Love, Rosie by Cecilia Ahern
a.k.a my two favorite romance troupes in one book. Book review # 24.
Love, Rosie is one of my comfort books. One of my all-time favorite books even. I have been in a reading slump the past few days after reading Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel - a really great but heavy book. And the only way to cure it was to pick up one of my comfort books.
This is my nth time reading Love, Rosie as evidenced by my copy’s spine creases. It’s one of my older books and it has oxidized so much it stinks and gives me a sneezing session every few hours. But I love my worn-down copy. It’s old but treasured. It’s crumbling but only because it gets picked up often.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 stars
Alex and Rosie have been best friends since they were five. As they move into their teenage years, they start to see each other in a more romantic light - until Alex’s family have to move to the United States. Over the years and across oceans, they have remained friends and had been there for each other through everything but neither can admit their feelings for each other. We follow all their missed opportunities on being together through a series of letters, emails, news articles, and instant messages. Through decades of missed opportunities, you’d think destiny will run out of excuses for them not be together. It doesn’t. It’s 400 pages of missed opportunities. It also doesn’t help that both Alex and Rosie can be incredibly stupid and make idiotic decision sometimes. If you’re impatient, this is not a book for you. You’ll even become frustrated for them too. But for me, I love the years of anguish and of hoping. I love the suspense (yes, suspense) of just when they’re trying to move on, the other one tries to reach out again.
The reason I love this book so much is because it’s two of my favorite romance troupe in one book (though I rarely read romance novels). It’s the best friends to lovers and the main characters fall in love at the wrong time but eventually find each other years later troupe.
One can say that Love, Rosie can be a cliche romance story. It is. But it’s also funny, sad, and Rosie will really tug your heart. Not only do we follow a romance story but we also see a woman who takes control of her life and rises above despite all the challenges thrown at her. Rosie’s friend Ruby is sarcastic and unsentimental but you can’t help but love her as well. It’s very easy to read and I think you can finish it in a day and a half. The first 100 pages will have you smiling all the time. And that what makes it a comfort read.
What I’m Reading This Week
This is going to be my last post for this year. By the time you get this newsletter, I will be at my mother’s house playing with my nieces and hoping I can squeeze in some reading time. This week I will be reading The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris. If you’ve read it already, let me know what you think about it!
