Rosie Dunne

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: A beautiful and lovely romantic story that qualifies as a page turner. The characters are just great and at times hilarious. The plot is amzing. I loved it.

Also recommended:DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, KITE RUNNER

Rating:
Summary: Just OK
Review: Following up on the popularity of PS I Love You, Cecelia Ahern has written another book about lost love but in Rosie Dunne the story is about bad timing.

Rosie and Alex were best friends since they were very small children. Everyone around them knew that some day they would fall in love and end up spending the rest of their lives together but it took over thirty years to get it right. With Rosie and Alex we learn that timing is everything. Missed opportunities and understandings, marriage, divorce, children, all seem to stand in the way of the inevitable.

Written in letter, email, post card and telephone passages Rosie Dunne really could have been a much better book. It took the entire 400+ pages for these two people to get together and from time to time I just wanted to reach out and slap Rosie and Alex and say "wake up and smell the coffee".

If you are looking for an easy read with a happy ending, Rosie Dunne will do the job. Just dont expect to be wowed.


Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: I enjoyed Rosie Dunne. It is a very good book, just as good as her first book P.S. I Love You. As a lovely romantic story, it qualifies as the types that are considered as page-turners and that you will certainly come back to. The pace is fast, the settings are real and the characters are spectacular. This book takes the reader through the ordinary lessons of life where mistakes are made, objectives are achieved and happiness and sadness often at crossroads.

What is more about this beautifully crafted love story is Ahern's exquisite writing style and his remarkable talent for this genre. Life is all about choices and making the best bargain with it. The way Rosie's and Alex's childhoods are told and the unique way that the writer told the story through letters, emails, instant messages and text messages etc was remarkable. Despite its few flaws, this novel was endearing.

Also recommended: THE USURPER by Janvier Tisi, SILVER LINING, ANNA KARENINA

Rating:
Summary: Witty and touching.
Review: I loved this book as much as I loved Ahern's first novel. Although it took a few pages to get into the story (I was expecting more about Rosie and Alex's childhood) it didn't take long before I was hooked. The entire story is told through emails, instant messages, letters, and text messages which sometimes could get a little tedious but it didn't detract from the story that much. Although the inevitable ending is predictable, the means that Rosie and Alex employ to reach their end constantly provided surprises. Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable, light read.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I really expected to love this book. Written entirely in the form of letters, notes, e-mails and telephone conversations, its easy to read and at first goes fast.

Alex and Rosie have been best friends since childhood and when he ended up living in the states, the plan was for her to go to school there too. They know that someday they will be married. But something happens and both their lives spin off into new directions.

This is fine at first but after awhile I found myself getting irritated at how stupid these 2 people actually were. And it seemed to go on and on and on........

I should have gotten this book from the library - or maybe not at all.

The cover is good tho!

Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: I though this book was very good, as good as her first one. it's a lovely romantic story that keep you hooked.

Rating:
Summary: This author's on a roll! Book #2 is a HIT!
Review: Looks like Cecelia Ahern is making a name for herself, and will soon find herself up there with other Best Selling authors like Elizabeth Berg, Luanne Rice, Debbie Macomber and Kristin Hannah. If you liked P.S. I LOVE YOU, "ROSIE" won't let you down!

The entire book is told through emails, instant messages, cards and letters. I've seen other authors attempt this format, but not since Debbie Macomber's BETWEEN FRIENDS have I seen one so well done. The story is easy to follow and spans the lifetime of best friends Rosie and Alex.

