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3.5 Stars for The Typewriter Girl by Alison Atlee

7/6/2013

2 Comments

 
cover for The Typewriter Girl
Blurb: How much must she pay for the chance to call her life her own?

When Bet­sey Dob­son dis­em­barks from the Lon­don train in the sea­side resort of Idensea, all she owns is a small valise and a canary in a cage. After an attempt to forge a let­ter of ref­er­ence she knew would be denied her, Bet­sey has been fired from the typ­ing pool of her pre­vi­ous employer. Her vig­or­ous protest left one man wounded, another jilted, and her char­ac­ter per­ma­nently besmirched. Now, with­out money or a ref­er­ence for a new job, the future looks even bleaker than the deba­cle she left behind her.

But her life is about to change … because a young Welsh­man on the rail­road quay, wait­ing for another woman, is the one finally will­ing to believe in her.

Mr. Jones is inept in mat­ters of love, but a genius at things mechan­i­cal. In Idensea, he has con­structed a glit­ter­ing pier that astounds the wealthy tourists. And in Bet­sey, he rec­og­nizes the ideal tour man­ager for the Idensea Pier & Plea­sure Build­ing Company.

After a life­time of guard­ing her secrets and break­ing the rules, Bet­sey becomes a force to be reck­oned with. Together, she and Mr. Jones must find a way for her to suc­ceed in a soci­ety that would reject her, and fig­ure the price of sur­ren­der­ing to the tides of love …

Picture
Why I read this book: While at the 2013 RT Convention I passed an author’s gorgeous display in Author Alley, by far the best there. The display made me stop and look, and the book’s cover made me want to read it. I also admired the creative marketing tools like magnets advertising the fictitious vacation resort where the book is set. The following day the author had set-up station at the Giant Book Fair and was standing in front of her stall, telling passers-by that they could have a play on her vintage typewriter. The author’s engaging attitude got me to stop and have a quick chat, and I couldn’t resist buying the book – the only book I bought from an unknown-to-me author at the Giant Book Fair, out of hundreds of authors (and I only bought two other books, from my fav authors). My point with all this? Creative marketing really does pay off. In fact, I was so intrigued by The Typewriter Girl that it was the first book I chose to read out of the 30+ books (mostly free) that I left the convention with.

I loved the refreshing setting for a historical, both in time – Edwardian – and location – seaside resort town. (Conversely, although the cover conveyed Edwardian, and having since looked at the author’s website I can confirm that to be correct, within the book itself it would have benefitted from a clearer indication of the time because I was never quite certain of the year when I was reading it.) 

The heroine is feisty and hardened, and this defensive nature leads her to make choices and comments outside the bounds of what’s expected of a historical female, and I liked it. I often felt heartache when her damaged nature showed through, and I was invested in her journey.

The author’s voice is definitely unique with a bent for literary depth and she often writes a clever turn of phrase. Her characters and plot also don’t follow typical expectations, which is a bold approach for a debut novelist. For instance, (*spoiler ahead, skip to next paragraph to avoid it*) when the heroine and hero have sex for the first time, it’s far from romantic fireworks and basking in adoration. Quite the opposite. But Atlee pulled it off because it made sense for the characters, and although the romantic in me was disappointed, the reader and editor in me really appreciated the scene.

The author also gets kudos for the Pinterest collection of helpful tidbits on the era and setting. 

I didn’t care for the hero’s speech pattern. He’s Welsh, so perhaps that has something to do with it, but on paper he sounded an awful lot like Yoda at times, which is just about the worst imagery parallel for a romantic hero as you can get. An example from a randomly opened page just now: “Rule the world and any man in it, you could, wearing that frock.” (eh, not a great example) This was such a shame because I liked his inner character well enough, but my overall feeling towards him wasn’t what it should have been. I suppose it’s that I liked him as a character, but not as a leading-man in a romance.

Beyond that, I can’t put my finger on why I didn’t entirely love this book. I really wanted to, but something just didn’t resonate for me.

Overall though, I’m still glad to have read this book, and glad to have discovered Alison Atlee. I think she has a lot of potential for originality and I look forward to reading her next book.

Favorite quote: (setting: the hero helps heroine prep for a business meeting) [Mr. Jones] was uncommonly bad at seduction if he though talk of common capital and incorporation would do the trick, but she could think of no other reason he would lavish her with such time and care.

Except the impossible one: No motive but to help her. Such purity didn’t exist, though. If it did …

If it did, he’d be a dangerously good seducer.

More quotes at Goodreads

Series: none

Publication: Trade paperback and ebook from Gallery Books (January 29, 2013) 

Similar reading: I can’t say I’ve read anything quite like this in tone, era or setting.
2 Comments
Beverley Eikli link
8/28/2013 01:42:21 pm

I really enjoyed reading Henri's interview AND your book review on The Typewriter Girl. It was food for thought when it came to both creative sides of the writing business: the actual writing and the marketing. At RT next year I think I'm going to be more innovative, too.

Reply
Self Help Book Reviews link
10/22/2020 02:31:56 am

Thank you for this awesome review, and giving me another great book to look forward to!

Reply



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