I absolutely love everything that Cecelia Ahern writes! This book in particular is really unique and so different to other stories out there. I love the idea of being able to really see what people are thinking and feeling by seeing the colour around them. Alice, from a very young age, has had the ability to see people's auras. They display themselves and their emotions by bursts of colour that emit from a body. Not only can she see peoples colours but if she gets too close can also feel the emotions they are feeling. Although to some this special power may seem amazing, to Alice its a hinderance. It stops Alice from being able to really get to know others, she is wary of everyone around her and she also suffers from blinding headaches as a result. Her childhood is traumatic, her dad left and her mum suffers with bipolar. Her older brother is her idol but he goes away to college and her younger brother ends up in prison. After finishing boarding school for "special kids", Alice returns home to look after her ailing mum. Will she ever be able to live a fulfilling life and learn to feel her own emotions? This is a great story. I think in some ways it would be great to be able to really see someone. We would be able to avoid the dangerous ones without having to experience getting hurt first.

Cecelia Ahern has a way of writing her stories, so the words literally bounce off the page and wrap you in a warm hug. I love her books – and this one is no exception. It really is a Wow read and I absolutely adored it from page 1. Alice is just a young girl when she starts seeing colors swirling around her mother, Lily. Soon she starts seeing colours around everyone and soon learns they are reflecting the person’s mood & emotions. But Alice doesn't want the gift, and struggles with adjusting to being different to everyone else. At times, it's overwhelming for her feeling everyone's emotions, so she hides away from the world and only interacts with very few people. The story follows Alice with her gift, and the people in her life – her disturbing and difficult relationship with her Mother and Brother Ollie, her elder Brother Hugh and then later her first boyfriend, husband, children and grandchildren. Make sure you have a box of tissues handy for the last 5 or so pages. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, which I think is so easy when giving a review – I highly recommend this book. Such a beautiful story of family and love.

I absolutely loved this book. I’ve been struggling to find time to read lately and this absolutely brought back my reading mojo! I loved the main character from the beginning and feel like I went through all the highs and lows of life with her. I love that Cecelia Ahern makes her such a strong woman from such challenging circumstances. But I really love how she demonstrates the rich tapestry of life that we all experience, the friendships we have along the way and how they sustain us at different times. The real life setting for the story gives it such a readable edge. You can really imagine the scenarios and situations- some of them we have all lived, some of them only some of us will have experience of. But the optimism which runs through it and the sense of making the most of life with the gifts you are given is exactly the message I wanted to hear. Loved the book!

A Thousand Different Ways is the story of Alice Kelly who can see people in ways others cannot, even themselves. Her senses allow her to see colours around people, hear music as shapes and determine the emotions of others through this. She has been able to do this since childhood. This is a positive and negative for Alice but becomes a problem when she meets someone whose colours she cannot see. I have read a number of books by Celia Ahern and have always enjoyed her writing style. This is a different approach to her previous books. I loved it and was incredibly moved by it. When fictional writing has the power to evoke such emotion, for me, that demonstrates the ability and skill of the author to take me on a journey with the character, caring about the outcomes. With themes of mental health and childhood abuse this book deals with some difficult emotions but cleverly and expertly. I am never disappointed with a book by Cecelia Ahern and was not by this. A brilliant read.

Is life ever simple—full of perfect, charming happiness, with nothing ever going wrong? This book gently reminds us that it’s not. Through Alice and her unique ability to see people’s emotions as colours, we’re offered a touching insight into what real people are like beneath the surface. I found myself wondering what it would be like to have her gift. It made me think differently about the people I pass on my morning dog walks—what invisible colours might they be carrying with them? Each character in the story brought something meaningful to Alice’s journey, and I found myself falling in love with what each one taught her. The title A Thousand Different Ways is a beautiful reflection of life itself: no two lives are ever the same, and each path is valid in its own way. We really are lucky just to be here. Beautifully written—a complete joy to read.