Fancy Free

by Shelley Munro

An inherited condom company brings adventure, love, laughter, challenge, and education into young Alice's life in FANCY FREE.

Above all else, this book was just so much fun to read. I laughed out loud and read passages out loud to co-workers to give them a laugh. There were very emotional scenes involving fear and heartbreak and distrust, but they were perfectly balanced with the lighter elements of the plot.

Alice, a quiet accountant with a mapped-out life plan and one sexual experience in her past, inherits a condom company from her godmother whom she hardly knew. Not even knowing that her godmother owned a condom company made her inheritance even that much more of a shock. And due to a clever stipulation in the will, Alice can not simply run home screaming, which is her first instinct. Chaos, hilarity, and heartbreak ensue when someone tries to sabotage the company, the octogenarian board members start talking sex with Alice, and when Alice starts to develop feelings for her product testing partner.

Alice is so completely out of her element that all of her lessons and struggles and emotions are amplified. The way the author writes about Alice's determination to control her feelings, manage a successful business, and stay on target with her life goals is so fantastic. I felt every emotion was genuine and every reaction to new and crazy situations was real. Alice's journey is amazing: she goes from simply wanting to "do her time" at the condom company to caring about it; she goes from wanting to have a hot, meaningless sexual encounter to developing a real connection with her business partner; and she goes from having little confidence in herself and her abilities to feeling like she can take on the world.

The cast of supporting characters did nothing but add to the enjoyment of this story. The board members, the hunky business partner, James, and even the anti-condom cult each offered to enhance the plot.

This was a great story with unexpected twists and turns. The plot really focused on how much you can discover about yourself by being open to new people and experiences.