My first Cecelia Ahern book. Perhaps not the best choice for my debut with this author.

Pet hate number one: present-tense narrative. This just didn't work (it never, ever does) and especially when used during a flashback.

There was a lot of toing and froing between past and present, but there was no indication of the change, so it got very messy and confusing. There was a dramatic leap in the last ten per cent, where the main character went from being pregnant with her first child, to then having three children, then eight grandchildren. Bish bash bosh…all done in a few pages.

It's an intriguing story about Alice, who sees people's energies and emotions in colour: synaesthesia, and how it affects her. Well executed and for the most part well written. The present-tense narrative was a big negative for me as were some bad grammatical errors…even the editor didn't pick up the misuse of 'less and few' amongst them.

Despite the reader being totally overlooked in the author's acknowledgements (we do matter, you know), I was somehow quite immersed and I was impressed by the writing. The big question is, will I read more of this author? Hmm. Maybe. Hopefully, the next book won't be the ghastly present-tense narrative. ( )