Of course, the ending is predictable, and I completely disagree with the readers who thought they should have gotten together sooner. I think these readers completely missed the true meaning & message of the book. This isn't a love story about Rosie & Alex becoming a couple. This is a story about following your heart in order to make your lifelong wishes & dreams come true, no matter how far out of reach they may seem, or how many mistakes are made along the way. Besides always loving Alex, Rosie dreams of owning a hotel ever since she was a teenaged girl. She goes back to school when she's 30 and graduates at the same time her daughter graduates HS! While loving Rosie from afar, we see Alex go to school and become a well respected heart surgeon. We see how the friendship between Katie & Toby blooms, and follow along as each of them makes their own dreams come true. Even the supporting charcters follow their hearts in order to make their dreams come true (I could just picture Ruby salsa dancing - now wouldn't that be fun!) Everyone in this story has a dream to follow - from Rosie's parents, her friends, sister, brother, and even her boss (BTW, another hidden message inside of this book - be careful of your nicknames for your school principal - it could come back to haunt you!!

The author does a fine job of creating supporting characters - I absoutely LOVED Rosie's best girlfriend Ruby!! We meet Rosie's family, and just like real-life families, we watch them grow up and go their separate ways, yet come together when they need each other the most. I loved how Rosie's daughter's life mirrored her own as we watch the friendship between Katie and Toby progress at nearly the same speed that Rosie and Alex's does.

The only reason I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because of two areas I thought were weak: I thought that the whole idea of the "Divorced Womens" chat room was out of place and could have been skipped. I found these sections kind of pointless & distracting, and they really seemed out of place with the rest of the story (and what was with the internet wedding & the revealing of the visitor's names??!). Another part I found very unbelievable & out of place, was Rosie's placement after graduation. Since the rest of the novel felt so "true to life", this part just seemed a little over the top, and didn't quite fit in. Otherwise, the letters and messages told the entire story, and were well put together and easy to follow. I really liked how the story was told. Since the letters and messages are written by the characters themselves, it's easy to get inside the hearts and heads of each one, and "no" what each was thinking & feeling. The story is told with lots of emotion, just as if you were reading a letter from a family member or a friend.

I really liked P.S. I LOVE YOU, but I have to be honest, I loved ROSIE DUNNE more. I anxiously look forward to future novels from this promising young author. If ROSIE is any indication, they will only continue to get better!





Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: ROSIE DUNNE by Cecelia Ahern
February 8, 2005


ROSIE DUNNE by Cecelia Ahern is the story of two best friends who should belong together, but due to bad timing end up with various other partners. Throughout the years, Rosie Dunne and Alex Stewart are best friends who find that at some point in their lives, are falling in love with the other. Of course neither of them knows how the other feels. In the mean time, their story is told through notes, emails and letters sent to each other or by friends and family.

While this method of story-telling has worked with other novels, most notably with THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Meg Cabot, it doesn't quite work as well in ROSIE DUNNE. While the plot line works quite well and is very entertaining, the letters themselves were sometimes too wordy to feel real. The author should have told the story in a different way, as the letters and emails in this book took away from the enjoyment of the story as a whole. I did find the ending to be satisfactory and I do not regret reading the book, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been written differently. ROSIE DUNNE gets a recommendation from me, with a warning to those who may find the letter writing somewhat tedious at times.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected, but not awful either
Review: Rosie Dunne by Cecelia Ahern started out really good. I couldn't wait to see Alex and Rosie finally get together. However, the book got boring about halfway through as I realized Alex and Rosie would be late middle-aged before (if ever) they did get together.

I think though, that the book would have been much better (less boring) if, a) the author had switched back and forth between regular narrative style and the style of letters/IMs/emails; and b) Rosie and Alex had gotten together sooner. So much more could have been added to this story if we'd actually followed Rosie and Alex on their different trips back and forth from Boston and Ireland. Instead we are left with choppy information included in follow-up emails and letters after each returns home from these trips. I didn't care for that very much. Details are what keep novels interesting.

Also, I got a little tired of seeing one thing after another come between Alex and Rosie. It just seemed like things could have happened sooner, but for the sake of drawing out this book, the author chose to keep letting annoying little things get in the way of that connection finally being made.

So, in all, since I liked the idea of this book, half liked the presentation, and half liked the conclusion, I'll rate this book three out of five stars. Recommended for anyone looking for a quick, girly read (if you can make it through the boring sections). I read this book in about a day.