Review: How to Fall in Love

I've been a fan of Cecelia Ahern for years (possibly since the movie P.S. I Love You was being promoted as I would have read the book before the movie was released!) so when I received an advanced copy of her latest, How to Fall in Love, I was thrilled. It was released back on October 24th but it took me awhile to get around to it. Craziness as I ended up devouring it in one day. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon read!

Here's the synopsis:

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?

Friends and family had been asking me what I thought of this book as soon as I said I finished it. That was good preparation for this review! I realized that I didn't love this because it was amazing in a literary sense but because the story completely grabbed me and would not let go. I was invested in Christine and Adam's story and I was feeling Christine's nerves when she worried about "saving" Adam before his birthday deadline. I also really liked reading about the love and affection that grew between the two of them. Their feelings grew naturally and they had a lot of fun together - even though they were dealing with a super serious issue. I also liked that it wasn't just Christine helping Adam but that he helped her as well. They learned from each other and I enjoyed seeing that.

There wasn't a magical element to this novel like with some of Ahern's others but there was still a strong sense of fate and how that plays into our lives. By this I mean that there seemed to be some cosmic reason for what Christine had gone through and why she and Adam met. It sort of makes you think about how, why, and when certain people come into your life.

Even though this book is dealing with Christine trying to keep Adam from killing himself, a less than cheerful topic, there were still a lot of lighthearted moments. Christine's family, for example, provided a lot of comic relief. I also loved hearing about how Adam first asked his ex-girlfriend out. He dressed up as Waldo from Where's Waldo? and showed up everywhere she was for an entire day but didn't say a thing to her. How much fun is that?

I can't really give a concrete reason why I loved How to Fall in Love so much, I just did. It was one of those books I adored reading from start to finish. Cecelia Ahern's latest novel is by no means perfect but the issues I had didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of this novel. It was a definite winner for me!

*An advanced copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for an honest review.*