Review: Ice Creams at Carrington's by Alexandra Brown (5/5)

Monday 2 June 2014
The third book in the delightful series set in Carrington’s Department Store.

Georgie Hart and Carrington’s Department Store have got the world at their feet. Since a reality TV series put them both on the map, life has been amazing! Carrington’s profits are in the pink, Georgie has carved herself a place in the nation’s heart and her romance with Tom, the store’s boss, has finally blossomed.

Now summertime has come to Mulberry-on -Sea and Georgie is in great demand. The town is holding a big summer festival and she and her mates from Carrington’s are planning on making sure that Mulberry puts on the show of its life!

But Georgie is about to get the offer of a lifetime – one that is just too good to turn down and something that will test her loyalties to their limits… Will Georgie be able to pull off it off once again, or has her luck finally run out?

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING! Ahem. It's 3.15am and I've just finished it after starting it just a few hours ago. I read Cupcake's at Carrington's last year but didn't get around to reading Christmas at Carrington's until yesterday (May 23rd). The setting of Carrington's and Mulberry-on-Sea is just wonderful and I would just love to holiday there. As long as I could meet Georgie, I would absolutely love to be friends with her. Georgie is happily in love with Tom, Mr Carrington and thanks to being the star of a reality TV show is somewhat of a celebrity. The real celebrity however appears to be the fantastic Eddie who is now pretty much an A lister with his own TV shows and Simon Cowell on speed dial... He is also managed by Claire Powell!

One of the first things that stood out to me was the writing. With this being Alex's third book, as with most authors, I felt like she is just so much more comfortable and confident with her writing and her characters that it was just a joy to read. The previous two books are both well written and I'm really crap at trying to explain what I mean here! But you can just tell when an author really loves what they are writing about and loves the characters and stories as much as the reader. The world created just feels incredibly realistic and every character was extremely vivid in my mind. When an author puts so much effort and love into a story it really makes it that much more enjoyable for the reader. 

This time the story centres around a summer regatta and after two books it makes sense to move the action away from Carrington's but at the same time still have it playing a big role in the book. And of course the setting of Mulberry-on-Sea just works incredibly well for this sort of story. Or so I thought... Unfortunately for Georgie just a few things go wrong and this makes for some pretty shocking and hilarious story lines. Georgie is the face of Carrington's during the regatta and is warned by Tom's formidable mother not to make a mess of it. She also faces obstacles and criticisms from Meredith who is the PA of Mulberry's MP. Alexandra writes such brilliant bitchy characters that you just want to see given a good slap.

Not only does the story take place away from Carrington's, parts of it take place away from Mulberry! And that's all I'm saying on that! It was BRILLIANT and I pretty much went through every emotion with Georgie. She is just a fantastic character. I was happy, sad, laughing my head off and then halfway through the book practically screaming at my Kindle which at 2am in the morning isn't good... Alexandra has written one hell of a story here, just when you think Georgie can't have any more bad luck something else happens. It's written in a way though that you feel sympathy for Georgie but it's hilarious at the same time. 

I then had the thought of going to bed and finishing the book in the morning, well, that went out the window and there was no question of me sleeping until I reached the end. I absolutely love this book, the excitement around it on Twitter from other bloggers is huge and I'm sure and hope it'll be a roaring success for Alex. I can't recommend it enough. I'm just wondering whether this is the end of the Carrington's story? I for one hope not as Georgie is a character I could never tire reading about and I'm sure her legion of fans wouldn't either! I would love to read more from Georgie in the future even if it's a short story! Please do not hesitate to buy and LOVE this book. 

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