How to Fall in Love by Cecelia Ahern

“Life is a series of moments and moments are always changing, just like thoughts, negative and positive. And though it may be human nature to dwell, like many natural things it's senseless, senseless to allow a single thought to inhabit a mind because thoughts are like guests or fair-weather friends. As soon as they arrive, they can leave, and even the ones that take a long time to emerge fully can disappear in an instant. Moments are precious; sometimes they linger and other times they're fleeting, and yet so much could be done in them; you could change a mind, you could save a life and you could even fall in love.” 

She has just two weeks. Two weeks to teach him how to fall in love – with his own life.

Adam Basil and Christine Rose are thrown together late one night, when Christine is crossing the Halfpenny Bridge in Dublin. Adam is there, poised, threatening to jump. Adam is desperate – but Christine makes a crazy deal with him. His 35th birthday is looming and she bets him she can show him that life is worth living before then.

Despite her determination, Christine knows what a dangerous promise she’s made. Against the ticking of the clock, the two of them embark on wild escapades, grand romantic gestures and some unlikely late-night outings. Slowly, Christine thinks Adam is starting to fall back in love with his life.

But has she done enough to change his mind for good? And is that all that’s starting to happen? 

Despite how morbid the blurb sounds, this novel wasn't all doom and gloom. Yes it covered some pretty serious topics - heartbreak, depression, suicide, bullying... - but there were just as many laughs and sweet moments, I felt I was smiling inside way more than shedding a tear.

I've loved every Cecelia Ahern novel so far, but this one read slightly differently for me, slightly more Marian Keyes that some of her others. Loveable characters, witty punchlines, a quirky family and a creative way to weave an unusual 'How-To' dependancy through a love story. 

“Where would we be without tomorrows? What we’d have instead are todays. And if that was the case, with you, I’d hope for the longest day for today. I’d fill today with you, doing everything I’ve ever loved. I’d laugh, I’d talk, I’d listen and learn, I’d love, I’d love, I’d love. I’d make every day today and spend them all with you, and I’d never worry about tomorrow, when I wouldn’t be with you. And when that dreaded tomorrow comes for us, please know that I didn’t want to leave you, or be left behind, that every single moment spent with you were the best times in my life.” 

Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen

But, what did I really have to do with you, and you with me? We were two people around the same age, growing up in the same failing city, walking the same streets under the same clouds, nothing much. Except to say that once, without knowing it, you did something that changed my life entirely. With the smallest gesture you altered the course of my life, split it in two, and I haven't been able to think of you without feeling a stab, the question of what might have become of me if you had done otherwise.

Who are the people you’ll never forget? For Mary Murphy, there are five: A skirt-chasing, car-racing uncle with whiskey breath and a three-day beard. A “walking joke, a sitting duck, a fish in a barrel” named Elwood LePoer. A dirt-poor college roommate who conceals an unbearable secret. A failed piano prodigy lost in middle age. A beautiful mother haunted by her once-great aspirations.

In five quirky elegies to lost friends and relatives, Mary tells us the story of her life. We begin with a restless childhood spent following her mother between multiple homes and husbands. Then comes the disappearance of Mary’s rebellious and beloved sister, Malinda. By the time Mary leaves for college, she has no one to write home to, and we follow along on her difficult search for purpose. From a series of miserable jobs to her “reborn” mother’s deathbed, Mary finds hope in the most surprising places. With a rhythmically unique voice and pitch-perfect wry humor, Christie Hodgen spins an unconventional and moving story about identity, belonging, and family.

Whoa this book was amazing! I want to read it again, and I want to tell everyone I know about it!

It really was very clever in the way it was put together. It painted such a clear picture of the main character, Mary Murphy, without making it really seem all about her as the main focus.

All of the elegies were written so well, but my favourite was the last chapter and how it tied everything together so well.

Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori #1) by Lian Hearn

“I learned embroidery," Kaede said, "But you can't kill anyone with a needle."
"You can," Shizuka said offhandedly. "I'll show you one day.” 

In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard.

The youth Takeo has been brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people who have taught him only the ways of peace. But unbeknownst to him, his father was a celebrated assassin and a member of the Tribe, an ancient network of families with extraordinary, preternatural skills. When Takeo's village is pillaged, he is rescued and adopted by the mysterious Lord Otori Shigeru. Under the tutelage of Shigeru, he learns that he too possesses the skills of the Tribe. And, with this knowledge, he embarks on a journey that will lead him across the famed nightingale floor—and to his own unimaginable destiny...

Not something I would usually pick up to read - the back cover blurb doesn't do the book justice. 

I was worried at first that I would get too confused by all the different names, and wouldn't be able to keep track of who was who, but it wasn't as issue. The characters were beautifully written.

I read a few reviews before I started so I already knew it was set in fictional times, I wasn't bothered at all that it didn't follow a true-to-life order.  

I loved it and will definitely keep reading to finish the trilogy and see how it ends.