One Hundred Names Review

  One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern

Synopsis

The uplifting and thoughtful novel from the uniquely talented author. Everyone has a story to tell...Journalist Kitty Logan's career has been destroyed by scandal, and she now faces losing the woman who guided her and taught her everything she knew. At her mentor's bedside, Kitty asks her - what is the one story she always wanted to write? The answer lies in a file buried in Constance's office: a list of one hundred names. There is no synopsis, nothing to explain what the story is or who these people are. The list is simply a mystery. But before Kitty can talk to her friend, it is too late. With everything to prove, Kitty is assigned the most important task of her life - to write the story her mentor never had the opportunity to. Kitty has to not only track down and meet the people on the list, but find out what connects them. And, in the process of hearing ordinary people's stories, she uncovers Constance's - and starts to understand her own...

Lisa's Review - 5 out of 5 stars

I was thrilled to receive this copy of One Hundred Names to review from Harper Collins, as I have read a few of Cecelia Aherns previous books and really enjoyed them, so couldn't wait to sink into this one! And 'sink' is probably the best word to use to describe how I read this book. It is one of those heart warming books that make you sink into the sofa and forget the rest of the world exists.

We jump into Kittys world when everything is going wrong. After making a horrifically bad journalistic decision, Kitty finds herself at the root of a massive court case and her career is falling to pieces. In the midst of all this, her friend, mentor and boss, Constance, passes away. Constance leaves behind a file containing 100 names, and Kitty needs to find what connects these names to write Constance's final story.

Although Constance as a character isn't in the book for very long and there isn't too much detail into her death or funeral, it was still enough that I felt my heart wrenching, for me it was very emotional. Constance's presence is throughout the book and for a character that isn't around, you cannot help but feel a connection to her, and hope that Kitty delivers.

Being honest, I thought Kitty would be a very difficult character to warm to. From the beginning of the book, she comes across as selfish, self centred and arrogant. I couldn't help but think that she deserved all she got! But as the book continued, it seemed that Kitty was growing and transforming, not just as a character but as a person, too, with each turn of the page. By the time I got to the end, I had fallen in love with Kitty and was willing her to succeed, not just in her mission to finish Constance's story, but in her love life and her career too.

As I read on, I began to worry that with 100 names on the list, I was going to get very lost with all the different characters that would appear, and had a kind of assumption that it might be a 'one character per chapter' thing, but even better it wasn't like that, and without giving anything away, the characters were easy to follow, they were all incorporated into the story together, and in fact I think I fell in love with every character off the list, too.

One Hundred Names isn't only a 'romantic chick lit' book, it was heart warming, it was funny, it was sad, and in places it was serious. I found myself being carried away into a broad spectrum of emotions, being whisked around on a rollercoaster, laughing, crying, being disgusted, getting angry. Throw into that relatable, and pretty realistic to boot. Most stories take us into a world of fantasy, Cecelia Ahern takes us into a world where you can imagine these things happening, not sitting afterwards and thinking how far fetched it all was.

I know a book is good when I sit down, curl up and start to read, then look up what I think is 5 minutes later, to realise an hour has flown by, I am 140 pages in, and reluctant to put the book down. Which is exactly what happened with One Hundred Names. I spent 3 evenings curled up with this book, and it still only feels like it was a couple of hours. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it finished! I wanted to read on about Kitty, and all the other characters, but I have to accept that a book needs to end somewhere!!

Links

http://uk.cecelia-ahern.com/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17925070-one-hundred-names

Purchase Links

One Hundred Names - Amazon

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/cecelia+ahern/one+hundred+names/9408223/