Outlandish, fun, outrageous plot.

MacAlister takes an unlikely premise and chases it down the road.

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Sometimes I am in the mood for a quick romance or two. This romance novel was kind of cute and attempted to be funny. Alice(the main character) was way weirder than me(so I was shocked at how the story unfolded). I guess it just goes to show that there is someone for everyone out there.
I look forward to reading more from the author. ( )

Fun book. Alice has been dumped by her boyfriend of two years, right before they were to go on a European river cruise. She decides to go ahead and take the trip anyway, only to find out that her ex gave his ticket to a friend. So she is stuck sharing her cabin with stuffy, slightly mysterious British aristocrat.

Elliott is just looking for some peace and quiet to finish his book. As the oldest of twelve, and the heir to a crumbling castle, he is in charge of the family finances. The income from his spy novels provide a large part of the income that keeps everything going. He’s not pleased to be sharing a cabin with a talkative American.

From the moment they met there was a connection between Alice and Elliott. I loved their first meeting as his seriousness ran into her intent to have fun. He does a good job of making his requirements clear, but Alice convinces him to take a break from his writing for a meal. From there he is lured into going on one of the tours, and the next thing he knows he is hooked on Alice. I loved seeing how the two of them balanced each other. She is enthusiastic and spontaneous and he is cautious and methodical, and together they are just right. Within two days they have fallen in love, which both admit is ridiculously fast, but are so certain it is real they go ahead and get married.

Things don’t go smoothly, as Alice’s ex shows up, determined to win her back. He is initially oblivious to the fact that she wants nothing to do with him, and I loved seeing her make the point. There’s also a female passenger that has her sights set on Elliott, and it was fun to see them fight her off. Then Elliott gets an emergency call from home, and rather than explain what has happened, tells Alice to go on with the cruise without him. He has his reasons for not telling her, important to him, but not really good in the long run. It doesn’t take long for Alice to miss him and want to join him.

Elliott ends up in the hospital and when Alice tries to find out what’s happening she keeps running into walls. Seems Elliott hadn’t had time to tell anyone in his family he was married and no one believes her when she shows up. Her trials and tribulations of getting to him were pretty epic. I loved her reaction to his family and theirs to her. There is some strain between Elliott and Alice as he’s recovering from his injury, leading her to believe that he’s fallen out of love with her, something that would have been avoided if they had talked to each other about their feelings.

Alice has put her mind to helping Elliott find ways to make the castle profitable and one such venture brings her ex and Elliott’s sister and two fellow passengers to the castle for the “Ainslie Experience”. But things are not quite what they seem and there are several surprises in store for Alice and Elliott. I loved how they overcame them and were finally able to move forward.

The book is full of quirky characters, from Elliott’s siblings to his overly dramatic mother, and some interesting fellow passengers on the cruise. Alice and Elliott also get into some hilarious situations, including their dinner in an Amsterdam coffeehouse and their adventures in a German sex bar. There were a lot of places that had me laughing out loud. I can’t wait to read Gunner’s story. ( )

Alice Wood and her boyfriend Patrick have booked a European river cruise and she believes he plans to marry her at one of the stops along the way. But shortly before their departure he dumps her (commitment issues). Since the trip is paid for Alice decides to make the trip alone and use it as a starting point for moving on. Patrick, however, misguidedly believes that Alice would rather stay home and wallow in self-pity so he generously gives his ticket to a pal - Elliott Ainslie, a near penniless British baron who writes spy novels to support his indecently large family and their crumbling castle. When both Alice and Elliott show up on the cruise boat, which itself looks like something resembling a river barge, the fun truly begins.

A cast of characters that will make you believe it is the trip from hell, a whirlwind romance between Alice and Elliott that feels like it was spun out of a tornado, colorful (but not lewd) language, and plenty of 'situations' like a Danish coffeehouse (where hookahs are the norm) and a German sex club where role playing is the norm will keep you turning the page just to find out what comes next. What I found annoying though was the overt manner in which Alice allows herself to fall in love. And while most of us make strange sounds while in the throes of ecstasy it gets a bit overdone here. Sounds like "foowah" and "nnrg" and so on are perfectly fine a time or two but by the twentieth time we are treated to such dialog it is like fingernails on a blackboard.

My greatest enjoyment with this book came from the character descriptions. I also enjoyed the short amount of time spent at Castle Ainslie and would have liked to know more about the castle and the barony. But these were used mainly as backdrops for our main characters. All that being said, this book served the purpose I'd hoped it would - a complete escape from the more serious books I normally read. ( )

The Importance of Being Alice

The Characters

Alice Wood
Elliot Edmund Richard Ainslie, eighth Baron Ainslie

The Story

My intentions were good when I started this books. I took notes all through the first chapter but somewhere in chapter 2 I let go and just enjoyed. I don’t think I can even do a summary justice. I’d just like to say Alice and Elliot are A-freaking-dorable. They are in for an interesting ride. Elliot’s family delighted me and I’ll be very happy to see more from them in the future.

The Random Thoughts

I feel such relief at liking maybe even loving this book. My last few Katie MacAlister reads have been less than stellar but this book brings me back to when I first discovered and loved this author.

4 Stars ( )