The Curious Heart Of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland

          This is a bit of a hit and miss novel and, if I'm being honest, I found that it did actually miss more than it hit.  The problem lies in the fact that when it hits it does so wonderfully well and you just want it to keep going and going in that vein.  sadly, you do get let down time and time again.  In fact I very nearly gave in at the 80-odd page mark as it was all rather ploddy and I couldn't see where it was going.  Fortunately another 20 or so pages in and I was rewarded for my perseverance and started to actually enjoy this rather quirky little tale.  So, only quarter of a book for it to grab me.

Ailsa herself is quite a charming character, she took me a while to warm to but I did end up rooting for her.  She is selfish and quite childlike but after spending 28 years at the mercy of her failing heart this is understandable.  I loved her forays in to becoming an adult but felt like whispering her ear - no-one ever really grows up, not if you do it right.

I loved the build up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (almost as much as I loved the fact the author got the name right - one of my particular bugbears is calling it the Edinburgh Fringe Festival).  This is likely coloured by the fact Ailsa is learning to Tango and that has to be simply the greatest ballroom dance ever - even if the author did confuse Ballroom Tango and Argentine Tango in her descriptive passages.  Of course it doesn't explicitly state Ballroom Tango in the text but when referred to as "Tango" then one has to assume it is not anything other than the Ballroom variant.

The romance element with Seb I was less convinced of.  For someone supposed to be a charmer he came across as less than charismatic to this reader and I really couldn't see what she saw in him.

I could see how this could be a very difficult read for some people, dealing as it does with acute illness, organ donation and death.  The handling of this is sensitive without becoming mawkish and is to be applauded.  However, some of Ailsa's introspection does stall the story in places and could well be why it took me so long to really gel with the book.

In summation the themes are laudable and dealt with, overall, with aplomb.  It is a slowburner and you my need to really persevere to become immersed in the story.

I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.