Musings and Ramblings

I had such great fun with The Importance of Being Alice, the first book in the Ainslie Brother's series I totally wanted to read this one. This book picks shortly after the events in the last book except this time, the book focuses on Gunner, whom we met briefly in book 1.

Gunner is a forensic photographer of old buildings, but also has a degree in archeology. With Dig Britain!, a reality tv show, coming to film archaeologists dig up and study the grounds around Ainslie Castle, Gunner is put in charge of overseeing the project. Especially as the entire family is off on their summer jaunts and Elliot and Alice are on their combination honeymoon/book tour. He is also using this time to spend with his 17 year old daughter Cressida, that he didn't meet until she was 10 and that lives in Canada. All with a broken leg from his last assignment.

Lorina has wrangled her way on to the site to photograph and write a behind the scenes book to go along with the show. At least that's what she told the producer's when she pitched the idea. What she is really there for is proof that the archaeologist leading the dig, Paul, knew that he infected her best friend with HIV. He is denying any knowledge of anything wrong, and Lorina can't stand the thought of another woman dealing with this deadly disease.

Gunner and Lorina had an interesting courtship. Lorina was following around Paul, trying to figure out how to get the information she needed. Gunner was interested in Lorina, and couldn't figure out why Lorina was hanging around Paul when it was obvious by her body language that she wanted nothing to do with him. With Lorina and Cressida sharing a tent, and the director assigning Gunner and Lorina to do an "every man" explaination of what happened every day at the dig site, they were thrown together at every turn.

The narrator's of book one were back and Saskia Maarleveld and Brian Hutchison did another fantastic job. By switching back and forth when the POV switched, was very useful putting you into the correct mindset. I wasn't really a fan of dual narrators, but they have changed my mind.

I couldn't help but laugh at many of the situations that Lorina got herself into and Cressy was a breath of fresh air in her scenes. I did miss Lady Ainslie, but I am sure she will be back and weirder than ever in the books to come. There was a brief mention of The Corset Diaries and I abso-love when I can spot a reference like that. :) This was a fun read and I can't wait to who's next in the Ainslie family. I gave this book 4 stars.

Thanks to Audiobook Jukebox and Recorded Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.