A rainbow of emotions ★★★☆☆

After her difficult childhood becomes too much, Alice begins to sees people’s emotions in colour. Life as a synaesthetic empath is extremely overwhelming and Alice finds solace in cutting herself off from the world.

Seen as a freak by her neglectful mother and angry younger brother, Alice withdraws into herself and builds barriers between herself and others, some figurative and some physical – gloves, mask, sunglasses. Her only joy is nature.

Eventually Alice must choose between existing and living, and helped by friends, her older brother and a very unusual man Alice starts to see her curse may be a gift after all.

A very interesting idea which really captures Alice’s journey and those around her, particularly her mother. However there are big jumps in timeline and events which left me feeling out of sync.

I’m a massive fan of the author’s writing between 2008 and 2013 and admire her life-affirming and imaginative novels although that period is still my favourite.

In a Thousand different ways.
A wonderful, multifaceted read.
Alice has a gift, although she often sees it as a curse. She sees colours around and in people and all living beings. The colours all mean different things to her and the book is a learning curve of Alice’s journey through her tumultuous life with this wonderful gift.
Cecilia Aherne has taken from her learning of people who can see auras and produced this magical book, which I for one struggled to put down.
A must read for those who want a different, interesting and arresting read.

Amazing…. Couldn’t put it down. I’ve read most of Cecelia Ahern’s books, and she’s definitely got a winner with this one - her best yet. Top marks ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Alice is able to tell if a person is good or evil just by looking at them. She grew up in a dysfunction and neglectful home. Coming home meant thatl her anxieties would always be high, never knowing what mood her mum was going to be in. At the age of eight this develops into synaethesia, the ability to see people's auras, and so she is able to protect herself and her siblings from their mums monstrous auras seeping into them. Alice sees everyone's auras though, she can tell everyone's intentions just by looking, and so her life turns into one of shielding herself away from people, preventing their negativity from infecting her, she lives a lonely and isolated life, until she she stops seeing her abilities as a curse, and realises she has a gift...
A fascinating tale.

Ahern is officially one of my favourite authors. She cannot put a foot wrong and continues to astound and amaze me with her fresh ideas, novel slant and liquid writing style. (I loved Freckles too, among many others!).

This one is about Alice, who has the gift and the curse of being able to see peoples moods (or auras) as colours. Blue for sad, pink for happy, gold for purity, metallic for sin. This can be overwhelming for a child, and we follow her journey as she learns to adjust, harness and finally embrace this ability. Her gift clearly overloads her senses and results in terrible migraines, which cause her to withdraw from the world and her toxic home life. But she manages to find support in her older brother, a teacher, a new friend, a new neighbour.

There are so many little twists and turns, that occur so naturally that its hard to break the story into pieces. The magic of the story is how Ahern is able to take complex, spiritual ideology, attach it to a character and make it feel real and tangible, and unfold at just the perfect pace. She is a master of her craft, and I read this with continual awe. She kept me captivated with every word.

She has a real gift as a story teller, and she charms me every time. Her style is so organic, and her flow so easy that even the absence of chapters felt justified. She injects light and hope in her writing, even when the topics are heavy and complex. I'm not sure I love the title, but who cares, the story was magical. Sign me up for her next book - I don't care what its about :-)

You know when you read a book and you just think that the author cannot top it because it’s just so brilliant? Well that’s how I feel about P.S I Love You but then I read this book and oh wow. This was so beautifully written and Alice is such an amazing character. I loved the storyline and the subject matter.

Alice sees the good and bad in everyone, their emotions, their feelings and she sees this every day. She can’t escape it. But it’s the darkness she sees around people that she struggles with because she can’t get it out of her head. It consumes her whole being. Alice can decide if she likes a person and wants to stay around them instantly. She is like others who have to get to know someone to know the real person. Alice can tell by looking at them.

I just cannot recommend this book enough. Truly this has become one of my utmost favourite books that I have ever read.

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Disclaimer - I received a free digital download of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, just wow. It’s been quite a while since a book brought me to tears, let alone left me with an ache in my heart and tears of joy tracing my cheeks. This book was an unforgettable sojourn into the very depth of human emotions and dynamic characters. I think I may carry Alice and Lilly in my heart for a long time to come.
I was utterly absorbed from the onset and that hold hasn’t left me even though I’ve turned the last electronic page. A beautiful and despairing story that really made me reflect on moments from my own life and present interactions through a coloured magnifying glass.
I related to so much of the story and learnt so much. I think this is my favourite read of 2023, maybe even the last several years. Definitely recommend!

