Alice on Board, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Alice #24)

 In her last adventure before starting college, Alice takes to the open sea for the summer—and nothing can stop the tides of change.Everything Alice has ever known is about to change—from where she sleeps at night to how close her closest friends will be. So Alice is meeting that seasick feeling head-on by setting sail as staff on a Chesapeake Bay cruise ship. And like any last great adventure before starting college, Alice knows she’ll need sunblock, an open mind, and…oh yeah, all her best girlfriends. It’s the perfect summer job.

     Perfect, that is, when things are going perfectly. But when they’re not, Alice has to figure out how to weather unexpected storms of all sorts. Which could be perfect after all—perfect training for her next big adventure—college.

Alice McKinley has finally graduated high school and is spending the summer before college working on a cruise ship with her best friends. She has some tiny adventures, one or two big adventures, and misses Patrick the whole time. The end.

I used to love the Alice books, primarily because of how relateable Alice was. I felt it in this book but instead of enjoying this one I thought it was kind of annoying. Alice felt more like a walking PSA than a teenage girl and her feelings were too defined to seem real. She didn't go through any of that confusing emotional stuff she went through in past books but no one is that clear when it comes to emotions. I will say that the book did flow like life usually goes-lots of little memorable instances with one or two arcs that last for a while but on the whole, unexciting.

For anyone like me who followed Alice all the way to this book I will tell you now: nothing important happens. Don't waste your time on this book unless you have nothing better to do with your time. Please believe me-I read reviews saying exactly this and didn't trust them and look where that got me. I'm excited for the last book and to see what happens to Alice but I'm not excited enough to give this book a good rating. All relationships, friendships, and lives are exactly the same as they were at the end of the previous book, so chill out and read something else.

For anyone who hasn't realized it yet, Alice is going to end up with Patrick. I wasn't sure if Naylor would go the obvious route with Patrick or if she would have Alice be with someone we don't know but this book confirmed (for me) that it would be Patrick. A tiny part of me thought maybe Mitch (new guy in this book) but since Alice is going to college and Mitch is going home I highly doubt that will happen. (Little secret-I actually want her to be with Paul, her brother's roommate, and there were even some hints at the end that that would happen, but I can't see the author getting past the age difference.)

2.4 stars. I'm really sorry Alice, but all good things must come to an end.

The Bright Side of Disaster, by Katherine Center

Jenny Harris always expected that she’d fall in love, get married, and have a baby–in that order. Now, very pregnant and not quite married, she actually doesn’t mind that she and her live-in fiancé, Dean, accidentally started their family a little earlier than planned; she’s happy to have so much to look forward to. But Dean–whom Jenny loves enough to overlook his bad facial hair, his smoking habit, and his total commitment to a cheesy cover band–is acting distant, and not in a pre-wedding-jitters kind of way. The night he runs out for cigarettes and just doesn’t come back, he demotes himself from future husband to sperm donor.

And the very next day, Jenny goes into labor.

In the months that follow, Jenny plunges into a life she never anticipated: single motherhood. At least with the sleep deprivation, sore boobs, and fits of crying (both hers and the baby’s), there’s not much time to dwell on her broken heart. And things start looking up. She learns how to do everything one-handed, makes friends in a mommy group, and even manages to give dating tips to her sweet, clueless father–who’s trying to court her sassy mother again, fifteen years after their divorce. She also gets to know a handsome, helpful neighbor–with a knack for soothing babies–who invites her out dancing. But Dean is never far from Jenny’s thoughts or, it turns out, her doorstep, and in the end Jenny must choose between the old life she thought she wanted and the new life she’s been lucky to find.


I only read "The Bright Side of Disaster" because I loved "Get Lucky." Incidentally, both are about pregnant women in odd situations. What I loved about both books was how real they were. Instead of skipping over the dirty details, Katherine Center includes the totally unromantic parts of having a baby, which adds to the overall realistic and at the same time feel-good tone of the book. Even at Jenny's most desperate points, there were still remnants of hope which left me confident that she wouldn't give up.

Jenny had the perfect blend of charm and flaws that made her seem like a real person, but the lack of focus on any other characters gave me the impression that Jenny was the only one. Although their lack of presence can be attributed to the fact that Jenny was on her own for most of the novel, I still felt as if she was the only developed character. Though I did like how Gardner's one flaw came into play at the end, Meredith's sudden disappearance bugged me. What kind of best friend abandons her best friend who just had a baby? How could Jenny forgive her so easily?

How can anyone dislike a book with a rubber ducky on the cover?

5 stars.