Review: "The Liberation of Alice Love" by Abby McDonald

Alice Love lives a safe yet comfortable existence, so it is an incredible shock when she finds out that her bank account has been emptied and her identity stolen. Unhappy with the measures that the police are taking to find the thief, she hires a handsome private investigator to help her get some answers. However, as Alice uncovers more details about the identity thief, and finds out that the thief knew her better than she thought, Alice begins to wonder if she should be living a different kind of life. As Alice emerges from the safe cocoon that she has spent years building around herself, will she be bold and take new chances, or will she revert back to how she lived her life before?

The Liberation of Alice Love reminded me, in a good way, of an old Friends episode (remember when Monica's identity is stolen and in her attempts to track down the thief she tries a bunch of new things?). Alice is living a safe, but boring, existence and when her identity is stolen she ends up coming out of her bubble to try a whole wealth of new things, things that she would have previously been too scared or embarrassed to try.

What was most shocking about the plot was when the identity of the thief is revealed and the reader finds out that the thief was closer to Alice than Alice had initially imagined. Also interesting were the ways in which the thief chose to spend Alice's hard-earned money.

I really enjoyed this book- the plot felt fresh, it was hard not to like all of the vibrant characters, the writing was engaging, and the romance was smokin'. I highly recommend this to fans of women's fiction, especially to those who enjoy their books with a British setting. Thanks to Sourcebooks for this review copy.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100+ Reading Challenge