How to Fall in Love: Cecelia Ahearn (Ireland)

She has just two weeks. Two weeks to teach him how to fall in love – with his own life.

Adam Basil and Christine Rose are thrown together late one night, when Christine is crossing the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin. Adam is there, poised, threatening to jump.

Adam is desperate – but Christine makes a crazy deal with him. His 35th birthday is looming and she bets him that before then she can show him life is worth living .

Despite her determination, Christine knows what a dangerous promise she's made. Against the ticking of the clock, the two of them embark on wild escapades, grand romantic gestures and some unlikely late-night outings. Slowly, Christine thinks Adam is starting to fall back in love with his life. But is that all that's happening… ?

Christine Rose, a recruitment consultant with an obsession for self help books is going through a somewhat acrimonious divorce. Her life in tatters and in need of peace, she wanders to an area of the city where she used to experience this, and there finds a man who is about to take his own life. When her attempts to stop him fail, she is understandably devastated. Two weeks later, wandering through the city again, she spots Adam doing exactly the same thing on the Ha'Penny Bridge. Determined that this time she will make a difference, she attempts to talk him down, and this time she manages to succeed. The two strike a deal, whereby Christine has to persuade Adam before his next birthday that life is worth living - what she doesn't realise is that his birthday is in two weeks time.

What follows is a somewhat hilarious caper as the two of them embark on a crusade to it seems at times, mutually heal each other -for it transpires as the story unfolds that Christine has issues of her own, which closely mirror Adam's own life. As they attempt to work through Adam's issues, they gradually become closer, until, well the clue is in the name of the book.

Although this was by my usual standards a somewhat light and fluffy read, it was one that I nevertheless enjoyed. It is good to read the lighter stuff every once in a while, as my reading can get somewhat heavy at times. This was probably not the best book I have read this year, but neither will it be the worst. Mainly because of it's wonderful Irish humour, I would give this 3 stars.