The Importance of Being Alice

By: Katie MacAlister

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Brian Hutchison

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling author Katie MacAlister comes a series about finding your own wonderland - through one roadblock at a time...

Nothing about Alice Wood's life is normal right now. Her fiancé Patrick called off their wedding and relationship only days before their nonrefundable wedding trip. And though a luxurious European river cruise for one is just what she needs, it's not what she gets... Due to a horrible misunderstanding, Alice is now cramped in her "romantic" suite with one of Patrick's friends. Instead of cruising along the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers sipping champagne with the love of her life, she's navigating the waters with a strange - yet mysteriously handsome - British aristocrat.

An author, Elliot is just looking for some alone time to write. But his stodgy, serious self is about to be sidetracked by a woman who seems to have jumped out of the pages of a fairy tale, one who is determined to shake up his life... and include him in her own" happily ever after".

©2015 Katie MacAlister (P)2015 Recorded Books

Just okay; a little silly

I was in the mood for a romantic comedy, but this one was a little annoying. I don't generally mind insta-love so that wasn't a huge problem. However, she's determined to be with him when she hears he's been hurt and clears every hurdle thrown in her path to get to him. After all that, the least little sign that there might be a problem between them, she doesn't talk to him but goes off to pout.

I usually deduct stars for misspellings and grammatical errors. Since this is an audio-book and I didn't hear the latter, I still have to deduct for a mistake in a common expression. It's "cut off my nose to spite my face," not "cut off my nose to spite myself."

This had been on my list of books to buy. I'm glad I got to listen to it as part of the romance package. I don't think I'll want a repeat read/listen.

On the bright side, the narrators did a good job.

Alice and Elliott

The story is wonderfully written and the characters are very endearing. I love that Katie MacAlister has a characters in all kind of different Countries so it is lovely to imagine how all this Countries would look like :) plus they make for excellent vacation planning to see which Country and city to visit next.

Laugh out loud funny

I have listened to this book 3 times and I still laugh out loud at several parts. I love how the sex scenes are funny. Elliot's family is beyond bizarre but loving, each in their own way. Unique way. This story is an anti-depressant! I hope each sibling gets his/her own story, as the first few are different, good, and entertaining. Several plots intertwined, and sweet.
This recording has 2 different narrators (one male, one female), and both are excellent. It works very well.

Fun, surprising plot

The female reader wasn’t fabulous, but was okay. The male reader was really great, though! Admittedly, that probably made it more difficult to ignore that she was a bit one note.

Great story!

I loved the story itself. Katie Macalister is a fantastic author. It was just what I wanted for a pick me up and lots of laughs. I didn't think the book needed a male narrator at all. I much prefered the female one and it was weird when it went back and forth.

great fun

made me laugh out loud and the characters were easy to love. can't wait to listen to the next in the series. narrators were seamless. story was, in a word, delightful.

Really wished it had a different reader

Katie Macalister is always a great listen. The only problem is, with this book, the readers both let her down. The accents were BAD and because there were a male and female reader, it was very distracting. That being said, I still enjoyed the story.

simple romance and love

It was simple to love at first sight. showed how love is not easy . That it take patience and time.

Wow this guy has the most horrible accents

The narrator did the most horrible accents for each character - men adopted from Africa but raised since they were 2 months old in England would have a British accent now some ridiculous African accent. I just can’t listen to this crap. Oh and his Irish friend Patrick with a Scottish accent just No!

Simply Dreadful

I love Katie MacAlister's Dragon and Vampire series. She excels in those genres. I simply do not understand how she can write such terrible contemporary fiction. I also do not understand why I continue to hope for more from her contemporary books and keep buying them.

Katie please go back to Aisling now!!!

That said the characters are flat, the story-line is dull, there is no tension in the narrative or sparkle in the writing. The two primary characters are uninteresting and there is no development of the secondary characters. In fact, they only seem to serve as vehicles for the female heroine to have boring conversations with. The only action, If you can call it that, comes in the last thirty minutes and springs out of nowhere.

The narrators brought absolutely nothing to the story. Especially the Brian Hutchison. His accent was terrible and his voice annoying. Saskia Maarleveld seemed merely uninterested in the whole story.

Don't waste your credit on this book.