I really enjoyed this book! It was an easy read but I was invested in the characters from the beginning. Almost every girl can relate to Alice at one point in her journey or another and the character of Toby as the moody-boyfriend-not really boyfriend was interesting, I found myself shaking my head a few times at the predictability of the ending but I love how it unfolded and look forward to reading more from this author.

Unrequited Alice by Sarah Louise Smith, is a love story between two people who are actually in love with two other people. Alice hails from Camden, a town about an hour outside of London, and loves her job as a small book store manager. Her oldest friend Hannah is getting married in a month to Ed, the man of Alice's dreams, and Alice has driven herself crazy about the situation for many years. At Hannah's bachlorette party in Niagara Falls, she meets Toby, an American celebrating his friend's 30th birthday. Toby lives in New York City and works in finance. He is in love with his brother's fiance, who at one time was his girlfriend. Alice and Toby share many commonalities and end up spending a lot of time together. From then on they begin a meaningful, yet sometimes tumultuous friendship.

Both Alice and Toby are having great difficulties moving on where love is concerned, so they lean on each other for support, guidance and advice. Their platonic relationship turns into love eventually, but their road to happiness is barred by their own vulnerabilities and outside influences.

I liked this book, even though most of it was fraught with repetitiveness, Toby's incessant motivational speeches, and Alice's wishful sulking. The story became completely enjoyable once Alice and Toby admitted their love for each other. The secondary characters added some liveliness, and I really liked how Toby's family made Alice feel welcome.

Complimentary copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

"Unrequited Alice" is a fun and lighthearted book, a great summer great. I will admit it took me a good while to get into this book and I thought the first 3-5 pages spent too much time on Alice's love for best friend's fiancé. Overall the tone of the book is the same throughout and the conflict doesn't seem to change either.

Alice is heartbroken that her best friend Hannah is marrying Ed, a man that Alice also happens to be in love with. On a last girls weekend away in Niagara Falls, CA, Alice and her friends meet a group of 4 guys who they immediately connect with. Alice feels like she is not ready for any new relationships until she can get Ed out of her thoughts but then finds herself drawn to Toby, one of the men she meets in Niagara Falls. Toby also went on holidays with his own baggage and he and Alice earn each other's respect but find themselves struggling to keep their relationship just at the friendship level.

I feel like this story has been told before in many different varieties so I give it a 3 out 5 stars. If I had any major judgement of it, it would be that the novel could be half the length it is and still tell the same story. However, "Unrequited Alice" was an enjoyable and lighthearted read and would be a great book to pickup to take on holidays or to the beach.

I also want to thank NetGalley and the Publisher Crooked Cat for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of the book.

Unrequited Alice is fun, easy chick-lit. While this book contains no surprising plot twists or unexpected characters, it is comfortable and lighthearted. Sometimes you just want a book that is exactly what it sets out to be! This book did get a bit repetitive at times (if I read the word friends one more time....), but overall it was an enjoyable read!

Well, I read the blub on netgalley and thought to give this book a try. I am glad that I did...The story was great. The characters were wonderful, you could feel their joys and pains. I was sucked into this book from the beginning.

The one thing that I wish is we got more of the after. Would have loved to get more, as we spent 98% of the book to see if they got together finally to when they did it was over, thought there would have been a wedding or a baby not her graduation. But even with that I still really enjoyed this book. I would certainly read more books by this author. Very well done book.

Unrequited Alice by Sarah Louise Smith (Crooked Cat)

Review copy provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

Genres: Romance, Chick lit

RATING: 3/5

The Story

Alice was delighted when her oldest friend, Hannah, asked her to be her maid of honour. As the hen party approaches, Alice’s head is filled with her list of duties. One is more important than them all; to fall out of love with Ed, Hannah’s gorgeous fiance.

The wedding fills Alice with a nauseating combination of joy for Hannah and heartbreak that Ed will never be hers. What she doesn’t realise is that the wedding will change not only the lives of the happy couple, but hers as well.

Whilst on the hen party in Canada, Alice meets Toby, a handsome but mysterious man with whom she feels an immediate connection. As they spend more and more time together, her feelings for Toby grow and she begins to think that her love for Ed might not last forever after all. There’s just one problem. Toby is in love with another woman.

The Review

Oh, Alice. I think we all know what it’s like to have unrequited feelings for someone else. Most people, I’m sure, have experienced a school-yard crush. It might even have felt like love at the time – everything is more intense during puberty.

It’s an awful situation for her, made worse by the fact that the man is dating her oldest friend and they’re about to get married. She has to watch their happiest day ever, all the while believing her chance at happiness is lost forever. Quite early into the novel I found Alice to be a sympathetic character. During the hen do she was clearly trying to do what was right for her best friend, but at the same time she was struggling to cope with her feelings for the groom.

Unfortunately my sympathy for Alice dissipated fairly swiftly after the hen party. I found she became quite irritating, frequently changing her mind, or claiming she would behave in one way and then do the exact opposite not two seconds later. She repeatedly says she needs to accept that herself and Toby won’t be romantically involved, but then acts like they’re dating and gets offended when he calls her his ‘friend’.

What’s more, there were many occasions where Alice had ‘revelations’ which I as the reader was already well aware of, thanks to a repetitive, detailed description of our heroine’s thoughts and feelings. WE KNOW SHE LOVES ED. I’m not sure it’s necessary to remind us in virtually every paragraph of the first few chapters. She starts developing feelings for Toby, which is very clear from her thoughts and interactions with him, but she doesn’t ‘realise’ this until much later. That just doesn’t seem realistic to me.

I’m also struggling to see Toby as a desirable male character. He’s too moody, manipulative, petulant, stubborn, and he doesn’t respect Alice or treat her well. He’ll call her beautiful but also says there’s no chance of anything happening between them, when he knows full well that she might be developing feelings for him. He wants her around but only when it’s convenient for him, and I am not happy with him at all.

I kind of think Alice can do better. She’d be a lot less irritating if the men in her life would just be straight with her and stop messing with her emotions. The novel revolves around them, and they’re not doing her any favours. I’d much prefer a story where we actually got to hear a bit about her life away from these men. She has a great job at a bookstore, and a promising interest in photography, but these areas of her life are breezed over to get back to what’s ‘important’ – finding love.

As chick lit, it’s a perfectly good novel. There is romance, tension, heartbreak and challenge, but it lacks substance and depth. Although we learn about her family and interests, it’s in a passive way which makes it seem as though there is nothing more important to her than finding a man who loves her back. Sure, it’s not a bad goal, but for a 21st century woman, I’d like to think it’s a bit two-dimensional.



Unrequited Alice is released on 16th March.

Sarah Louise Smith can be contacted via her website, facebook, twitter and instagram.

Sarah Louise Smith is an hidden gem in the world of chick lit authors, she really should be up there with Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes etc.
This is the 5th book of hers I've read and it didn't disappoint. Lovely, believable main characters. Just a perfect read.

I enjoyed this book and eatching the characters grow. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Alice is in love with Ed, the only problem is Ed is marrying Hannah who is Alice's oldest friend.
Alice, Hannah and their friends jet off to Niageria Falls for a hen weekend and meet Toby and his friends. They decide to see the sights together and Alice spends time with Toby who it turns out is in love with his brother's fiance.
The book takes us through the way Alice and Toby are there for each other at both respective weddings and all the bits in between. This was a lovely book to read and I read it within a couple of hours. I liked both Alice and Toby and rooted for them all the way through. A great book which I would highly recommend.