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All Change Please
"All Change Please" is a thought-provoking yet humorous look into the lives of three best friends, Ophelia, Kat and Elise, who simultaneously come to a crossroads. In an unexpected twist of fate, their lives are turned upside down when a close friend is suddenly killed, the impetus that will shake the women at their foundations. Together, they endure several months of sorrow and must decide what it is they need to do in order to get out of the hole that is their existence in London.
Danielle West's dark yet hilarious journey through sadness, drunken mischief, workplace revolt, marital turmoil, and in-law animosity isn't just another story about life lessons.
Danielle West's dark yet hilarious journey through sadness, drunken mischief, workplace revolt, marital turmoil, and in-law animosity isn't just another story about life lessons.
364 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 6, 2012
3 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Danielle West
5 books11 followersDanielle West was born in a suburb of Boston, Ma. She has lived in forts in the woods, cardboard boxes on the streets of Toronto and in fancy high rise flats in London. An avid reader she could always find solace, adventure or distraction in a good book no matter how empty her pockets were.
Danielle has been a go-go dancer for Boston punk bands, helped start the UK's first roller derby league (the London Rollergirls who are still going strong) and has competed professionally in mixed martial arts all over the world. She enjoys making soap, singing badly at karaoke, diving and writing stories that people enjoy reading.
She published her first novel All Change Please, written over seven years on her Blackberry, in 2012 and her memoir Girls Can't Be in the Mafia was published through Epigram Books in 2018. She now resides in Bangkok.
Danielle has been a go-go dancer for Boston punk bands, helped start the UK's first roller derby league (the London Rollergirls who are still going strong) and has competed professionally in mixed martial arts all over the world. She enjoys making soap, singing badly at karaoke, diving and writing stories that people enjoy reading.
She published her first novel All Change Please, written over seven years on her Blackberry, in 2012 and her memoir Girls Can't Be in the Mafia was published through Epigram Books in 2018. She now resides in Bangkok.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 27, 2013
Danielle West- All Change Please
All Change Please follows Ophelia, Kat, and Elise, Londoners in their late twenties, after the sudden death of their friend Laura. Her death serves as the catalyst that these three women need in order to reevaluate their lives.
Ophelia describes life as “A constant and unbiased force that carried on like a powerful locomotive running to its own universal timeline.” In fact Ophelia, Kat, and Elise are all on the verge of a quarter life crisis.
Ophelia is missing passion from her life- her job is blasé, her love life is non-existent. Kat is stuck in a dysfunctional marriage, partly due to the fact that her in-laws are horrid and her husband doesn’t stick up for her. Elise is a struggling artist who happens to be the black sheep in her family.
There are many humorously dark sections in this novel. For example, Elise attempts to encourage her flat mate to find a part-time job in order to give him something to write about. James responds with, “So I get a Mcjob and then spit out Wuthering Heights? Hmmm, I’m just not seeing it.”
In addition, there are numerous tender moments between the three friends. At one point, Elise says to Kat, “This is one of thousands of decisions you make in your life. It won’t define you and this will eventually fade into your past. They don’t know you and have no right to judge you. Keep your head high.”
This novel really speaks to adults in their twenties and thirties who are struggling to break the monotony of their nine-to-five lives. Ophelia says it best, “Just as school felt like a purgatory where they busied themselves colouring, reading, revising, and testing, her career was more of the same. It was never meant to be her holy grail of purpose or source of happiness. It was one aspect of her life…”
As an FYI: after reading the first chapter, which ended mid-sentence, I thought the e-book hadn’t downloaded correctly, therefore I checked Amazon and “Clicked to Look Inside,” and realized it had downloaded correctly. After reading chapter two, I realized that Ophelia, one of the main characters, had been dreaming during the first chapter.
* I reviewed this book for Book Hub Inc.,an independent book and ebook publishing, marketing, and distribution company. If you’re interested in reviewing books (and in exchange receiving the free ebook): http://bookhubinc.wordpress.com/2013/...
