The Liberation of Alice Love

January 3, 2011
Mousy London lawyer Alice Love gets her identity stolen and finds her true self in this rocky tale of trust, personality makeovers, and a lying globe-trotting thief. "She didn't leave me any worse off, in the end," Alice says of Ella, a work pal who makes off with Alice's credit card info to set up a new life in Hollywood. But before the ruse is over, Alice retaliates by morphing into a compulsive stalker, taking on Ella's identity, and discovering that a lot of little lies add up to a whole lot of fun. The transformation nearly costs her the love of a good man, but Alice comes (nearly) to her senses by the time she corners her arch-frenemy. McDonald (The Popularity Rules) keeps the pace brisk, but a plot busy with an international chase and Alice's many reinventions proves on occasion too much to handle, and Ella, paradoxically, proves a more intriguing character than Alice. What works best is what lies beneath all the frantic action: a good old-fashioned romantic page-turner.

February 1, 2011
Alice Love is a planner and a saver, so when her bank account is drained, her credit cards maxed, and creditors come calling, the only thing more shocking is that the culprit turns out to be her new best friend, Ella. With the help of her stepsister Floras husband, Stefan, and his friend Nathan, a charming investigator, Alice sets out to prove that Ella is a professional con artist. As Alice follows Ellas transactions, she gets a taste of the glamorous, well-lived life Ella hid from her: dance and cooking classes, fancy lingerie and dresses, and spontaneous trips. Even as Nathan warns her of the dangers of getting obsessed, Alice is secretly seduced by this lifestyle. McDonalds smart chick-lit novel takes a provocative view of a timely subjectidentity theftwithin the usual framework of romance and comedy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)