The best B&B accommodation during our Ireland holiday was at Kilburn House, a lovely farm close to Killarney. In addition to great hospitality they also have an amazing book swap shelf used by travellers all over the world. I spent ages going through the contents of the shelf and enjoyed every minute of it :). I left one BC book to the shelf and this is the book I took from the shelf in return. I just had to choose this, as it was on my wishlist as well as on others...

Synopsis:

"How can you know someone you've never met?

Joyce Conway remembers things she shouldn't. She knows about tiny cobbled streets in Paris, which she has never visited. And every night she dreams about an unknown little girl with blonde hair.

Justin Hitchcock is divorced, lonely and restless. He arrives in Dublin to give a lecture on art and is persuaded to donate blood. It's the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time.

When Joyce leaves hospital after a terrible accident, with her life and her marriage in pieces, she moves back in with her elderly father. All the while, a strong sense of deja vu is overwhelming her and she can't figure out why..."

EDIT June 30, 2009

I started reading this in the plane on the way back to Finland. Feel-good fairytales always make good plane reading as they distract you from the sorrowful matter of your holiday ending soon :). Then I had to read something there in between and got to finish this only today. This was again a lovely book from Ahern with vivid, lively characters and a heart-warming plot. Yes, it is much a fairytale with its magical telepathic elements and I read it as such, not comparing it with the everyday life and the reality there. This is also the most humorous Ahern book I have read so far, especially the comments Joyce's dad makes in the book were quite hilarious and got me laughing out loud many times. Additionally, this book also has a distinctive Irish feel in it. The parts on touring Dublin were nice to read after having just toured there myself. Amazingly, on the streets of Dublin, we even saw the same style Viking touring bus that can also move on water which Joyce and her dad rode in the book. So this Viking bus really exists and seemed to be really popular too as it was full of people :).

What a surprise! I received this wishlist book of mine from Bookgeo in our local BC-meeting tonight. Thank you so much!! I see a special value in this book, because you have carried it with you all the way from Ireland. I wish I could visit Kilburn House myself one day...

I've felt several disappointments with Ahern's books after my favourite PS I Love You, but I liked this one very much. This story is a harmless and warm-hearted fairytale with happy ending, I eagerly wanted to read the story during a couple of days to know, what happens to Joyce and Justin. I liked the relationship between Joyce and her elderly father, too, there were many humorous incidents indeed :)
I think I might re-read this some day, if I had a possibility to visit Dublin, but now the book is available for new readers.

#59 for reduce Mount TBR 2010 Challenge by DoveiLibri

EDIT 020510

Sannuli was the fastest to catch this book in the book relay of the Finnish BC-forum.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

En yleensä postita kirjaa tällä tavoin aukaistuna, mutta otin nyt riskin, koska yli 3 cm paksun kirjan postittaminen on niin paljon kalliimpaa. Toivottavasti saapuu Itä-Suomeen ehjänä :) Lukuiloa!

EDIT 080510

Sain viestin, että kirja on saapunut Sannulille - journal entrykin ilmestynee aikanaan...

Thanks for the book lukutuoli :)

I've liked Cecelia Ahern's books because besides sweetness, they are always a sort of fairytales too. This one isn't one of her best ones even though I liked it and read it through pretty easy and fast. I liked the parts of knowing architecture stuff (and I absolutely loved Joyce Conways Dad!) , but the thing about the blood... This time Ahern's fairytale didn't work for me, I (or rather my imagination) just couldn't buy that donating blood would make someone to know all about you. Something about that bothered me, maybe it went too close to reality of blood donation or something. Nevertheless, this one too is worth reading anytime :)

Enjoy :)

Thanks for the Thanks for the memories!:)

I took the book with me to my travels and passed it on...:)

Lovely book, really enjoyed it!

Kirja löytyi kaupunginkirjaston BC-hyllystä ja nappasin sen mukaani, vaikka hyllyssäni onkin lukemattomia kirjoja. Paljon.
En ole lukenut Ahernia aiemmin, mutta takakannen perusteella uskon pitäväni tästä.