Now I'll Tell You Everything (25) (Alice)

I'm going to start off this review by saying I have been a loyal and dedicated fan of the Alice series for over 11 years now, since I was in seventh grade. My English teacher (my favorite teacher) showed me these incredible books, and that was when I first made a friend in Alice. I feel as though I know her, have cried with her, laughed with her, and felt just as embarrassed as she had, all the while growing up with her. "Now I'll Tell You Everything" is the final book, and there will be no more Alice adventures after this. I did enjoy this book, and in my review (it will be a lengthy review--just preparing you now!) I will cover both the positives and negatives I found while reading, and please note there are a LOT of spoilers.*****************SPOILERS AHEAD*****************"Now I'll Tell You Everything" covers Alice McKinley's life from college up until age 60. To briefly summarize, the novel takes her through college, new friends, relationships/engagements, marriage, vacations, deaths of loved ones, children, temptation, and so much more. It essentially depicts everything a true Alice fan would want to know about her life once she ended high school. While I did love some scenes, for the majority of the book I felt equally rushed and bored. I felt that Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was trying to cram as many events into this book as possible, which is why it probably felt rushed, so we would get a chance to know everything. At the same time, I felt as though the first half of the book was somewhat boring, and definitely was more "telling" as opposed to "showing". That has been an issue in the last several Alice books, I've noticed, and it does take away a certain realistic element to the story.I think the best way for me to conduct my review is probably a list format:NEGATIVES (in random order):1) Tons of new characters that are not especially important to the plot line. When Alice went away to college, she was introduced to dozens of new people such as her roommate, Dave, Valerie, Claire, and a bunch of other people I can't really remember all too well. I felt that more attention was given to these new characters that should have been spent on further developing existing characters. I understand that Alice was naturally going to meet new people once she went to college and moved out, but Phyllis should have stuck with just a few well-rounded characters instead of tons of very undeveloped characters that all blend together and serve no real purpose (except for Dave).2). Dave. I did LOVE the idea of Alice moving a little past Patrick (that whole "other fish in the sea concept") and thought it was a great idea for her to explore a serious, college relationship. I think the whole concept of her being in a romantic relationship with different people allows us to really know Alice's heart. We've seen her mature through relationships with (I'm leaving Patrick out of this for now) Eric, Sam, and even Tony to an extent. I've always felt I was right there with Alice, and used some of her wisdom and experiences when dealing with boyfriends I've had.BUT, I feel as though I didn't even know Dave, and she was engaged to him and lost her virginity to him! That was a MAJOR milestone in her life (she has thought about sex virtually the entire series), and it was almost like it was happening to a random person on the street. I felt like I didn't even KNOW Alice, and couldn't even form an opinion if I was in favor or against her relationship with Dave, because I didn't really know the guy! She barely mentioned him in the beginning, and then all of a sudden they were out to dinner and he kissed her. That first kissing scene had about as much emotion as a kitchen sponge. With Eric, you could feel the nervousness of being a freshman in high school, being gawky and young and also feel that excitement of feeling like an adult. With Sam, it was comfort. You felt secure, knowing that he was a guy who cared and you could feel comfortable with and not feel insecure, that he would love you regardless. Tony was that "bad boy", who makes you feel like a rebel and makes you feel sexy and daring. Even though he was only in it for sex, you still could feel that tension and excitement right there with Alice, and it really did feel like I was there. But with Dave, it was "he kissed me" and I was left waiting for more. What was it like? Romantic, awkward, sexy, friendly, funny, spontaneous, what?? I got practically no reaction from Alice, and I thought the first kiss with a man she was engaged to would have a little more pizzazz than that, just so I could help get a feel of Alice's relationship with him. But none really came, in that scene and others that followed.Their relationship as a whole was a blur to me. Like I said before, I really didn't get to know Dave at all or even relate to why Alice liked him. She would say things such as, "I could see myself loving him" and I kept asking How? How did he make her feel? I got no inkling of that bubbly, nervousness mixed with excitement feeling I got with any of her previous boyfriends. I wish she showed us any sweet things he did, described dates and how she felt, and overall let us get to see their relationship really blossom before they rushed into an engagement. When they had sex the first time, I originally thought it was going to be a mind-blowing scene. I'm not asking for erotic porn, but since Alice has been thinking of sex since the very first book and made virginity a very important issue, I assumed this scene would tackle her emotions and how she felt. I got a glimpse of the "old" Alice when she was panicking about the KY jelly and basically squirted it in her underwear. That made me laugh, and it was nice to see Alice acting human again, and her goofy old self. I like when she doesn't know what to do, because it makes Alice more relatable. But then when they actually had