Alice Ross

In a Nutshell: An imaginative debut work for middle graders. Great multiverse setup and relatable characters, coupled with unpredictable plot developments. Enjoyable!

Story Synopsis:

Twelve-year-old Elsbeth has a secret power – she can sense gateways through ‘Nowhere’ to step into other ‘Somewheres’ and bring back unusual artefacts with her, to be sold in her mom’s little antique shop. However, the shop hasn’t been doing too well recently, the landlord is a mean jerk, and the poor weather means that tourists numbers and visitors to the town are dipping. To add to it, Elsbeth has the strange feeling that someone is following her, even into the unknown. Has her magical ability put her life at risk?
The story is written in a limited third person perspective, mostly from the point of view of Elsbeth.

The synopsis doesn’t even begin to cover the adventures lying in store for Elsbeth! I love it when a blurb reveals just as much as necessary.


Bookish Yays:
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Thanks to Carina and Netgalley xx
When people say you should ” never judge a book by its cover” I am one of those who thinks ” But I like it, let me judge” A cover of a book always draws me to a book, then I’ll dive in and start to read.

This was one of those “dive in” kind of books. I adored the gorgeous wintery cover and couldn’t wait to start the story.

This has great characters and we get to know all about them, there are ups and downs in this quaint village tale. There is love, laughter, a few tears too but all in all this book really has a nice feel about it, one which makes me want a duvet day, with cookies and hot chocolate.… (more)

Bah.,

If you want to read a book about terrible people and the decisions they make, this is for you. I loathe romance books that have adultery as the main theme. We have a married couple (each contemplating adultery) a woman who has had an affair (and gotten pregnant due to the affair) two teens, one who is horrified that her mother is not special/awesome enough and that's pretty much the whole story.

Ross jumps around to Julia (married woman), Miranda (had the affair) and Faye (Julia's daughter) and also Julia's husband Paul. We get their four points of view throughout the story and honestly I didn't root for anyone. The majority of this book was people excusing or being excused for terrible crap they did. The fact that Julia and Paul's son had an eating disorder (at least it seemed to me) was glossed over. I hated that Julia and Paul never had real conversation, instead they both are looking to other people to paper over the cracks in their marriage. I loathed Paul more since he was contemplating an affair with his assistant. Apparently sexual harassment isn't a thing in the UK?

The writing wasn't great. Maybe if Ross had stuck to Julia and Miranda and left out the other POVs. The flow was too choppy too. At one point I was confused on the timeline and realized I didn't care and continued on with it.

The ending was definitely some pie in the sky stuff, not realistic at all.… (more)