Book Review - A Place Called Here

Author : Cecelia Adhern

Paperback : 496 pages

ISBN : 0007198914

(ISBN 13 : 9780007198917)

My Rating : ★★★★☆

Book Description : Ever since the day her classmate Jenny-May Butler vanished, Sandy Shortt has been haunted by what happens when something - or someone - disappears. Finding has become her goal. 
Jack Ruttle is desperate to find his younger brother Donald who vanished into thin air a year ago. So when he spots an ad for Sandy's missing persons agency, he's certain that she will answer his prayers and find his missing brother.
But then Sandy disappears too, stumbling upon a place that is a world away from the only one she has ever known. Now all she wants, more than anything, is to find her way home. (from back cover)


My Thoughts : This is my first "Cecelia Adhern".
When I was at a book store a week ago there was a corner where they had piles of box sets of her books. Apparently she has written a new book very recently.
And that's when I noticed that she was the author of "P.S. I love you".
Which is a movie I enjoy very much watching. So, I have decided to give her book a shot.

To be frank, I don't know what I was expecting.
A romance? mystery? fiction? a combination of all those?
I just read the back cover and thought of all her books, this seemed most interesting.
And it really was, in a weird way.

I'll tell you, I've never been this confused reading a book in a long while.
I guess I've been thinking that this was some sort of mystery that needs solving and told myself that there's got to be an answer along the way, somewhere !
I kept looking for it, and I think that's why this book confused me through and through.
One thing you need to know.
Don't expect a straight answer from this book, it only gives you more questions.

In a way, that's why I kept on reading. I had to find out what the bleep this was all about !
But it's definitely a story that gives you hope and strength to never give up on something that you believe. Cecelia knows how to keep you on edge and keep on guessing.
I would be delighted to read her other books as well.


Favorite Quotes

In their eyes I could see who they saw and I didn't like it. I saw my reflection in their expressions more than in any mirror. Some people have the power to do that, to look at you and their faces let you know exactly how you're behaving. I suppose it was because they loved me, but I couldn't spend too much time with people who loved me because of those eyes, because of that reflection.

I can only assume that there is only one thing more frustrating than not being able to find someone, and that's not being found. I would want someone to find me, more than anything.

At moments when life is at it's worst there are two things that you can do :
1) break down, lose hope and refuse to go on while lying face down on the ground
banging your fists and kicking your legs, 2) laugh. Bobby and I did the latter.

There's a fine line between love and hate. Love frees a soul and in the same breath can sometimes suffocate it. I walked that tightrope with all the gracefulness of an elephant, my head weighing me to the side of hate, my heart hoisting me to the side of love. It was a wobbly journey and sometimes I fell. Sometimes I fell for long periods of time but never far too long. Never for as long as this.

We all get lost once in a while, sometimes by choice,sometimes due to forces beyond our control. When we learn what it is our soul needs to learn, the path presents itself. Sometimes we see the way out but wonder further and deeper despite ourselves; the fear, the anger or the sadness preventing us returning, sometimes it's easier. Sometimes we find our own way out. But regardless, always, we are found.