I’d like to thank HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins Fiction and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘In A Thousand Different Ways’ by Cecilia Ahern in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

This is the story of Alice at the age of eight who can see people in colours that can tell their moods, both good and bad. Alice and her two brothers manage as best they can with their dysfunctional mother Lily, their father long gone. Now grown up, her older brother Hugh is working in Doha while the youngest, Ollie, is in prison so Alice has no choice but to put her own life on hold and become her mother’s carer, all the time desperate to get away.

Cecelia Ahern is the author of many excellent novels and ‘In a Thousand Different Ways’ is completely different to the others, intriguing, with a pretty good story, interesting characters and a unique plot. At the beginning I found it difficult to get into as it was very much colour-driven but then as the story progressed I started feeling involved with Alice as a person and sorry that she was tied to being the carer of a mother who’s never loved her. This is an entertaining and well-crafted novel and although it’s not my favourite it’s definitely different and well worth spending the time reading.

Alice is different. She can read human emotions that manifest in different colours that only she can see. From a difficult upbringing, Alice navigates life with her skill as her guide, with it being both a blessing and a curse.

I think Alice being the only one to see the auras/colours is a clever and unique idea. I felt for Alice and enjoyed seeing her develop as a character. I struggled with the structure of the book and found it sometimes confusing as I found it moved around time and space with little indication. I was also uncertain about the sudden changing in the pace of the book and was disappointed with some characters seeming to be forgotten about as a result. However, I’m glad I stuck with it, as Cecelia Ahern skilfully weaves the narrative and imagery together for an emotional and beautiful ending.

I was absolutely thrilled to be able to read this one now. As soon as I started reading I was hooked. I am instantly walking alongside Alice and seeing all the colours she is seeing, and experiencing all the feelings and emotions she is feeling. The story takes us all the way through Alice's life, and it is so beautifully written. So much love, loss, sadness and happiness. Its got it all. The ending bought tears to my eyes. Really lovely original story. Thank you

Such a lovely insightful book. I did struggle a little with the structure of it, each section/chapter was quite long and at times it moved time period very suddenly in the middle of them which took some getting used to. However once I got into it it was a really beautiful story and very insightful about how we perceive people.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I have great admiration for Cecelia Ahern and her wacky ideas, which more often than not lead to highly original and compelling stories. When I read the blurb on this book and considered the subject of synesthesia it seemed fascinating, so I was hoping for another genius level story; and whilst the idea is original, I didn't feel the magic and would say it's not on par with some of her other 5* reads. It is an OK read, but I would have liked Alice to do something more phenomenal with her gift, rather than living a rather humdrum life. In terms of the storytelling itself, it felt a little clinical and I didn't particularly connect with Alice as a character.

Cecelia Ahern is one of my favorite Authors, so I was desperate to get a copy of her latest book - and whilst it didn't quite live up to my high expectations of this Author, I am eternally grateful to NetGallery and HarperCollins UK for allowing me to get a copy of the book, which is out on 13th April 2023.

I love Cecilia Ahern’s writing and her character of Alice was interesting and intriguing. She has a condition called synaesthesia, which means she sees and feel in colours and this allows her to have an insight into the thoughts and personalities of others when seeing their aura. This plot line might not have appealed to me normally as I wouldn’t be initially drawn to this style of book but I’m so glad I stuck with it as I really enjoyed it! I was really invested in the Alice and couldn’t wait to find out what happened to her next. Beautiful book!

This is the story of Alice. She has the ability to see people’s auras. This ability/condition affects her every single day in both positive and negative ways. This story follows Alice through her life and how the vision of colours impacts her life.

I have Ben a big fan of Cecilia’s books for many years but I really didn’t enjoy this one very much. The story seems to jump around too much. She will be in her house one minute and in the next sentence she is somewhere else. In ,y opinion there is no real point to the story. I expected Alice to use her abilities to help people or something along those lines. Although she does help people it is more through incident than intention.

I am a big fan of Cecelia Ahern. She is an auto-buy author for me and I’m yet to be disappointed in her books.

I love the way she weaves a story. Here we get to know Alice very well with the story being told in first person narrative from her point of view and includes flashbacks at times so it’s not told in a strictly linear format. I found it easy to follow and, as always happens with Ahern’s books, I found myself gobbling it up as I just didn’t want to stop reading once I started.

