I was sent a copy of Roar by Cecelia Ahern to read and review by NetGalley. What a tremendous book – I loved it! A collection of short stories about women which I’m sure will resonate with others as much as it did me. This is primarily a book about women for women, but I don’t think it would hurt for men to read it too – they might just learn something! The tales are witty, heartfelt, poignant and magical. I read it from start to finish as a novel, but it would equally suit dipping in for a few moments escapism. Cecelia Ahern at her absolute best – Enjoy!

Roar is a bonkers but brilliant collection of short stories for women. 100% relatable, whimsical, laugh out loud funny at times but also left me with plenty to think about in a totally unbossy way. Loved it

I don't often read short stories but I thought these looked interesting. The first couple of stories really didn't do it for me. I thought they were a bit predictable & the point they were trying to make was too obvious. However as I read on I began to get into the rhythm of them & I began to appreciate how cleverly they were written. This is a good collection to dip in & out of. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

I have read a couple of Cecelia’s books and really enjoyed them. When I was asked if I would like to review Cecelia’s new book ‘Roar’, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Usually I read full length novels so reading ‘Roar’ is a departure from the norm for me but as they say a change is as good as a rest. ‘Roar’ is a collection of 30 short stories about 30 women. I couldn’t wait to dive in to start reading. Well I have to say that I really, really enjoyed reading it but more about that in a bit. It would be unfair for me to single out any one short story for a more detailed review. As a whole the stories are always brief (I know hence the name short story), to the point, emotive and have the underlying message that you shouldn’t hide your light under a bushel, you should just get out there, find a life for yourself and live your life as you want to live it and not live it how other people think you should. I’m not sure if they are the messages that the author wanted to get across but it’s what I have taken away. The author’s writing style is such that she grabs your attention from the word go and her writing casts a spell over you. By that I mean that she keeps your attention until the moment you close the book. I binge read the book over a couple of days and it so worked. I was so taken by the wide variety of stories and the characters within that I found it extremely hard to put the book down. My Kindle wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it came everywhere with me. The stories do contain some tough topics but Cecelia writes about them in a sensitive and compassionate way. She uses such vivid descriptions that I got a real sense of exactly how the female characters felt. Every emotion that they went through, I found myself going through. I also found that I was drawing parallels between my own life/ situation and those that faced the women in the book. In short, Cecelia has another sure fire bestseller on her hands with ‘Roar’. I admit that before I picked the book up I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy a book full of short stories but I am pleased to say that I was so wrong. I absolutely loved reading it and I would definitely recommend that you read it. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

I was sent a copy of Roar to read and reviewby the publishers. This review was contributed by my wife Sue. I found the stories very interesting, and some were easy to relate to. A couple of them were difficult to understand but ths not detract from the overall enjoyment of the collection. There's something here for everyone, you find yourself in turns laughing and crying.