I've heard so many good things about Cecelia Ahern's books that it's almost shameful how long it's taken me to get around to reading my first one. I always assumed they were pretty straightforward standard romance books, so was pleasantly surprised by the magical realism in the book.
Ivan's job is to act as an imaginary friend (not that he's a fan of the word) to a child who needs him. When he ends up living with Luke and Luke's auntie Elizabeth, he can't quite work out what Luke really needs him for. Sure, he's a little lonely, but he's generally a happy kid.
Elizabeth never intended on becoming a mother, but when her sister Saoirse left, she had no choice but to look after Luke. When she notices him talking to an imaginary friend, she finds this more stressful than almost any of his other childlike antics. However, when she sees Ivan herself she's more disturbed that Luke's befriended an adult man. Ivan is equally horrified by the turn of events: no adult has ever seen him before, so what should he do now?
I genuinely enjoyed this a lot more than I anticipated. At the start I struggled to get into the book because I found the characters quite unlikable: Ivan is tied to his job and Elizabeth is a completely pent up and quite mean aunt for a boy just trying to have fun. However, the character growth in this book is strong, and I loved seeing Elizabeth grow as a person as her relationship with Ivan grew.
This book also totally made me cry (a definite marker that I enjoyed things). I got so wrapped up in the romance that I started to ignore all the warning signs throughout the book, clinging on to the hope of a happy ending. I found it really easy to suspend my belief in facts etc for this and totally immerse myself in the magic of the book, and would recommend for fans of Jenny Colgan or Paige Toon.
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