Portobello Book Blog

I’m sharing my thoughts today on the entertaining novel Alice, Shaken and Definitely Stirred. My thanks to Kelly at Love books Tours for the opportunity to take part in the tour and to the author who had previously sent me a copy for review. Alice Shaken and Definitely Stirred is available in paperback and ebook formats and you can order a copy here.

First of all, what’s the book about?

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 Thoughts

Alice, Shaken and Definitely Stirred is an entertaining novel following Alice’s search for happiness after her long term partner left her for another woman. Having lost her parents in recent years and her job too, life is not looking rosy for Alice. Luckily she has some wonderful friends, particularly Sue and Simon, who help and encourage her to start looking towards moving on.

Alice dreams of finding the perfect romantic hero she knows from film and literature and there were lots of references to some of her favourites such as Rhett Butler, Mr Darcy, James Bond and Poldark. Throughout the book there were dream sequences where Alice imagines being rescued from tricky situations by familiar figures, only to be thwarted at the last minute by someone who she knows in real life who will insist on infiltrating her dreams, much to her annoyance!

From being in a situation where she felt lost and alone, all of a sudden Alice finds there are three potential suitors in her life. There’s Ollie, godson of her favourite cafe owner and the most annoying man she knows, there’s Malcolm, a long term friend who she’d much rather keep that way and there’s Alistair, the handsome brother of one of her neighbours. There were a lot of funny moments as Alice tried to get her ideal man to notice her while not noticing that the perfect man for her was under her nose all the time. However. there were also times she could be rather annoying with her abruptness, verging on rudeness, to some people.

There were a few grammatical errors in the book which I did notice but they didn’t spoil my overall enjoyment of the book. Alice, Shaken and Definitely Stirred is an easy to read and fun book. It has an ending worthy of any of the romantic films Alice so enjoys!

About the Author

Paula Smith is a primary school teacher, living in Macclesfield, Cheshire. She is the proud mum of four sons. Her favourite pastimes are walking, afternoon cream teas and gin tasting, not necessarily in that order.