sex, it was a letdown. Almost like, "Welp I did it, it hurt and I bled a little bit but then we did it again." There was NOTHING about her feeling like a woman, nothing about her being scared, regretting it, how it physically felt, if it was all she dreamed it would be... Nothing. I just wish I could have seen more of her heart and soul, and how much of an impact it had on her.As far as their engagement, it felt rushed and it felt boring to me. I never got that rush of excitement, never felt my own stomach flutter, never felt like it was the earth-shattering moment a proposal should be. Alice surprised me in that she said "yes" so quickly, and I thought it was unlike her. The old Alice was stubborn, and might have thought about it more and at least pondered it in her thoughts before saying yes. Overall, while I think it was a great idea to have Alice be with someone new, I just wish it had been approached differently. I felt that their breakup was too rushed and convenient, and without much reaction from Dave. It was all wrapped up with a little bow on top, and that was it. Just didn't sit right with me.3) Pamela and Elizabeth: They have always been the heart and soul of the series, and I always loved their interactions with Alice. But I felt as though they were barely here for most of the novel. With Elizabeth (always my favorite character), I was surprised she married Moe. I was hoping for a twist where maybe Ross came back into the picture, but that didn't happen. I just wished we got to hear more about how Elizabeth felt losing her virginity, as she was always more emotional and cautious about sex than the others were. I wish we could know how it was for her, and known more about how she felt about opening up to a man on so many different levels. With Pamela, we got no closure on her family. I agree that the storyline with her mom has been drawn out, but I would have liked to just get some final closure in this book. Also, I really felt like Pamela was a cardboard cutout of who her character used to be. She used to be so spunky, outgoing, and edgy while still fragile on the inside. We got glimpses of her, but not nearly enough.I also found it kind of unusual that the girls saw each other so little. I get that with their colleges being so far apart it would be tougher, but Phyllis should have made it happen and devoted more time to them, than to new characters like Valerie. Also they barely texted each other, which seemed unlikely. Pretty much everyone is addicted to their cell phones nowadays, and it makes it easier than ever to stay in contact through texting, apps, etc. I have friends I haven't seen in a while, but we still keep up more than these three did.4) College: Coming from someone who recently went to college, I found Naylor's description to be pretty weak. Like Alice, I also attended a big university on the East Coast, so I know what it was like. I feel the whole situation with the roommate was a copout, and that Alice should have dealt with the situation and found solutions, instead of Naylor taking the easy way out and having Amber just leave and not return. Also, where were the mentions of drinking, drugs, exams, etc? There was NO peer pressure on Alice to go out and party, and she never really encountered the temptations of it. I'm not a partier whatsoever, but I was definitely exposed to it in college and it is something people encounter on a daily basis. Alice is too much of a "goody goody", she should have gotten completely drunk once, or tried pot. I'm not condoning these behaviors, but it would have been interesting to see Alice in a real life situation that almost all college students face. Another point is, Alice was so stressed out all during high school. That was all we heard, but once she gets to college we hear no mention of her studying, exam stress, or anything really. I also felt that her years in college flew by way too quickly, and were basically skimmed over when certain events should have been given more importance. Likewise, something else bothered me. She was only thirty minutes away from her parents, yet she never really stopped to visit them. It almost felt like she didn't really care about them, when Alice usually loves her family.5) Her family: I wanted to see more of Lester. I was happy he got married, but again I got no reaction from Alice. It was more of the same old "telling not showing", and I couldn't connect as well as I wanted to to his marriage. Same goes for Ben and Sylvia, they were pushed to the curb for the majority of the book. Aunt Sally's death should have taken a LOT more prevalence than it did. I have always loved Aunt Sally and Uncle Milt, and felt that not enough importance was given to them. Also, whatever happened to the cat Annabel?6) The "rushed" element: I truly do understand that Naylor wanted to fit everything she possibly could into the book to satisfy her readers, and I do appreciate that. But some things were too rushed and I couldn't even process events because we were already onto the next event. What bothered me was how much time was spent with useless characters and Alice going to Oregon. I was glad to see her "spreading her wings" and going to new places, but there was way too much time spent on this. The same went for when Alice was older; I wish they Naylor could have slowed the pace down a little bit in certain areas to give the audience a chance to really appreciate and take in what was happening. Also, just a random thought, but where did Alice get all this money in college for trips, food, etc? I work two jobs and can't afford to do half as much as Alice can.7) Out of date words/expressions: When Pamela said "cripes!" I was equally cringing and laughing. Cringing because that is such an outdated term, and laughing because it was Pamela of all people who said it. I would expect that from Elizabeth more than Pam. Also, all the characters "make love". I could see Alice saying it