a little bird tweets

Hi everyone! It has been a while since I last posted a review. I finished the last two chapters of this book at 9am this morning and this review just seemed to churn itself out of nowhere (got to enjoy those moments). I originally posted this to Goodreads. I hope you are all doing well!

I started reading this book on the first week of my summer holiday as I was wanting a lighter read than my usual darker reads. I believe the weather can influence the choice of books we read! The front cover definitely first sold me on the idea that it was a light read, and having read Cecelia Ahern’s books previously and enjoying her writing, I was more than happy to begin. The story started off as a page turner due to my fascination with how Jasmine (the protagonist) is somewhat obsessed with a neighbour, Matt. The obsession itself was intriguing and as a darker genre reader, I was hoping it would lead to something darker, even though I knew it was a gentler genre (I’ll give my alternative preferred plot at the end!). Jasmine tells her story in the first person and refers to Matt as ‘you’ throughout, which added to the creepy feeling. The change in their relationship (of which kind I won’t say for spoiler reasons) was interesting to see as we moved into through the seasons (four sections) of the book (over a year). It is ultimately a book about transformation, about how our lives are in a constant state of flux, which we don’t always see at the time but only when we look back. Heather, Jasmine’s sister, was such a fascinating character. Heather has down syndrome, and Cecelia not only brought this amazing character to life, she taught me (and probably many other readers) more about this condition. I think every book should go beyond the basic characters and plot to teach us more about a subject. I love how Cecelia generally takes a subject that grabs her and writes about it. In this book, it was ‘gardening leave’, a new term she hadn’t encountered before. She mixed Jasmine’s gardening leave with her new found hobby of gardening, which I thought was a brilliant juxtaposition! The change in her garden through the seasons was symbolic of character changes. Characters in a book have to change in some way for reader to be satisfied. I have rated this book 2/5 purely due to me expecting more of a character change and more of a climatic plot. Also, some of the scenes were slightly cheesy and generic in places and this could have been a good opportunity to have described the settings more descriptively. It often became repetitive (the table setting, bedroom window view). However, this is just one of Cecelias many books, and this is no reflection on her as an author. Her writing is captivating. Her abililty to write real stories for people is heartwarming. And her abililty to write book after book is admirable. The Marble Collector next might be next on the list as a read. My alternative ending: Matt is buried in the pond hole that Jasmine has dug in her garden! You can take the person away from the dark genres, but you can’t take the dark genres out of the person I guess!

Til next time 🙂