Alice, Shaken and Definitely Stirred
By Paula Smith
Published by the Conrad Press
January 6th, 2021
Fiction
276 pages
This uplifting romantic comedy takes you on Alice’s journey, interweaving her relationships with real-life characters and dreams involving her favourite romantic screen idols.
Lamenting the loss of her long-term partner and having been made redundant, Alice makes a New Year’s Resolution to get on with life, and definitely without a man. But things don’t quite go to plan. As her Aunty Betty says, ‘Men, dear, are like buses, there are none on the horizon then three come along all at once.’ Alice certainly is shaken and definitely stirred!
My Review:
🍸🍸🍸🍸
This book is a fun rom-com of a novel, following a lovely woman named Alice who has recently been dumped. With a fun cast of characters, including her brother and sister-in-law, Robert and Sue, her adorable nephew Ben and the seriously ANNOYING Ollie, Alice tries to get through the breakup, the loss of her parent AND losing her job with as much of her dignity in tact as she can muster.
Based in modern day and told in the third person, poor Alice cannot catch a break. After taking time off to cope with the loss of her parent, she arrives back at work to find her job has been eliminated and she has been replaced. She receives a wedding invitation from her ex-boyfriend Mark, and her shoulder-to-cry-on friend Mario has high tailed it to Italy to help his brother who is on the run from the Mob. Could her life GET any worse?
Add in some HILARIOUS matchmaking attempts from her precocious nephew Ben, her extremely sexually active neighbor’s hot brother Alistair and Alice’s OFF THE WALL dreams and this book delivers some laugh-out-loud moments.
If this were just a series of unfortunate events, I probably would not have cared for the book as much, but the author does a wonderful job of mixing in some serious story lines as well. The love this woman has for her family is so touching. She cares for her nephew when her brother and sister-in-law really need her to step in and she shows the readers what a wonderful mother she would make. I love her inner strength and her unwillingness to settle just to be attached to someone. She has friends and family and a good support system, which I loved being able to see.
Will she find love again? Will it be with annoying but adorable Ollie, or dashing Alistair, or sweet old dependable Malcolm? Will Ollie ever stop invading her dreams and thwarting her attempts at the perfect kiss by the perfect guy? Will Malcolm try his luck again?
Read and find out!
A fun romp through a bit of Alice’s hilarious and confusing life- I will recommend if you are looking for a light, fun summer read!
Paula Smith
Thank you for a wonderful review. It is much appreciated.