Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Release Date: June 2, 2026
Rating: 5/5
Source: Library
Recommended by: Elyse from Pop Culture Nerd
Publishers Summary:

When Alice Bliss learns that her father, Matt, is being deployed to Iraq, she’s heartbroken. Alice idolizes her father, loves working beside him in their garden, accompanying him on the occasional roofing job, playing baseball. When he ships out, Alice is faced with finding a way to fill the emptiness he has left behind.

Matt will miss seeing his daughter blossom from a tomboy into a full-blown teenager. Alice will learn to drive, join the track team, go to her first dance, and fall in love, all while trying to be strong for her mother, Angie, and take care of her precocious little sister, Ellie. But the smell of Matt is starting to fade from his blue shirt that Alice wears everyday, and the phone calls are never long enough.

Alice Bliss is a profoundly moving coming-of-age novel about love and its many variations-the support of a small town looking after its own; love between an absent father and his daughter; the complicated love between an adolescent girl and her mother; and an exploration of new love with the boy-next-door. These characters’ struggles amidst uncertain times echo our own, lending the novel an immediacy and poignancy that is both relevant and real. At once universal and very personal, Alice Bliss is a transforming story about those who are left at home during wartime, and a teenage girl bravely facing the future.

For Alice Bliss fifteen was supposed to be a time of firsts; first driving lesson, first date, first kiss and on and on. More importantly though, this was a time of firsts she was supposed to be sharing with her father, but when his National Guard troop is deployed to Iraq Alice’s world spins out of control. Her life shifts from carefree teen to the responsible “adult” in the home with the pit in her heart opening wider as the days pass. As time continues Alice turns to the one person besides her father who has always been there, her childhood friend Henry. Alice Bliss is a story of the change, hope and love that comes with war and it’s causalities both at home & abroad.

This is one of those books that changes your life forever, at least for me it does. I’m not sure I remember ever being so completely emotionally connected to a character the way I was connected to Alice Bliss and the odd thing about that is we have close to nothing in common. Coming from a family that stayed as far away from involvement in wars and fighting as possible, I have next to no understanding of the impact it can have on a family and an individual. Sure, I’ve seen movies, watched the news and had the occasional friend who had a family member at war, but it’s something entirely different to experience it first hand. Through her storytelling, Laura Harrington has opened my eyes to the strength and power of these unbelievable families and the sacrifice they make for all of us.

What I found amazing was the complexity of the main character Alice Bliss. For the majority of the novel she’s a fifteen year old girl who has yet to go out on a date, drive a car, hold an infant, buy a fancy dress, kiss a boy and more. By the end of the story though Alice has experienced all of those things…without her father, Matt Bliss, there to watch her change. Because of her mother’s inability to deal with her husband going off to war Alice is put in a position to have to care for herself and her younger sister as well as the things her father would do were he there. Alice’s struggle to balance her sudden responsibilities with her transformation into adulthood was part of the story I found so compelling. At times she’d be a typical girl with a crush, holding a boys hand and rushing out the door after an impromptu kiss, but then suddenly she’d be expected to care for a full garden her father left behind. All of this while adjusting to life without the man she thought would always be there for her, her father.

Now, I definitely should warn you, this story is absolutely perfect for Chick Lit readers, but you will be sobbing through more than half of your reading of this novel. There were points when I just said (sometimes out loud), “please no more.” What Alice and her family go through is excruciating, but so real and raw I couldn’t help but ache for them. I absolutely have a greater appreciation for families who send loved ones off to war. Though I may still lack that “real life” experience I can honestly say I will be more open and considerate of those in this situation in the future.

On a lighter note, I absolutely must mention how much I adored Alice’s best friend from childhood and her now possible love interest, Henry. The connection between the two was unbelievable and the thought of her possibly leaving him in the future for another boy gone off to war, John, is unbearable. Throughout the story the narration shifts between characters effortlessly and I loved hearing from Henry’s point of view. To hear him talk about how he felt for Alice, especially when she breaks down in front of him and no one else, was simply lovely. With their relationship left wide open at the end, I’m glad I have the opportunity to make up in my own mind how they end up…together.

Alice Bliss is a marvelous debut novel by author, Laura Harrignton. More than a simple story about a girl losing her father to a war she can’t stop, it’s a story of hope & love and growing up overnight. A story that will have you thrilled at the possibility of young love and have your eyes opened wide to the tragedy that comes with wartime. It’s possible that I could write for hours about this brilliant novel that is definitely in my Top Ten books ever read, but I won’t. I’ll simply say, go read this novel it will change you forever!

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