This book indeed "can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways'. Alice, the narrator, describes the course of her life, from dysfunctional childhood home in Ireland to building a life for herself in London. All the while Alice is trying to come to terms with a unique ability, one which is simultaneously her critical weakness and her superpower. Cecelia Ahern has produced an absolutely wonderful book that spills over with resilience, humanity, happiness and hope. Alice's world is sharply observed and vividly and vibrantly described. I cannot recommend highly enough, Deep thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for a no-obligation advance review copy.

With thanks to netgalley in exchange for an honest review. In a thousand different ways which is out in April is the story of Alice. Alice has the ability to see colours surrounding everyone she meets whether it's good or bad. She feels everyone's energy. Wow is all I can say Cecelia Ahern is just getting better and better with every story she writes. This is her best yet while Alice's story is sad at times it was so hopeful aswell. Some of the words left me so gripped and I got lost in the story. Truly excellent.

This is a truly beautiful book and one that will stay with me for a long time. I don’t think I’ll quite be able to put into words how much I loved this and was touched by the story.
In all honesty, I had fallen out of love a little with Cecelia Ahern’s books which was really disappointing as some of her early books are my favourite reads.
However, this book surpassed all of the previous ones and is by far her best yet.
It’s one of my best reads this year and I’ll be recommending to all. It really is stunning.

Cecelia Ahearn has always blended subtle magic and reality together beautifully, and In a Thousand Different Ways was no exception. It follows protagonist Alice as she navigates her way through life with an unusual way of seeing the world and people in it (no spoilers!). Out 4th May 2023. Massive thanks to @netgalley and @harpercollins for letting me sneak a peek!

This was my first title by Cecilia Aherne and I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and am now keen to discover more of her writing.

From her extraordinarily difficult childhood, we follow Alice throughout her life, dealing with her strange gift which she cannot describe, therefore nobody can understand, and consequently has her labelled a troublemaker. Relationships with her siblings and her mother are complicated. Her school days are fraught with problems due to her condition preventing her from making friends, until she finds people she can relate to in a special school, just one of many breakthrough moments in the story.

I found all of the characters well rounded. We get to know them well through their impact on Alice. Her meeting with Naomi is a turning point, where she learns that her life can be different. Her relationship with Andy, after an idyllic start, becomes troubled at times, but they learn to deal with each other's idiosyncrasies. Her love of being out in nature and her growing understanding of plants through seeing their moods and colours was fascinating and and, for her, life-changing.

There are some big leaps forward in time, but for the most part I didn't felt that I needed to know the detail of what had happened in the intervening years. It's only towards the end, when suddenly there are children and grandchildren, that it feels too rushed.

Alice is a wonderful character who could have been overwhelmed by the problems she faces, but she finds her place in the world, through her own determination and with a little help from her friends. Despite some very dark subject matter, particularly involving Alice's mother and her younger brother, this was a delight to read.

A stunning, wonderful, powerful tale: Alice lives with her mother and two brothers, one older and one younger. Alice has synaesthesia (to see or feel in colours)only this isn't recognised until she is older and sadly she is seen as being different and a trouble maker. She sees the anger in her mother and the calm in her older brother. Imagine being able to see and hence make a judgement of someone by the colour surrounding them. When there is a crowd you are overwhelmed, when seeing strangers you can make a call. When Hugo, her older brother, goes to university and her younger brother is on the wrong side of the law it is left to Alice to look after her mother as she is now in a wheelchair.

Cecelia has a rare talent. One that has the ability to draw the reader in without them really knowing it. There isn't a plot as such, it is a story of Alice’s life, but you can't help but be drawn to her and knowing you can't give her a hug (it's too much for her to cope with) I felt protective of her. Anyone having had a toxic parent will sympathise and understand her conflict let alone with the confusion and disruption of colours as she was growing up. A wonderful, poignant at times, emotive story and one that left me with a tear. To quote Oscar Wilde “ Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways”. Stunning

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I’ve always found synthenesia fascinating - the ability some people have to experience their senses in a totally different and amazing way. This novel explores what it would be like to live life where everyone’s emotions and deepest feelings were revealed to you by the colour of their auras. Overwhelming for the main character we follow her journey to learn to live with this. I really enjoyed the book though it seemed to suddenly speed up a hundredfold and gallop through the last half of her life at a breathtaking speed.

I enjoyed this book in a thousand different ways…

I thought this an interesting angle for a novel, someone coping with be able to see people’s auras and being labelled a troublemaker for her gifts.

I like the journey that Alice went on and the dynamic in the family. I wanted thought to understand more about what started it, and then I wanted to know more about Andy. All good though.

What a beautiful book. I adore Cecilia Ahearn and In a thousand different ways will stay with me for a long time.
So descriptive and enthralling, it captivated me from the start. Truly lovely. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read and review. Highly recommend.

What a fabulous book! I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down. Alice lives in a chaos of other people's emotions which she sees as colours and which affect her own feelings unless she protects herself from them. The character descriptions are so beautifully written, the grief, love, violence and ambivalence that people feel throughout their lives and which Alice sees and interprets as their colours battle against her desire for peace and solitude.

My only criticism is that the last part of the book is too fast but that's probably because I really didn't want it to end, I was completely absorbed.

There has been a lot of books in the last few years with quirky main characters.
They rarely meet expectations.
This one however does.
Alice is a character I could really enjoy, her toxic home life was a story in itself I would have happily read, but add her issue with colours, and it's a winner.
My favourite parts were her early life, and her struggles of finding out who she was, and how she coped with it as she grew older.
I felt the last part of the book we just rushed through her life, there were big events that could have been explored more.
I spent a thoroughly enjoyable few hours with Alice and her family, and friends.

I read this in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. I loved it - every second of it. I should have expected it from this author, but it still took my breath away. It was so unusual. The story twisted and turned. Who knew where it was going to lead you. But in the end it took me to a touching ending, once that had me crying. I can't recommend this enough. It was a wonderful read. Thank you.