Belinda Dao

*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*

This is part 2 of my review and summary of Intensely Alice for those of you who have not been able to read the book yet and are dying to know what happens.

WARNING: Please do not continue reading if you do not want to know what happens.

Chapter Two – Company

Ben and Sylvia’s trip to New York happens earlier than planned and they are too busy planning that they do not mention a baby-sitter for Alice.  Could it be true?  An unsupervised weekend without Ben, Sylvia, or anyone to watch her?  Alice is excited at the prospect of having the whole house and Ben’s car to herself.  She begins to mentally plan a party and thinks about who she might invite.  After a busy day at work, she comes home to what she thinks is an empty house.  No cars in the driveway.  That’s a good sign.  Aunt Sally?  Nope, but big brother Lester is there.  Alice is obviously disappointed with his presence, but she accepts it and has dinner with Les.  Converstaion ensues.

The next night, Alice watches movie with Pamela, Elizabeth, Mark, and Keeno.  Midnight Black (spy movie) is sold out so they settle on Heathen Born (horror movie).  After watching the first forty minutes, the group decides to bail, but Alice wants her parentless weekend to more memorable.  Keeno suggests Cemetery Tag and they set off to find a cemetery.  At a stoplight, Keeno suddenly yells, “First-Grade Fire Drill!”  Mark and Keeno both jump out and tell the girls to follow suit.  They run around the car and then get back in, but they must be in different seating arrangements.  They do this again before arriving at a large cemetery.

MY TAKE: It was funny to me how Lester is the foil to Alice’s potential party after she kept building it up in her head that freedom alas was hers for taking without Ben or Sylvia home.  His sense of sense of humor at handling Alice’s discontent is typical Lester style.  It’s also nice to see Alice’s conversation with Lester maturing with age yet still keeping with the tone of their previous brotherly-sisterly talks.  As for Alice’s night out with her friends, Mrs. Naylor sure knows more about teen life than me.  Has anyone ever heard of First-Grade Fire Drill or am I just that out of it?  Still, it was entertaining to read.

Be sure to check out other Intensely Alice updates including chapter summaries and reviews (spoiler alert!), surveys, polls, and more!

1 Comment | In: Books | tags: Alice series, Intensely Alice, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, review. | #

I apologize for being MIA, but graduations have been keeping me away. However, I am back and glad that so many people are interested in doing an Alice chat. The next step is to determine what day would be best for everyone. Following that, we will decide on a time that is best for all Alice fans. For now, take the poll and let me know what day is best for YOU!  As for those of you looking for Intensely Alice updates, I will be getting back to those real soon so please be patient.

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Be sure to check out other Intensely Alice updates including chapter summaries and reviews (spoiler alert!), surveys, polls, and more!

No Comments | In: Books | tags: Alice series, Intensely Alice, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. | #

Hey Alice fans!  With the release of another Alice book, Intensely Alice, I thought it would be fun to have a live chat with other Alice fans about Intensely Alice (what you thought of it, questions you have about it, what you wanted to see happen, what you didn’t want to see happen, etc.) and other Alice related topics.  Take the poll and let me know if you are interested:

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Be sure to check out other Intensely Alice updates including chapter summaries and reviews (spoiler alert!), surveys, polls, and more!

No Comments | In: Books | tags: Alice series, Intensely Alice, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. | #

*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*

This is part 1 of my review and summary of Intensely Alice for those of you who have not been able to read the book yet and are dying to know what happens.

WARNING:  Please do not continue reading if you do not want to know what happens.

Chapter One – Planning Ahead

(This chapter in its entirety is posted on the Simon & Schuster website for Intensely Alice.)

The book begins at the Steidmeister’s pool where Alice and her friends (minus Patrick who has already started summer classes at the University of Chicago) are once again hanging out and Pamela proclaims that she wants  “to do something wild this summer.”  Gwen ultimately suggests volunteering at a soup kitchen for a week in July to which Alice, Elizabeth, Pamela, Mark (who says he’ll invite Keeno), and maybe Justin agree.

Later, at dinner with her family where Les announces his biking trip with his friends and Sylvia and Ben talk about their trip to New York, Alice spontaneously says that Patrick invited her to visit him while the family is in Chicago for Carol’s (Alice’s cousin) wedding.  Surprised that Ben has agreed, Alice makes the call to Patrick to see if he agrees.  Patrick, sounding a bit distracted at a baseball game, tells Alice that her visit “Sounds great!” and he’d work out the details.  The chapter ends with Alice excited about the visit and even more excited about where she might be spending the night on that visit.

This first chapter sets in motion most of the events in the book.

MY TAKE: To be quite honest, I skipped the first chapter when I first read the book.  I had already read this chapter when the excerpt came out and I wanted to know what would happen next!  It just comes to show that Phyllis Reynolds Naylor still knows how to hook her reader in.

Be sure to check out other Intensely Alice updates including chapter summaries and reviews (spoiler alert!), surveys, polls, and more!

No Comments | In: Books | tags: Alice series, Intensely Alice, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, review. | #

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Be sure to check out other Intensely Alice updates including chapter summaries and reviews (spoiler alert!), surveys, polls, and more!

No Comments | In: Books | tags: Alice series, Intensely Alice, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, review. | #

Intensely Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is released today! Are you reading it yet? I am.

Stay tuned. I will be hosting a chat to discuss Intensely Alice.

In addition, I will be posting my reviews of each chapter (watch out, it will contain spoilers!).

Be sure to check out other Intensely Alice updates including chapter summaries and reviews (spoiler alert!), surveys, polls, and more!

1 Comment | In: Books | tags: Alice series, Intensely Alice, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. | #