Review: Alison Wonderland by Helen Smith

Title: Alison Wonderland
Author: Helen Smith
Format: Paperback
Genre: Contemporary
Source: Unsolicited ARC from the Publisher
Published: Aug 16, 2011
My Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥  1/2

From Goodreads: 


After her husband leaves her for another woman, twentysomething Londoner Alison Temple impulsively applies for a job at the very P.I. firm she hired to trap her philandering ex. She hopes it will be the change of scene she so desperately needs to move on with her shattered life. At the all-female Fitzgerald’s Bureau of Investigation, she spends her days tracking lost objects and her nights shadowing unfaithful husbands. But no matter what the case, none of her clients can compare to the fascinating characters in her personal life. There’s her boss, the estimable Mrs. Fitzgerald; Taron, Alison’s eccentric best friend, who claims her mother is a witch; Jeff, her love-struck, poetry-writing neighbor; and—last but not least—her psychic postman. Her relationships with them all become entangled when she joins Taron for a road trip to the seaside and stumbles into a misadventure of epic proportions! Clever, quirky, and infused with just a hint of magic, this humorous literary novel introduces a memorable heroine struggling with the everyday complexities of modern life.

 
One thing I really enjoyed about the book was the main character, Alison! She really seemed like someone I would be friends with, and that made this book an enjoyable read. (In fact, all of the characters were marvelous!)

I also loved that it wasn't "Americanized" to bring it here! It was refreshing to read something with the British spellings and slang.

I do have one (somewhat major) complaint about this book, the first and most major being the head jumping. It took me several chapters to see what point of view (and who) I was with. That made it a little difficult to really get "into" the book.

In the end, I enjoyed Alison Wonderland, but I really felt that there was too much squeezed into one very little book and too many different points of view. (And a few VERY bizarre interactions.) That said? Witty Characters, and British charm made this book work, I give Alison Wonderland 3 1/2 hearts. ♥ ♥ ♥  1/2