Dining and Driving with Cats-Alice Unplugged
Author: Pat Patterson
Publisher: IonPublishers LLC , Charleston, S.C. 29401
Editor: Bryna Kranzler (award winning author The Accidental Anarchist)
Release Date: June 30, 2017
ISBN978-0-9987922-1-7; ISBN 978-0-9987922-2-4
Available from Amazon, Ingram, Baker and Taylor, (Paperback and eBook)
Trim 8.5x5.5 paperback
Price $12.95
Page Count: 260 Word Count: 82,000
ARCs Available on request in Kindle, EPUB, PDF, Paperback
Synopsis for Dining and Driving with Cats - Alice Unplugged by Early Reviews from ARC readers including indie reviewer Karen Purejoy: is a little different from many of the titles you receive and at first blush you may think it will be a little tame for your tastes. However, an acquaintance, Karen Purejoy, (an Indie Reviewer) told me about your site and thought you would identify with the main character's determination and resourcefulness. Her name is Alice and she will not be quickly forgotten.
The book is pure Southern. The main character's determination and resourceful will not be quickly forgotten. Her name is Alice. The story is swathed in charm and authored by a South Carolinian whose voice is mindful of Ondaatje's hypnotic narrative in The English Patient. He has picked up a half dozen 5 STAR reviews from the first ARC reviewers. You might spot a bit of Irish in the author and his spouse's detailed arguments comparing a dish from one restaurant to the same of another restaurant.
They, along with the cats, dine frequently along the way. As the miles flip the odometer, we are given insight into how this unusual relationship between the couple came to be, evolved, and gradually, at the end revealed in a secret you didn’t see coming. What, you say? There is a twist in a dining dialogue? Yes! And you’ll just have to read it for yourself–no spoilers here. Dialogue is so natural between the two; you’ll swear he recorded the entire trip. You might also say the book is unusual in that it totally engages the reader from the first page without a hint of violence, bloodshed, graphic sex, drugs or language. His main character (besides the two cats) Alice, does say "you bastards" once.
Alice is supremely self-confident and comfortable in her own skin as we learn early on when she promises the author a vehicle of his dreams if he will join her in a multi-state road trip from Mexico across the South and help wrangle two cats into restaurants, diners, cafes and hotels. He expects to find a Suburban or maybe an Escalade in the drive. Alice surprises with a Japanese sub-compact - a Honda Fit. She says it's "flexible." They drive - Scott La. & the Boudin War. They dine - New Orleans at Gautreau's, Clancy's, and Herbsaint. They laugh - the Carousel Bar. They cry - tragic death. They remember how it all started with Alice's secret from over thirty-five years ago. When they met he fell hard. He pursued. She said no. She said she had cats. She didn't tell him she also had a secret.
Over thirty years have passed since Alice revealed her secret. The young man is no longer young but he still pursues her. She calls him hubby. This is their story of a shared love for travel and history, for food and for their sweet and wily cats Munchie and Tuffy.
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