Book of Tomorrow [Paperback]

 

 

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Tamara Goodwin has it all: good looks, nice clothes, a car waiting for her on her 17th birthday. That is until her dad decides to take his own life and her world collapses around her. Tamara and her mother, who is lost inside of a deep fog, move in with her Aunt Rosaleen and Uncle Arthur who live in the middle of nowhere, and suddenly Tamara's life is drastically different. With nothing to do, Tamara takes an interest in the travelling library and Marcus, the handsome boy who runs it. Tamara is drawn to a thick book which is padlocked in the non-fiction section. With the help of Sister Ignatius, the nun who Tamara has befriended, she opens it and finds that this is "The Book of Tomorrow". Every morning Tamara wakes and finds a diary entry, in her handwriting, dated with tomorrow's date and telling of tomorrow's events. This isn't the only strange thing that happens. Tamara's Aunt Rosaleen is doing mysterious things and keeping unusually close tabs on Tamara. Tamara is determined to get to the bottom of her aunt's secrecy, and with the help of her new friend Weseley, they start on a journey that will lead her to the answers that she's been looking for.

I'll admit that I didn't like Tamara at the beginning of the book. She was a spoiled brat who didn't care about anyone but herself, who was too busy mourning the loss of her old lifestyle to care about anyone else around her. She'd had everything handed to her on a silver platter up until this point in her life and she didn't see any reason for that to stop. As the book continues on, I thankfully began to like her. The spoiled brat disappeared and was replaced with someone on a quest for the truth, no matter how painful that truth may be. Towards the end of the novel Tamara turns into an intelligent girl with a new sense of compassion for those around her. Ahern managed to not make this transformation cliche, and instead made it a natural progression.

I ended up really enjoying The Book of Tomorrow. Mystery and intrigue were present in spades, and the build-up to the revelation of the secrets at the end was wonderful. Although I found the beginning of the book a little slow, by the end I was racing to see what would happen next and what the mystery and secrecy was all about. The conclusion was absolutely satisfying: although the ending is not a completely happy one, it does leave room for the reader to hope that everything turns out okay for Tamara and her mom.

Source: Received from publicist. Many thanks goes to Mark from HarperCollins for sending me a copy of this book for review. I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

Tamara Goodwin has everything she could ever ask for, until one day her world caves in around her. With her father gone, leaving his family to deal with the massive amount of debt that he had incurred before his death, Tamara and her mother have no choice but to move in with Tamara's Aunt Rosaleen and Uncle Arthur. To say that Tamara's world has turned upside down is an understatement. Removed from everything and everyone that matters to her, Tamara has to get used to her new living arrangements, and living in the middle of nowhere is not her idea of fun especially with the erratic behaviour of her Aunt. When she finds a book that journals her future, she is left with more questions than answers, and resolves to find out just what is going on in her new home.
Tamara is a spoiled brat at the start of the book, and she states that she is going to change. Whether she does or not is up to the reader's interpretation. I honestly didn't find her that bad. Yes, she made some bad choices, but overall I found that from the start of the book to the end her character had marked improvement and she learned a lot from her mistakes. She is very much a product of her upbringing and once she sees the world from a different perspective, she realizes just how spoiled she is and vows to change. I could empathize with her character, and found her questioning everything around her quite realistic. Her relationship with her mother is also a work in progress, but ultimately we see that Tamara cares about her and will do anything for her.
Though this is very much a contemporary read, there is a sense of mysticism as well. With a journal that predicts the events of tomorrow, Tamara feels scared and confused, until the events written in the journal start coming true. Now she'll use the book to see if she can change the future and find the truth.
Tamara's relations are an interesting pair to say the least. Arthur is very much a man of few words, however I think he truly cares for his wife, as well as his sister and niece. Rosaleen on the other hand is a character that garners both compassion and mistrust. She is a character that will make the reader feel conflicting emotions as they try to figure out what she is up to, and she will keep them guessing until the very end. Though the book revolves around Tamara and her extended family, the secondary characters add to the story as well. Sister Ignatius is one such character, and every scene with her adds light and humour to the read.
With an intricate and interwoven plot, this is a haunting coming of age story. Both beautiful in the telling and appropriately mystifying, the reader will be engaged from the first glimpse of the underlying mystery. Memorable characters, and a devious undercurrent will bring this family full circle. With a storyline that is geared towards both the young adult and adult market, The Book of Tomorrow is sure to have massive crossover genre appeal.

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