about her wedding night with Patrick, a man she truly loved, but not in everyday conversions. Nowadays, younger people just say "having sex" and don't really call it lovemaking anymore, particularly in college. There were other terms too, and I was able to look past them for the most past. But I feel that if the author really wanted to capture college aged people, she should have used more appropriate terminology.POSITIVES:1) Alice and Patrick, finally together. I have always loved Patrick since day one, and knew they would ultimately end up together. It did hurt me when he cut off contact with her while in Madagascar and was with Jessica and Amanda. When they ran into each other in the airport in Chicago, I was caught off guard and in love! Finally reunited! I thought it was adorable how tired Patrick was, and how he went to sleep immediately and Alice was busy calling everyone she knew. When they had sex, my first thought was "finally!" Although, I did wish more time was spent on their first time having sex, and more about how Alice felt and reacted. I mean, here is the man she has loved since sixth grade and they are having sex for the first time after YEARS of teasing. I wanted a little more from her, but I was just glad it finally happened. I was also happy they got married instead of her and Dave, Patrick is such a sweet person who never stopped loving Alice. I actually shed a tear when Alice opened up the wedding dress box and saw the note from her mother, saying how she would have loved him (Patrick) too. That just warmed my heart, and I really did shed a tear.2) Seeing Alice and Patrick as parents: I loved reading the scenes where they had to discipline Patricia. It seemed so real, and I loved seeing Patrick as a stern yet loving father. I loved how Alice was able to put herself in her daughter's shoes, and relate to her and be honest with her. I felt that was where Naylor shined, in those mother/daughter interactions, especially when Alice knew what it was like to be awkward so she gave Patricia a makeover. I also liked when Patrick was able to take the families on nice trips and give them a taste of his cultured upbringing. I really appreciated the motherhood and fatherhood scenes.3) The final chapters, when Ben dies and when they open the time capsule. When Ben died, I actually started crying because that Ben was one of the best characters in the whole series. He was a great father, and his death really impacted me I love Sylvia too, and was glad that Alice was able to really appreciate her at the end. Similarly, I started crying when Alice opened the time capsule and read the letter she wrote when she was 12. This scene alone made up for the boring and rushed elements of the first half of the book, and I felt that Alice was "coming home". It was such a sweet moment, and reminded me why I loved Alice McKinley and her world.**************END SPOILERS*************** As a whole, I must say I enjoyed this book. I started off not really liking it, but it got better as it went along. I would recommend this book to any Alice fan, as it is great to see how everything ended up. At the end I felt as though I lost a friend, because Alice was such a huge part of my life for so long. She was a constant, and someone I could turn to when things were tough. Alice made me laugh, cry, love, and feel so many emotions. This was a truly great series, and a sweet, heartwarming ending. But even though this was the final book and that made me saddened, I don't regret anything. I love this series, and thank you Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, for allowing us into the beloved world of Alice, Patrick, Elizabeth, Pamela, Lester, Ben, Sylvia, and Aunt Sally.

I wasn't going to write my own review after reading several others and thinking "That is EXACTLY how I feel," but was easily persuaded to write one anyway. After all, if Mrs. Naylor was motivated to write 28 books that I've loved, one review on her last isn't too much to ask! (It's a long review. My apologies in advance.)***Spoilers ahead - read with caution!***I was disappointed in the last couple of Alice books, so I was afraid to get my hopes up too much for this one. Even before the last few books, I was afraid to get my hopes up because there's no way the final book could live up to what I wanted - or maybe needed - it to be. I've been reading the books since middle school, and I'm now a high school English teacher who adores sharing the series with my own students. I'm sad that this is the last time I'll have a new Alice book to read, because of all the authors whose new works I eagerly anticipate, this is always my most-anticipated new release every year.What I didn't like, for starters, because that list is shorter:- I wish Alice's college years had been their own separate book. I felt like I didn't know Dave at all, and I fully admit that I might like him more on the re-reading of the book. My initial reaction to Dave was "No! Go away! You're not Patrick!" (I am not the "couple-shipping" type at all. Alice and Patrick are my major exception to that rule.) It all just seemed to happen too fast with him - we didn't hear about him at all, then suddenly the first year of college is over and Alice is saying, "Oh, yeah, I like Dave," to Liz and Pam and I'm asking, "Who is DAVE?!" I do like the rough sketch of the college friends and would like to have seen them fleshed out a little more.- For some reason it bothered me that Lester got married so soon in the book. I wish I could even figure out why that bothers me. He spent 27 books as a bachelor, but was engaged almost right off the bat in this book. I did like Stacy, and of course his triplets, but the jump right into marriage for him bugged me for a reason I can't even really put my finger on.