Looking For Wonderland by Jane Ainslie #bookreview #contemporary

Title: Looking For Wonderland

Author: Jane Ainslie

Publisher: Endeavour Media

Publication Date: June 2, 2015

Page Count: 228

My rating: 1 star

About the book:

Welcome to the world of Alice.

At forty-four, she’s a nurse who is burnt to a crisp by her job, has a family which makes dysfunctional look normal, and thinks valium should be handed out like lollies.

Alice knows things have to change.

Calling on her two best friends for advice, they decide to try and find their purpose in life.

Alice hopes Pilates, yoga, and Oprah The DVD Box Set, may have some answers.

Or does Dr. Botha, the hospital’s Infectious Disease Consultant, hold the key to Alice’s future?

As things begin to look brighter, a life changing event sends Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, leaving her to wonder if she has missed her chances for happiness.

Will she ever find her Wonderland?

Looking For Wonderland is a heart-warning story of love and choices.

Ok, Looking For Wonderland by Jane Ainslie is supposed to be a humorous look at a forty something single female who works in the nursing industry. Most of the reviews for this one are pretty positive with quite a few 4 or 5 stars. However,  I must have picked up a different book as this one is just a big no from me.

Starting this book off I did find it somewhat humorous as Alice begins her story and her first tales of her nursing job. But, and you knew there was a but coming seeing me at 1 star which rarely happens, it really didn’t take long at all before I really started to dislike our amazing lead, Alice.

A few quotes….

‘On the medical ward a lot of the nurses lumber around, barely able to squeeze between the beds because so many of them are fat, while some of them are so old, I think they should be in the beds instead of the patients.’ 

‘she says standing at the end of my bed, hands on her fat hips.’

‘She glares at me, as she swings her fat legs over the bed. and waddles off to the toilet.’

Charming. This is not what I would find humorous and respect at all from someone that is in a career that is meant to be caring and kind. Believe me I could overlook a fat joke and maybe even chuckle along in a different context but when people have come into a hospital looking for care no, just no no no.

On top of all of the incredibly irritating comments and actions of this character though there was also supposed to be ‘romance’ in the book. Again with the but…. the first half of this has Alice in an obviously doomed relationship then at her age actually calling off her job to mourn that ending for a week, really?? *eyeroll* So by the time another relationship formed I was well over the whole book, again…no no no.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

Jane Ainslie lives in South Australia with her beloved husband and unruly pet ferrets. When she’s not at the hospital playing ‘spot the infectious disease’ with her fellow nurses, Jane can be found happily humming along to her favourite singer Celine Dion, as she works on her miniature doll house projects. Jane loves martinis, and hopes that one day, she will spend time in Paris writing a fabulous book. Until then, ‘Looking For Wonderland’ is her third novel.