Home is where the heart is …
Alice Dorothy Matthews is sensible. Whilst her best friend Kathy is living it up in Portugal and her insufferable ex Adam is travelling the world, Alice is working hard to pay for the beloved London house she has put her heart and soul into renovating.But then a postcard from Buenos Aires turns Alice’s life upside down.
One very unsensible decision later and she is in Cascais, Portugal, and so begins her lesson in ‘going with the flow’; a lesson that sees her cat-sitting, paddle boarding, dancing on top of bars and rediscovering her artistic talents. But perhaps the most important part of the lesson for Alice is that you don’t always need a house to be at home.
Alice Dorothy Matthews is sensible. Whilst her best friend Kathy is living it up in Portugal and her insufferable ex Adam is travelling the world, Alice is working hard to pay for the beloved London house she has put her heart and soul into renovating.But then a postcard from Buenos Aires turns Alice’s life upside down.
One very unsensible decision later and she is in Cascais, Portugal, and so begins her lesson in ‘going with the flow’; a lesson that sees her cat-sitting, paddle boarding, dancing on top of bars and rediscovering her artistic talents. But perhaps the most important part of the lesson for Alice is that you don’t always need a house to be at home.
Review
We meet Alice, she has spent years sorting out her dream home, all her hard work and money has been invested into it and its her safe place where she can hibernate from the real world. When a postcard arrives and sends her world into turmoil - she escapes to her best friend in Portugal and takes an extended holiday and buries her head in the sand.
However with the help of Kathy, Alice starts to learn to go with the flow and become the woman she once was, creative, carefree and bright. Spending time on herself we start to see that home isnt just a building.
I liked this book, it was sweet and had a real important message, i felt for Alice and i was glad she had a best friend like Kathy to shake some sense into her. The narrative was fast paced, however in parts i felt like the time frame didnt flow, it felt like it jumped time rather quickly which made me feel a bit rushed as a reader. I did feel like there was a real sense of community and that everyone surrounding Alice was really rooting for her. It really did lift my spirits.
Purchase Links
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Chris_Penhall_The_House_That_Alice_Built?id=DvOiDwAAQBAJ
Author Bio –
Chris
Penhall is a freelance writer and radio producer.
Her
book, The House That Alice Built, won the Choc-Lit Search for a Star
Competition 2019.
Born
in South Wales, she has also lived near London and in Portugal, which
is where The House That Alice Built is set. It was whilst living in
Cascais near Lisbon that she began to dabble in writing fiction, but
it was many years later that she was confident enough to start
writing her first novel, and many years after that she finally
finished it! She is now working on her second.
A
lover of books, music and cats, she is also an enthusiastic salsa
dancer, a keen cook, and loves to travel. She is never happier than
when she is gazing at the sea.
Chris
has two grown up daughters and lives in the Essex countryside.
Chris
is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association.
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