How is it possible to know someone you've never met?
With her marriage already in pieces, Joyce Conway nearly lost everything else. But she survived the terrible accident that left her hospitalized—and now, inexplicably, she can remember faces she has never seen, cobblestone Parisian streets she's never visited. A sudden, overwhelming sense of dÉjÀ vu has Joyce feeling as if her life is not her own.
Justin Hitchcock's decision to donate blood was the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time. He chased his ex-wife and daughter from Chicago to London—and now, restless and lonely, he lectures to bored college students in Dublin. But everything is about to change with the arrival of a basket of muffins with a thank-you note enclosed—the first in a series of anonymous presents that will launch Justin into the heart of a mystery . . . and alter two lives forever.
From Publishers Weekly
Contrivance and a multitude of sitcom mixups drive Ahern's fifth novel. When Joyce Conway gets a blood transfusion after a tragic accident that caused her to miscarry, she strangely picks up the memories of her donor. Upon release from the hospital, she moves in with her father to try to cope with her impending divorce and the loss of her baby, but ends up instead on a wild goose chase after feeling a connection with a mysterious, smoldering stranger in a hair salon. Their relationship is obvious to the reader immediately, which makes the following several hundred pages a less than satisfying exercise in delaying the inevitable. Fans of Ahern's earlier work won't be disappointed with the fairy tale–like feeling, but readers not already in the fold might not stick around to the obvious conclusion. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
A hurried trip down a flight of stairs in her home costs Joyce Conway the thing she wanted most: her baby. A blood transfusion saves her life, but after Joyce wakes up, she finds herself with knowledge and memories she knows aren’t her own. As her marriage falls apart, Joyce becomes fixated on two things—a handsome American man named Justin she met the day she got out of the hospital, and finding out who donated the blood—and she finds herself on a quest for both. If Ahern’s last novel, the wonderful There’s No Place Like Here (2008), was among her best, this latest entry is one of her weaker offerings. The lead characters are thin, and in the case of Joyce’s father, downright annoying, and the games Joyce plays wear a little thin. Still, Ahern devotees will enjoy the magical connection that springs up between Joyce and Justin, and will keep turning the pages to find out if the two can make their way to a happy ending together. --Kristine Huntley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Love and déjà vu feature in this wacky fairy tale about a woman ‘transfused’ with a stranger’s memories. The romance is just what you’d expect from the popular author of P.S. I Love You.” (Good Housekeeping )
“Ahern cleverly uses the same mystical flirtations that made her P.S. I Love You a big-screen rom-com.” (Marie Claire )
“The what-if questions that arise [in Thanks for the Memories] give us full permission to believe in magic.” (Redbook Magazine )
“Ahern has a knack for getting to the heart of human emotions--Joyce’s emotional pain is palpable, as is Justin’s longing for meaning in his life.” (Library Journal )
“Ahern devotees will enjoy the magical connection that springs up between Joyce and Justin, and will keep turning the pages to find out if the two can make their way to a happy ending together.” (Booklist )
“Tender and funny . . . Nice comic timing and [an] affectionate portrayal of a father and daughter.” (Kirkus Reviews )
“Cecelia Ahern follows the success of her novel P.S. I Love You with another must-read book. Thanks for the Memories leads readers on a journey of the heart in this profound story.” (Complete Woman )
About the Author
At twenty-one, Cecelia Ahern wrote her first novel, P.S. I Love You, which became an international bestseller and was adapted into a major motion picture starring Hilary Swank. Her successive novels—Love, Rosie; If You Could See Me Now; There's No Place Like Here; Thanks for the Memories; The Gift; and The Time of My Life—were also international bestsellers, published in forty-six countries and selling more than 15 million copies collectively. The daughter of Ireland's former prime minister, Ahern lives in Dublin, Ireland.
