Greg Hails Hails itibaren Shovskoye, Lipetskaya oblast', Rusya, 399632 itibaren Shovskoye, Lipetskaya oblast', Rusya, 399632

An interesting (and not always lovable) heroine and a very sad look at post-Katrina New Orleans. Hope this will be a series

A fun read and lots of neat ideas, but a huge emphasis on dessert, one that I thought disproportionate to the books, and a disappointing number of ice-cream recipes. If you don't have an ice-cream maker then a big chunk of the book is useless. I don't remember Harry eating all that much ice-cream anyway. But I'm looking forward to trying a bunch of the recipes, and the fun facts were entertaining. Just wish there'd been a bit more substance.

Alice Adams is a twenty two year old woman from a middle class family in the American midwest at the turn of the 20th cnetury. She wants to shine in society but her family doesn't have the financial means to provide her with the necessary props to compete with the woman she wants to impress. For the dance she is attending, she doesn't have a date so coerces her brother to take her, she doesn't have a dress that's in the latest fashion so her mother sews some lace on an old dress in attempt to modernize it, she also doesn't have the money for flowers from a florist so picks violets and by the time of the dance, they have withered and died. The central theme of the novel is getting ahead in society, moving up both financially and socially. Alice is reminiscent of another great heroine, Scarlett O'Hara from "Gone With The Wind." Both women strive to move up in society. They both want to capture the most eligible bachelor, even if that person is promised to another. Both women have father's who are past their time and live in a dream world. Alice's father, Virgil, is a sympathetic character, seemingly content with his life but pushed to give up his passive existance and follow his wife's dreams of financial and social advancement, even at the betrayal of his former employer, an old and trusting friend.