All That She Can See by Carrie Hope Fletcher - A Review

It's no surprise that Carrie Hope Fletcher's genre of choice when writing books is magical realism, especially seeing that she is a devout fan of Disney, music and theatre. All That She Can See is Fletcher's second book after the success of On the Other Side. Set in Plymouth, the plot focuses on the lovable Cherry Redgrave and a very special gift she possesses...

Photo Credit: @CarrieHFletcher

Cherry has a hidden talent. She can see things other people can't and she decided a long time ago to use this skill to help others. According to the town, she is simply the kind-hearted young woman who runs a local bakery, but in private, she uses her gift to add something special to her cakes. This gift impacts the townspeople, and they start to feel better about their lives.

They don't know why they are drawn to Cherry's bakery - they just know that they're safe there and that's how Cherry likes it. No one will ever need to know the truth behind her gift; she can help them in secret. It turns out she's not the only one who can see what she sees, since everything starts to change when Chase arrives in town and threatens to undo all the good that Cherry has done...

All That She Can See has a whimsical yet grown up and contemporary fairy tale vibe, which has carried over from her debut novel On The Other Side. Carrie clearly has a fantastic imagination and a beautiful way with words, which results in a modern story that contains themes of morals, humanity and issues (such as mental health), but written in a reasonably simplified and easy to comprehend style. 

There is something for everyone in this story. In their review of the book, the Mail on Sunday said "Think Chocolat with a heaped tablespoon of Bake Off", and it is a pretty fair comparison to make. Add elements of Nanny McPhee and Divergent and you will start to get a better idea of the imaginative story at the heart of this novel. 

Many reviews of this book that I have read had picked aspects of this novel apart, and while I agree that there are elements of it that are a little more difficult to believe, the fairy tale feel of this novel side steps this issue for me. Nobody seems to be complaining of the impracticality of Cinderella wearing Glass Slippers!

The writing style of this book is definitely fairy tales for grown ups, I did pick up that there seemed to be a lot of cursing - especially in the second half of the book. Its not a negative as such, but to me they felt a little out of place in the story.

As previously mentioned, All That She Can See centres on a tight-knit community in Plymouth and a positive tone is set, that is before the man source of conflict is introduced - Mr Chase Masters.

Any reader would be quick to assume that Cherry and Chase would go on to develop a romantic relationship - as we see with most books this genre. Whilst this is the case, the important thing is that a valid reason is given and the relationship is not simply a cliche. Fletcher was trying to paint a bigger picture with the novel, and this works really well. Underneath the metaphors for human feelings, there were a few comments about happiness and emotions which Carrie was trying to make.

However, it isn't long before the bubbly elements of the story fade away and the story enters darker territory. Unlike On The Other Side, there were some shocking, haunting scenes in this book, which only shows development on Carrie's part as a Sunday Times best selling author. It really pays off too, being one of these books that can invoke specific images into the readers head when reading. At some points in the novel, I was so sure of what as going to happen, but Fletcher continued to surprise and intrigue with exciting twists and turns. 

In my opinion, the ending was a little rushed; I would have liked to know more about how the characters end up. We are given one of those more open ended final chapters. Overall, I thought that this was a really solid read that I will enjoy reading again. It is wonderful to see how Carrie has improved since her first book, and I am excited to see what happens with the next book she writes!