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A review by nglofile
The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland
5.0
I will very much miss spending time with Ailsa Rae.
Butland has a gift for spinning stories with whimsy against a backdrop of the more sobering. There's optimism and hope but there are also scars (sometimes literal) that speak not only of difficult experiences but also of the determination and resilience to move past them. Ailsa is far from one-dimensional, and her journey in embracing a life she wasn't sure she'd be granted inspires without being saccharine. She became very much real to me, and I adore her musings (and amusements), her self-awareness, her character, and her sense of mild adventure.
I would have thought I couldn't be tempted by yet another story using a Romeo and Juliet production as plot point, but if I could find this particular half-mafia, half-tango staging, I'd be there in a...heartbeat.
audiobook note: Though I'm confident I would have been charmed by Ailsa in print, Cathleen McCarron's voicing was utterly divine. The melodious Scottish burr she employs is warm and thick and often laced with a barely contained giggle, and I could be quite content to have her read to me on loop.
Butland has a gift for spinning stories with whimsy against a backdrop of the more sobering. There's optimism and hope but there are also scars (sometimes literal) that speak not only of difficult experiences but also of the determination and resilience to move past them. Ailsa is far from one-dimensional, and her journey in embracing a life she wasn't sure she'd be granted inspires without being saccharine. She became very much real to me, and I adore her musings (and amusements), her self-awareness, her character, and her sense of mild adventure.
I would have thought I couldn't be tempted by yet another story using a Romeo and Juliet production as plot point, but if I could find this particular half-mafia, half-tango staging, I'd be there in a...heartbeat.
audiobook note: Though I'm confident I would have been charmed by Ailsa in print, Cathleen McCarron's voicing was utterly divine. The melodious Scottish burr she employs is warm and thick and often laced with a barely contained giggle, and I could be quite content to have her read to me on loop.