Review: Postscript (PS, I Love You #2)

Postscript (PS, I Love You #2)
Cecelia Ahern

Published By: Harper Collins
Publication Date: September 19, 2019
Date Read: September 25, 2019
Genre: Adult - Chick Lit
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368

From Goodreads:
It's been seven years since Holly Kennedy's husband died – six since she read his final letter, urging Holly to find the courage to forge a new life.

She’s proud of all the ways in which she has grown and evolved. But when a group inspired by Gerry's letters, calling themselves the PS, I Love You Club, approaches Holly asking for help, she finds herself drawn back into a world that she worked so hard to leave behind.

Reluctantly, Holly begins a relationship with the club, even as their friendship threatens to destroy the peace she believes she has achieved. As each of these people calls upon Holly to help them leave something meaningful behind for their loved ones, Holly will embark on a remarkable journey – one that will challenge her to ask whether embracing the future means betraying the past, and what it means to love someone forever…

PS, I Love You is one of my all time favourite books of all time. I read it when I was 16 years old and I absolutely adored it. I would even give it credit for my writing on this book blog now. I was never that much of an avid reader until I picked that book up and it made me fall head over heels in love with books and reading. Fastforward 12 years, and I honestly had mixed emotions when hearing about a sequel. 16-year-old me was squealing with excitement at the possibility of returning to this story and the characters I loved so desperately, but current day me was skeptical. PS, I Love You is one of my favourite books ever but I thought did it really need a sequel? I was just praying that it wasn't going to be an unnecessary continuation of such an emotional and perfect book and I was really scared of it ruining my love for the first book if it was. I needn't have worried. Postscript is such an emotional, stunning and beautiful read.

Postscript follows Holly several years after the first book and she is moving on with her life after grieving and mourning the loss of Gerry. When she takes part in her sisters' podcast about bereavement and details what Gerry had left behind for her, she finds herself being thrown into something she never could have ever expected. She is contacted by a group of terminally ill people wanting to do what Gerry did for Holly for their family. Reluctantly Holly agreed to help them and finds herself thrown back in time... will she be able to help these people without getting too attached?

One thing I absolutely adored about this book was although it was about Holly and you see Holly going through an emotional journey herself, it is not just her book. It is about these moving and heartbreaking stories of the friends she makes and their relationships with their loved ones. I grew so unbelievably attached to these characters and you know it's not going to end well as they are terminally ill... that's the point of the story. But even knowing that, it didn't stop me falling in love with their stories and my heart absolutely broke into pieces when the inevitable happened.

Postscript is such a beautiful and important book to read. It's moving and so thought provoking. Unless it's happened to you personally you don't really appreciate how hard it is to have a loved one terminally ill. It was so heartbreaking but at the same time uplifting to see these people go through this journey of not only accepting that they're going to die but to do something positive to help their family deal with the repurcussions of their death. It made me appreciate every single moment of my life and the time we have with loved ones.

Postscript is beautiful, heartbreaking and poignant. I still feel like it wasn't quite as magical as the first book but I really enjoyed it. The first book will always take the top spot in my heart but this was beautiful. I never expected a sequel to PS, I Love You when I read it years ago and if I could have wished for one... this is what I would have wished for. It was beautiful, moving and magical and made me fall in love with Cecelia Ahern all over again. An absolute must read.

"Death is there at our fingertops all the time and we choose not to go to it and it chooses not to take us. Death doesn't push us; death catches us when we fall."