise is that Alice can see people’s auras/colours. Despite this the author doesn’t writ in a complete fantasy way, she writes as if this is a common occurrence. Alice tries to keep people at bay and avoids touching them as she does not want to absorb any of their negative colours, including her mother’s and younger brother’s.

The story takes us through Alice’s life and shows how she deals with this “gift” and what happens when she meets someone with no colours and how that relationship develops.

Despite the somewhat strange subject, I really enjoyed this book.

This is a beautifully written and detailed book. Based on such a different subject but thoughtfully and effectively delivered. The depth of the characters and the story is fantastic and the overall effect is a very enjoyable book that I will definitely recommend.

I loved this book. I really enjoyed getting to know Alice and seeing life through her eyes. I felt quite bereft when I had finished and am taking time to process it before I start my next book!

Alice sees people’s emotions as colours - her gift developed through learning to interpret her mother’s moods and emotions. Her gift led her to being deemed a troublemaker at school and being sent to a specialist boarding school. She had to look after her mother who suffered from cancer and ended up in a wheelchair. Once her younger brother left prison he took over the caring responsibilities and Alice was given the opportunity to decide what she wanted to do with her life.

She left for London, found a flat and ended up working in a nursery. Eventually she met her husband - with no colours - who she has to learn to read.

A fascinating story - I felt for her and the pressures of such a gift.

A book I have already recommended!

The best book I have read in a long time. I was engrossed from page one. I absolutely couldn’t put this down and ( sadly ) finished it in 3 days. This was a book I wish would never have ended. The story telling was fabulous and Alice is a character that’ll stay with me for a long time. I will buy this in physical copy and recommend to everyone. Thank you

Absolutely beautiful story, it sucked me in with the wonderful characters. I wanted to nurture and protect poor little Alice with her not so magical powers and her brothers, I was initially concerned there was so much sadness and neglect, but pleased to see chinks of light and love. I enjoyed Alice’s school days, her friends and the lessons - and how she found her way!
Later in life I especially loved how she overcame her adversities, through the help of a friend, hearing about her jobs, and willing her to find her passion. And then there was love, I liked how Andy was normal, not a hero - a real person, with emotions, sarcasm and anger! And watching their relationship grow…. A stunning read with a proper ending and one I’d happily read again!

I have read several books from Cecelia Ahern previously, which I adored and I was excited to read this one.
Alice Kelly is eight years old when she discovers that she has a gift. She can read people or plants by their colours or ‘auras’ if you will. She can sense if they are good and bad or in pain. When she perceives these colours, she has migraines. So, she walks around wearing glasses and she wears gloves as she doesn’t like to be touched. As if she touches people, they could pass her their colours.
The only person in her family that understands is her older brother Hugo. Her mother Lily and her younger brother Ollie thinks she’s weird. Her brother Hugo goes away to live in Doha and she is left to look after her mother Lily. Her brother Ollie grows up and ends up in prison.
Thank you Harper Collins for a copy of ‘In a thousand different ways’ This is another beautifully written and emotional story from the author. At first, for me personally I found the story to be a bit rushed at the start until Alice became an adult. But then the story turned out to be very thought-provoking story that will resonate me for quite a while. 4 stars from me.

It is really hard to decide how to begin a review of this book. Alice is a disturbed child from a dysfunctional family so it seems a very unpromising start. Indeed there is a fair degree of sadness and confusion. The condition of synesthesia is not highlighted very often, so there was much I needed to be informed about. The descriptions of Alice's emotions as a result of her 'condition', for want of a better phrase, are so deep and moving. How little we all know about those with special 'gifts' or differences is brought to us in great detail with empathy. I enjoyed the book and the characters are well drawn. I did feel it was sometimes difficult to time shift in the narrative as there was no warning of flashback paragraphs, but on the whole this emphasised the challenging journey Alice had to take to adult life. A clever and well-written story.

Most of us see life through colour and think nothing of it, but for Alice it affects her every pore. Alice has synaesthesia and this heightens her senses around people causing migraines. But Alice doesn't know this is what she has and this causes her to be sent to a special school as she's classd as a troublemaker. The story follows her throughout her life.
I found this a strange read although I was interested in Alice's story and the descriptions of how she saw colours for people I found it quite slow in places but then felt the ending was rushed. We had about 40 years plus of Alice's life in one chapter. However it was nice to read another Cecilia Ahern book again as it has been a while