Book Review: Freckles by Cecelia Ahern

“Five people. Five stars. Freckle to freckle. Star to star.”

Published on 2nd September, Freckles by Cecelia Ahern follows Allegra Bird, nicknamed Freckles, who is told by a stranger that: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” These words turn her highly ordered life upside down. In her current life as a parking warden, she has left her eccentric father and unconventional childhood behind for a bold new life in the city. But a single encounter leads her to ask the question she’s been avoiding for so long: who are the people who made her the way she is? And who are the five people who can shape and determine her future?

Rating:

Thank you to NetGalley for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Freckles is a touching and thought-provoking story about finding your place in the world and growing into your own skin that is sure to resonate with its readers.

I love the character of Freckles and found her so relatable. She comes across as strong-minded and says what she feels, but she also has a vulnerability to her, a sensitive nature that sees her fretting about other people’s opinions of her and questioning her own opinions of herself. I could see a lot of myself in her as someone who is happy to sit in the background, so I enjoyed seeing how she dealt with the current obstacles in her life and this newly-applied life motto that has made her re-examine the people she keeps closest.

There are a few really heartwarming moments and the ending, especially, left me on such a positive note. There’s definitely a lot that I will take away from this book, but it just took me a while to get into and the emotional moments were too sparse for me to love this more. But I would definitely recommend this for readers who enjoy a slower journey and minimalised plot, and Freckles is certainly a character that I will think about often.