I loved Alice and really felt for her as she struggled to navigate the world and deal with her abilities. I can’t imagine what it must be like not only to know exactly what everyone around you is feeling but to be attacked or infected with those feelings as well. I know I sometimes have days where people around me are particularly down or negative and I can feel that affecting my mood and have to try hard not to let it.

I loved the concept of the colours and the way Ahern describes the different moods and feelings and the way these colours behave. The way Alice sees the relationship between her Mum and her youngest brother, Ollie, is very interesting and must have been difficult for a young child to deal with.

It’s a bit of a strange one for me, I loved the writing and loved the concept but I did feel a little let down towards the end. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone but I guess I had kind of thought that Alice would get more control over her abilities and maybe use them in some way to help people.

I also kind of felt the relationship between Alice and Andy was a bit forced. Like she was only really with him for one reason and actually they didn’t really have a lot in common. Normally I really enjoy the love stories that Ahern weaves but this missed the mark slightly for me.

Overall, it’s an interesting concept and I galloped my way through it as the writing really pulled me in.

Cecelia Ahern has a way of writing her stories, so the words literally bounce off the page and wrap you in a warm hug. I love her books – and this one is no exception. It really is a Wow read and I absolutely adored it from page 1.

Alice is just a young girl when she starts seeing colors swirling around her mother, Lily. Soon she starts seeing colours around everyone and soon learns they are reflecting the person’s mood & emotions. But Alice doesn't want the gift, and struggles with adjusting to being different to everyone else. At times, it's overwhelming for her feeling everyone's emotions, so she hides away from the world and only interacts with very few people.

The story follows Alice with her gift, and the people in her life – her disturbing and difficult relationship with her Mother and Brother Ollie, her elder Brother Hugh and then later her first boyfriend, husband, children and grandchildren.

Make sure you have a box of tissues handy for the last 5 or so pages.

I don’t want to give too much of the story away, which I think is so easy when giving a review – I highly recommend this book. Such a beautiful story of family and love.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc in return on an honest, unbiased review.

In a Thousand Different Ways is a book that will stay with you once you have finished reading. It's a compelling and often emotional book that follows Alice's life and her coming to terms with seeing people's auras in colours. Alice has Synesthesia, some would call it a rare gift but Alice sees it as a curse. Cecelia Ahern has, as usual, written a fabulous book with some great characters that you can really care about. I highly recommend you read this book.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an arc.

I have read most of Cecelia Ahern's books and this one sounded very interested and different so I was keen to read it.

Alice first notices that people have colours like an aura when she is 8 years old. The colours tell her if a person is good/bad/happy/sad ect and this is overwhelming for her especially when there are lots of people around her. She takes to wearing sunglasses, and eventually masks and gloves to shield herself.

Her mother doesn’t understand her and is barely functioning herself, her older brother cares but is desperate to get away from the home himself. Her younger brother goes down the wrong track and her father is absent.

Alice attends a school for children with behavioural problems and afterwards moves back home to look after her mum and finds solace in plants. She then moves to London and the second half of the book is mainly about events there.

I felt the beginning was slow and last section was a bit rushed cramming in years with little information.

I enjoyed the book overall, it's fascinating how people have perceptions that most of us are completely unaware of. It was interesting to see how someone might deal with this and be seen as strange when they are trying to get by.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I finished this 2 minutes ago and tears are still streaming down my face!! And I so rarely cry at books !!

Life has been so manic recently and I've been trying to get into a book on my Netgalley shelf but being a mood reader non were grabbing me..... Until 10am today when I picked up this gem 💎

Like Eleanor Oliphant and Sally Diamond our protagonist Alice Kelly is different. Im discovering I have a love for damaged female protagonists, whether it's down to nature or nurture I love these girls.... Or maybe it's because I have raised a daughter on the spectrum and I see a little bit of her in all these special protagonists...it makes me want to fight the world for them and champion them!

I'm not going to tell you the synopsis... ... I just read the first page and fell into Alice's world...with characters who are damaged and vile and also characters (Hugh 😍) who are knights in shining armour I fail to see how this story, rammed with heart and soul, cannot grab the emotional attention of anyone who reads it.
I admit it's not a light, jolly tale but the veins of hope that run through it as the story progresses makes it such a beautiful and unique read.

Thank you profusely to @harpercollins
@official_ceceliaahern and Netgalley for the ARC of this novel

❓Whats the last book that made you cry?

I've only given 3 stars, not because of the story line, or the way it's written, but it just wasn't for me, although I did persevere and read the whole story. I have read Cecelia Ahern's books before, and enjoyed them, which is why I requested this book