I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Alice is a stuck-up, middle-aged dentist on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown when her sister Melissa (who is the opposite to her in everything) treats her to a week away. Alice ends up disappointed when she finds herself not in a luxury spa, but barefoot and foraging for her own breakfast at a Viking retreat in Denmark. But the retreat could be the one thing to make Alice really take a look at herself and start changing things for the better.

This was a book with a lot of potential and unfortunately while most of the humour was there, and the overall feeling of ‘I am Woman, Here Me Roar’ was there, it just didn’t quite do everything I was hoping for.

I think if Alice had had one or two less items on all the baggage she has carrying around, this book and Alice’s character may flowed better. She was hard to read at times because she was just so tangled up within herself, and what she thought she should be and how others thought of her, she honestly made me tired. I needed her to loosen up quicker than she did and at times I definitely wanted to shake her a bit.

I would have liked more focus put on Alice’s past history of suffering from an ED, as I don’t like when they’re mentioned in books and not given the focus they deserve. There was some mention of how Alice still suffers but I just feel like if it was being mentioned, it needed focus. Alice could often be extremely critical towards other women, particularly younger, thinner women which is obviously tied in with her past and her eating, but was hard to read.

I liked seeing the camaraderie between the women on the Viking retreat (despite Alice’s constant comments towards Margot) and I really loved the heroine-worship relationship they had with Inge who honestly, seemed amazing.