- I'm also sort of sorry that Pamela got married. I liked the idea that not all of the original gang's "happily ever after" ended in marriage, then suddenly she was married too. I could have seen her being happy as a dating bachelorette for the rest of her life, and (as a non-married person in my 30s) I liked the idea that a happy ending didn't HAVE to mean marriage.- Some of the language and situations took me out of the moment a little, as mentioned in previous books where Phyllis didn't quite have the handle on modern lingo. Pamela's "Cripes!" at one point made me say "REALLY?!" out loud.- Like another review said, I wasn't looking for erotica in Alice's love scenes, but after her over-analyzing and obsessing about her first time for the past 20+ books, I wish there had been a little more to it. I know most things were very abbreviated in this particular book, but that was the kind of thing that had always been important to Alice and I would have liked for it to be explored a little more.- I kind of wanted Ross to make another appearance in Liz's life, but I can live without that happening. I got Alice and Patrick, so I can live without Liz and Ross.What I liked:- ALICE AND PATRICK GOT MARRIED. Deserving of all caps. So worth the wait.- I cried and cried when Alice's dad died, so maybe I shouldn't say I liked that, but I thought it was so well-written and handled so well. Definitely one of the saddest deaths I've read about in fiction, though - probably because of my long-term attachment to the McKinley family.- The scene in which Alice went into labor with Patricia was easily my favorite scene in the whole book. The Alice/Lester interactions were so classically Alice and Lester, and I loved it so much.- The school counselor career. Alice's character was such a perfect fit for that career, and I loved her using her own teenage trials to help her connect to her students. The sex ed part was, again, so perfectly in character.- The train journey and New Orleans hijinks weren't my favorite parts of the book, but they were also very in keeping with the characters I've known and loved for so long, and I loved that they still retained so much of that same brand of friendship. I could see echoes of their younger selves in those scenes and that made me happy.- Mrs. Stedmeister throwing a shower for Alice. I love that she and her husband remained part of Alice's life, and I love what Phyllis did with their characters in the books after Mark's death.- Although I wasn't happy about Alice and Patrick's breakup in college, I thought it was written absolutely perfectly. I've been the Alice reading the breakup letter before, and her thoughts and fears and the dread in her stomach as she read about Jessica in his blog hit home with me in a big way. (This would, however, be on the list of things I didn't like if it hadn't ended the way I wanted.)- The note in the box with the wedding dress from Alice's mother. I cried. I cried a lot. So perfect.- The time capsule scene, and the reminders throughout the book of things that had happened long ago. I had just been thinking at one point, "I guess Alice knows by now if she ever wound up with the tennis ball breasts that she wanted," and it made me smile so much to see that referenced in the last chapter.Overall:I've read lots of series and seen lots of TV shows in which the writers paid too much attention to what the fans demanded, and the quality of the books/shows/etc. suffered for it because what the fans wanted wasn't what was best for the characters or the storyline. I know without even reading interviews that Phyllis must have had a lot of pressure from longtime readers to end the series with Alice and Patrick together, and whether that was her original plan many books ago or not, it worked. It worked so well. She made it beautiful, and I'm so grateful for that.This is a five-star book that the casual reader would give only one or two stars too - and if not for my past with the series, I'd agree, because of the skimming and choppiness. But this isn't a bestseller kind of book; it's a love letter to the longtime fans, and this fan is so happy to have read it.

I read my first Alice book at the age of 11, starting with "Reluctantly, Alice". Over the years, I read the whole series and now at the age of 27 and expecting my first child, I was eagerly awaiting the final book in the Alice story. As soon as this was made available on Kindle, it was downloaded and I read it in a day."Now I'll tell you everything" charts the life of Alice from 18 through to 60 and is much longer than the other books in the series. Trying to document 42 years of a character's life is no small task and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor certainly gave it a fair crack. As to be expected, parts of the story are rushed and the majority of the book reads like an extended summary of a life. However, there are some emotional moments, some of which reduced me to tears and some lovely witty lines, along with references to past books which couldn't help but raise a smile. Unfortunately, some more serious issues were brushed over in a couple of pages. Do we find out everything? We certainly find out a fair amount, although there were a couple of characters such as Molly and Mitch I wish had had a brief mention, but as is life, we don't always keep in contact with everyone we meet and their exclusion probably helped to keep the book realistic.The ending of the book however is simply lovely, with the tie-in to "Alice in April" as they open the time capsule. I enjoyed reading this and the way that for a moment or two, Alice reverted back to her 13 year old self.This book is a must for fans of Alice, but probably wouldn't work as a stand alone novel. It's probably a 3* read at best, but fans like myself will enjoy it and the effort made by the author is commendable, making my rating 4*. I'm now off to read the whole series in order.

A great read and conclusion to the Alice series

Brand new, hard cover book. It was a gift and my friend loved it, and shipping was bad at all either. I'm very happy with it