Alice Janell

Probably best known for being the author of "P.S., I Love You", Cecelia Ahern brings another charming tale to life in "The Book of Tomorrow".

Though I am very familiar with the movie "P.S., I Love You", I was unfamiliar with Ahern's writing. I received "The Book of Tomorrow" as an advanced reading copy from Harper, and I am glad that I got the opportunity to discover Ahern's writing.

"The Book of Tomorrow" follows sixteen-year-old Tamara Goodwin, a spoiled brat who has always gotten what she wants. When her father dies and leaves the family in debt, Tamara's world does a 180 and she and her mother are forced to move with her aunt and uncle into a world with no modern luxuries.

No TV. No computer. No Facebook. No Twitter.

Already, I'm kind of sympathizing with Tamera. A spoiled brat she may be, but living without Twitter? That's all kinds of cruel.

As you can probably imagine, Tamara grows bored with her new life very quickly. Her mother is grieving to the point that she's almost comatose, her uncle communicates with grunts and snorts and her aunt is just plain weird. Soon, however, Tamara makes a friend in Marcus --- a cute boy who works from a traveling library --- and in Sister Ignatius --- a nun who lives in the abbey down the road and is a little more than what she seems.

To pass the time at her new home, Tamara begins keeping a diary out of a blank book from Marcus' traveling library.

Except that the diary entries are all from tomorrow. Tamara hasn't actually written in it yet.

When tomorrow passes exactly as it has in the diary, Tamara discovers that she can change the things out of her control. Like what's wrong with her mother? And what's up with the mysterious neighbors and why doesn't anyone tell her anything?

"The Book of Tomorrow" begins a little slow for my tastes, but I'm glad I stuck with it because what ensues is a truly heart-warming tale about a teenage girl who learns that there is more to life than parties and Prada and that somethings can't be changed no matter what you do.

Ultimately, Tamara learns that she is responsible for the consequences of her actions, which causes her to think more about her actions. I thought this was a great piece of advice to weave into the story.

Ahern writes beautifully and is truly adept at giving the reader little nuggets of clues as the story slowly unfolds. Fair warning, however, though this book is intended for a YA audience, there is a lot of sex talk and F bombs. Despite that, the story is compelling, unique and very, very enjoyable.

Four stars.