Good Afternoon Everyone,

I hope you’re all having a good day and a good week so far. Not a lot has been going on with me other than usual daily life so I haven’t got much to report. One small win is that after this post, I am 100% up to date with ARC reviews and all future ones will be posted prior to publication. It’s taken me a while, but I got there in the end.

Book 📖

Thank you to @Cecelia_Ahern and @HarperCollinsUK for this advanced copy of Freckles in return for an honest review. Freckles was published on 2nd September 2021 and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

Allegra Bird (Freckles) hasn’t had a conventional upbringing and when she reaches her early twenties, she decides to make the bold step and move from her small town to Dublin. Failing to get her dream job she settles for becoming a parking warden and when on her patrol, a stranger tells her that she is the average of the five people she spends the most time with.

This hits a chord with Allegra; who were the five who made her who she is today and who are the five who will shape who she becomes?

General Thoughts 🤔

This book turned out to be nothing like I expected which is a bit odd because I don’t know what I expected. What I do know is that I really enjoyed it. It was a story about being human and vulnerable and putting yourself into situations that involve risk and bravery.

Freckles was a slow burner but I felt it was right for the story. The story is about Allegra and her journey to find herself and her five and that isn’t something that can be packed into two chapters. I thought that her story was uplifting and heart warming but also heart breaking at the same time.

Characters 👭👬👫

Allegra is obviously the main character and I liked her straight away; awkwardness and all. No matter what other people told her or how they judged her, she continued on her mission with her head held high (most of the time). She was understandably troubled and I don’t think I would have been as brave as her if in her shoes so I had the upmost respect for her.

There are lots of other characters in the story that either help or hinder Allegra but my favourite one was Tristan. I love books where there are characters that don’t turn out to be anything like how you expect them to be. Tristan was that for me. From an outsiders perspective, he seemed to be arrogant and ignorant but once the layers started to peel back, it became clear that he was just as vulnerable as Allegra.

Writing Style ✍️

Freckles is written completely from Allegra’s perspective and in her voice. I loved her voice. The back and forth of her internal monologues was fantastically written and made me giggle at even the moments when she wasn’t her happiest.

I enjoyed that that story was hinged on the “five people” phrase and at times dictated Allegra’s actions before coming full circle and concluding the story with the five people theme. It was a lovely way to conclude.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖️

I really enjoyed Freckles and loved her character. There are certainly things that happened to her that I can relate to in my own life and therefore empathise with her. I laughed and felt sad during the course of reading this book so it was a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but I’m glad that I went on the ride.

😍😍😍😍😩