Loved this book. An interesting way of telling a love story. However for me the relationship between the heroine and her father was what really gripped me. I found the interaction between the herione and her father brilliant. I could hardly put this book down and subsequently was reading through the night and when her father was causing problems at the airport and the subsequent rotating door incident I could not stop myself laughing out loud, much to my husband's annoyance. I fully intend to read more of Cecelia Ahern's novels. ( )

Cecelia Ahern’s latest offering, “Thanks for the Memories” requires you to suspend reality for a while and allow for an implausible premise to unfold.

Joyce Conway received a blood transfusion after a tragic accident. While recovering, she begins to dream about a little girl she has never met and is suddenly able to carry on conversations about art and architecture and speak foreign languages. Joyce is determined to find out about her blood donor.

Justin Hitchcock hates needles but is persuaded to donate blood by a beautiful doctor in Dublin. Little does he know that his “gift of life” will give him more than he bargained for.

Although the plot sounds fantastical, there is a very human and real counterpart to this novel. The drama of the beginning of the book gives way to the heartwarming, romantic comedy that makes this book fun. Joyce and Justin are surrounded by seemingly annoying friends and family. Joyce’s dad, Henry, is a lonely widower who is set in his ways. He loves his routine of doing the “Dosuko” puzzle in the morning paper. He has little use for technology; he calls a cell phone a “hand phone” and creates quite a scene at the airport when he is required to pass through security. (Actually, Ms. Ahern could have written the entire novel based exclusively on the relationship between Joyce and her dad; it would have been hysterical.) Frankie and Kate have been Joyce’s closest friends since school; their relationships provide more hilarity. Justin has his share of wacky relatives with Al and Doris, his brother and sister-in-law from Chicago. Justin’s daughter and ex-wife and her husband give Justin all he can handle. All of the characters and pieces of this book work together for a clever story with a twist and a satisfying ending.

So, go ahead…suspend reality and don’t let the impossible premise stand in your way of this enjoyable and engaging novel. You’ll be glad you did. ( )

Justin Hitchcock is a guest professor at Trinity College in Dublin. He's afraid of needles, but is cajoled into giving blood during a drive by an attractive doctor in a vee-necked top. A month later, elsewhere in Dublin, Joyce (is there any other name for someone in Dublin?) takes a spill at home that requires hospitalization. After her hospital stay, with her own marriage failing, she moves back in with dear, old dad and the real fun begins. First, Joyce begins having odd senses of deja vu and dreams of a family she's sure she doesn't know. Many coincidences follow, culminating in the eventual meeting of Justin and Joyce. The story really hums though, with the relationship portrayed between Joyce and her dad, it's priceless. The pair muddle along without their wife/mother Gracie, although she is never far from the action. Their's is a delightful story.
At first, I thought I was in for a long, Marian Keyes style Irish family saga, but I perserverd and was rewarded with a completely wonderful and surprising read! I will never look at blood donation or Antiques Roadshow in quite the same way. ( )

Thanks for the Memories is another "Sleepless in Seattle" type of story, but set in Dublin, so it has an Irish flavor to it. Joyce Conway falls down the stairs and loses the baby she is carrying. This is the final blow for her marriage to Conor, since the possibility of a child was all that was holding it together. It also means that, after her hospitalization, she cannot bring herself to go back to her house where she had a nursery set up. She moves in with her dad, a very likeable old Irish guy who pretends to be a bit more addled than he actually is.

There is another way in which Joyce’s life changes. While she was in the hospital, she needed a transfusion of blood. At the same time, Justin Hitchcock, a divorced American who is guest lecturing in Dublin on art and architecture, is talked into donating blood, and his blood goes to Joyce.

As Joyce recovers from her accident, she finds that she suddenly has acquired knowledge and memories that aren’t her own and can’t be explained. Since the story of Joyce and Justin are told in parallel, the reader can see that the two lives are now entangled; Joyce even gets achy after Justin works out at the gym.

Some of the transferring that goes on from Justin’s life to Joyce’s is just plain silly. It seemed to me to be an interesting idea that was just taken way too far. On the positive side, Joyce’s dad is absolutely delightful, and the relationship he has with his daughter is endearing.

Evaluation: If you can overlook the excesses of the Justin and Joyce story and focus on the other parts of the book, it’s quite a rewarding read. I enjoyed it in spite of itself! ( )

Thanks For The Memories by Cecelia Ahern (Book Review)
No Thank-you for the Book Cecelia Ahern

Thanks for The Memories is a paperback fiction novel by Cecelia Ahern. It is published by Harper and its ISBN is 007233698. It is a warm uplifting story, beautifully written . I have read all Cecelia Ahern’s books and I loved them all. This novel marks a new maturity and flexibility in her writing. I think this is her best novel yet. It is a sweet tale of a daughter and father relationship. Joyce Conway suffers a miscarriage and is rushed by her dad to ER.

“I place my hand on my belly. If my child is gone, and I suspect this is so, I’ll join it there.grieve. I’ve landed now, the land of my life. And, still, my heart pumps on.Even when broken it still works. Where . . . where? Wherever. It; a heartless word. He or she so young; who it was to become, stilla question. But there, I will mother it. There, not here. I’ll tell it: I’m sorry, sweetheart, I’m sorry I ruined your chances, my chance – our chance of a life together. But close your eyes and stare into the darkness now, like Mummy is doing, and we’ll find our way together. There’s a noise in the room and I feel a presence. ‘Oh God, Joyce, oh God. Can you hear me, love? Oh God. Oh God. Oh, please no, Good Lord, not my Joyce, don’t take my Joyce. Hold on, love, I’m here. Dad is here.’ I don’t want to hold on and I feel like telling him so. I hear myself groan, an animal-like whimper and it shocks me, scares me. I have a plan, I want to tell him. I want to go, only then can I be with my baby. Then, not now. He’s stopped me from falling but I haven’t landed yet. Instead he helps me balance on nothing, hover while I’m forced to make the decision. I want to keep falling but he’s calling the ambulance and he’s gripping my hand with such ferocity it’s as though it is though I’m all he has. He’s brushing the hair from my forehead and weeping loudly. I’ve never heard him weep. Not even when Mum died. He clings to my hand with all of the strength I never knew his old body had and I remember that I am all he has and that he, once again just like before, is my whole world. The blood continues to rush through me. Rushing, rushing, rushing. We are always rushing. Maybe I’m rushing again. Maybe it’s not my time to go. I feel the rough skin of old hands squeezing mine, and their intensity and their familiarity force me to open my eyes. Light fills them and I glimpse his face, a look I never want to see again. He clings to his baby. I know I’ve lost mine; I can’t let him lose his. In making my decision I already begin to grieve.”

She receives an emergancy blood transfusion and the donor’s Justin’s memories. Joyce and Justin meet up occassionally and are instantly attracted to one another. A unique relationship is formed. Joyce is grieving from a divorce and miscarriage and Clever Justin is looking for meaning in his life. If you love romance and feel good stories you will love this book. Cecelia Ahern fans will be rewarded with another bestseller.I highly recommend this book. Reviewed by Annette Dunlea author of Always and Forever and The Honey Trap. ( )