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By Sara Steven
Alice Bloom has shut herself away from the world for years. But all that changes when three men come into her life. Firstly there's the rather disgusting Karl, who has the key to her problems but turns her stomach. Then there's smooth and sexy Ethan, whom Alice falls head over heels for, but she just can't seem to get time alone with him. And finally there's her lovely, supportive friend Dan, if only they could ever actually get to meet. Because the biggest problem of all is: Alice is invisible.
The complications become more and more hilarious as Alice tries to steer her way through her conflicting emotions and find her way to happiness. Will she succeed or will life always get the better of her? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads)
Alice is invisible. That one line alone would have caught my attention, yet everything else that encompasses Alice’s experiences kept me on the hook, to where I had a really hard time in putting Invisible down.
Her invisibility isn’t just a physical manifestation. It’s a metaphorical one, too. After dealing with tragedy, she has a hard time letting anyone else in, which is why she’s made the decision to close herself off from everyone else, and from everything else that has the capacity to hurt her. A chance encounter with Karl shows her that there is potential in being seen again, yet it’s in all the wrong ways and with the wrong person.
As the synopsis indicates, there are hilarious moments in which she is tied to Karl, because without him, she can’t be seen. When she “pops into the loo” she worries that others will freak out at seeing a random stall door open on its own, and she reflects on how she’s had to deal with screams before when she uses the water from the sink while washing her hands. There are mad caper moments where Alice has to orchestrate scenarios just right so that she’ll remain visible, and part of me wonders if there is a deeper meaning here. As funny as it is, she can’t be “whole” without someone else to make her feel that way, presenting the ultimate lesson she needs to learn: Her strength in being seen must lie within her own need for visibility.
The conversations she had with Dan were a huge highlight for me. I loved the back and forth banter, forming a relationship before ever having a chance to meet in person. And there’s a pretty epic scene between Alice and a loathsome woman named Emily, that felt like a long time coming, but well worth the wait. Dialogue between characters was pretty amazing, too, making me feel like I was sitting in and part of the scenes and situations. It’s all used as a way to really show who Alice is, even if she goes unseen.
Invisible was a really unique experience, with equal parts comedy and charm, yet showcasing what it means to not feel seen, and the various ways one woman tries to find her new normal and become part of the scenery again. A well-deserved five-star read!
Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm a British author who lives in Warwickshire with my husband and cat. I've had a lifelong passion for writing, starting off as a child when I used to write stories about the Fraggles of Fraggle Rock.
Knowing there was nothing else I'd rather study, I did my degree in writing and I've now turned my favourite hobby into a career.
I write love stories with a twist, always leaving readers guessing right until the end. They're far from your normal romance stories, but a love story runs through the heart of all my books, with a sprinkling of something weird thrown into the mix.
When I’m not writing novels, I’m a Marketing Consultant specialising in copywriting, so words really are my world!
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