The Bewitching of Alison Allbright

Title ~ The Bewitching of Alison Allbright
Author ~ Alan Davidson
Publisher ~ Straw Hat Publishing
Published ~ 20 May 2012
Genre ~ YA/Contemporary

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

Alison Allbright is a high school nobody. She is prickly and selfish, so she has no friends. She resents being poor, living in a shabby home and not having the money to do the fun things her well-off classmates do. There isn’t even money for class trips, so Alison has to stay behind. All of her daydreams revolve around material things and the wish for more. And then Mrs Considine steps into her life.

Mrs Considine is an upstanding citizen with tons of funds and a daughter who looks exactly like Alison. When her chauffeur runs over Alison’s beat up bicycle and they stop at Alison’s home to replace it with a bright shiny new one, Alison’s life takes a momentous turn. But is it a turn for the better? Or worse?

Being inside Alison’s head and listening to her justify what she allowed to happen was an interesting experience. I thought she was a self-centered little idiot, but I can understand why she was constantly dreaming of bigger and better things instead of being happy with what she had. The fact that she let things get as far as they did made me want to shake her repeatedly, but at least Alison wakes up and finally smells the decaying roses. My favorite part of the book is when Alison gets a rude awakening by a friend. There’s nothing quite like cold hard truths told by someone you respect to slap some sense into a person.

Well-written, interesting and a great plot. I enjoyed this book very much.

*Many thanks to Straw Hat Publishers for providing me with a review copy. Please see disclaimer page.