If You Could See Me Now by Cecilia Ahern

If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 306

Publisher - Hachette Books

Source - Think a book pal gave me it (was on my tbrm for years)

Blurb from Goodreads

From the bestselling author of P.S. I Love You and Love, Rosie, Cecelia Ahern, comes an enchanting novel that leads you to wonder if Not Seeing is believing!

Readers and critics alike adore Cecelia Ahern for her lighthearted yet insightful stories about modern women and their often unusual situations. In If You Could See Me Now, she takes that theme a step further, offering us a heroine who is entirely believable, and the new man in her life who is, well, slightly less so.

Elizabeth Egan's life runs on order: Both her home and her emotions are arranged just so, with little room for spontaneity. It's how she counteracts the chaos of her family—an alcoholic mother who left when she was young, an emotionally distant father, and a free-spirited sister, who seems to be following in their mother's footsteps, leaving her own six-year-old son, Luke, in Elizabeth's care.

When Ivan, Luke's mysterious new grown-up friend, enters the picture, Elizabeth doesnt know quite what to make of him. With his penchant for adventure and colorful take on things large and small, Ivan opens Elizabeth's eyes to a whole new way of living. But is it for real? Is Ivan for real?

If You Could See Me Now is a love story with heart—and just a touch of magic.



My Review

When you think fantasy its all magic, dragons, space type stuff but for me I would consider this a wee bit in a fantasy type role. Ivan is an adult and what we would call an imaginary friend although he is very much real just not visible to adults/non believers. He goes from one kid to another as they need him. When he becomes friends with Luke he thinks it is Luke he is there for, Luke is looked after by his aunt Elizabeth, a no nonsense woman who has had a pretty rough hand dealt. Her mum was a free spirit and left her and her sister behind with their dad, her sister became a "free spirit" just like her mum and left Luke in Elizabeth's sensible care, only flitting back and forth between dramas and need for money. Her father is also getting on so she is looking after him and working full time and looking after Luke. When it seems maybe Elizabeth can hear Ivan and ivan realises maybe it is Elizabeth he is here for and both may have bigger impacts on the other that they could never have forseen.

Most of us had an invisible friend but imagine that friend was actually real, flitting between people and works for an agency all about befriending/helping those who need him most. It is a very different type of book, it has tragedy, sadness, neglect, family truths/secrets and Elizabeth is so strict/stern and even a bit cold but as the story goes on we understand why she is the way she is. As Ivan becomes more real (and complicated) to her we see her find herself a bit more and the impact she has on Ivan.

I read this on holiday when I was fighting off temps/sickness and feeling rough, it allowed me a little indulgence and thinking back to when I was a wean. If you want something a wee bit out there, different from the normal books you read, bittersweet, personal growth, love, sadness with some magical bits thrown in (not wizard magic, imaginary friend who is real style magic) then this is one for you, I liked it, 3.5/5 for me this time.

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