All Change Please follows Ophelia, Kat, and Elise, Londoners in their late twenties, after the sudden death of their friend Laura. Her death serves as the catalyst that these three women need in order to reevaluate their lives.
Ophelia describes life as “A constant and unbiased force that carried on like a powerful locomotive running to its own universal timeline.” In fact Ophelia, Kat, and Elise are all on the verge of a quarter life crisis.
Ophelia is missing passion from her life- her job is blasé, her love life is non-existent. Kat is stuck in a dysfunctional marriage, partly due to the fact that her in-laws are horrid and her husband doesn’t stick up for her. Elise is a struggling artist who happens to be the black sheep in her family.
There are many humorously dark sections in this novel. For example, Elise attempts to encourage her flat mate to find a part-time job in order to give him something to write about. James responds with, “So I get a Mcjob and then spit out Wuthering Heights? Hmmm, I’m just not seeing it.”
In addition, there are numerous tender moments between the three friends. At one point, Elise says to Kat, “This is one of thousands of decisions you make in your life. It won’t define you and this will eventually fade into your past. They don’t know you and have no right to judge you. Keep your head high.”
This novel really speaks to adults in their twenties and thirties who are struggling to break the monotony of their nine-to-five lives. Ophelia says it best, “Just as school felt like a purgatory where they busied themselves colouring, reading, revising, and testing, her career was more of the same. It was never meant to be her holy grail of purpose or source of happiness. It was one aspect of her life…”
As an FYI: after reading the first chapter, which ended mid-sentence, I thought the e-book hadn’t downloaded correctly, therefore I checked Amazon and “Clicked to Look Inside,” and realized it had downloaded correctly. After reading chapter two, I realized that Ophelia, one of the main characters, had been dreaming during the first chapter.
* I reviewed this book for Book Hub Inc.,an independent book and ebook publishing, marketing, and distribution company. If you’re interested in reviewing books (and in exchange receiving the free ebook): http://bookhubinc.wordpress.com/2013/...
October 18, 2012
Awesome, engaging book. The premise might sound grim, but the book is actually a funny dark comedy that actually teaches a few valuable lessons. Highly recommend All Change Please. What's even more amazing is that Danielle West wrote this novel over the course of seven years on her Blackberry smart phone. That's unbelievable.
June 4, 2013
After having finished another book right before I picked this up I didn't expect to keep myself up until 2am reading it and found that all day I couldn't put it down. A very engaging and realistic story of friendship. Extremely relatable to women in their late twenties and early thirties wondering "what next" and where to leave our past. I loved it.
August 4, 2013
I read this book some time ago & thoroughly enjoyed it. All Change Please is a great story of friendship that any reader can enjoy. I plan to move to London soon & found the book very inspirational. While reading it I felt as though I were already in London.
October 18, 2013
All Change Please by Danielle West
It’s a story of survival and a story of waking up one day to know nothing is as it was yesterday!
Danielle West writes All Change Please with the emotional impact that puts the reader deeply inside the pain of this trio of friends. When their friend, 27 year old Laura, unexpectedly dies it throws the surviving friends into the journey of grief.
The story meanders from Ophelia to Kat to Elise. West gives each a turn at point of view to delve into their reactions and how each handles it. With their self-reflection they come to realization of unmet dreams and misdirection of their lives. The reader is taken along on the path through their self discovery. One of the many related themes, sometimes the end of something can bring about positive change, shows the growth of these characters as they deal with the changes. Even though there are the scientific stages of grief, each character has their way of handling the raw emotion that has overtaken their lives.
Fortunately for these friends, they have each other to depend on carrying them through. Life doesn’t stop for these ladies to grieve, more changes occur that transform and mend relationships. Two are American transplants in the city of London, another theme of fitting in-being an outsider, helps see how a person’s past colors a personality but it is up to the individual whether it defines their character. Anglophiles will smile at the glossary of British phrases with American translations.
This is Danielle West’s debut novel. Visit her Amazon author page for more information:
http://www.amazon.com/Danielle-West/e...
It’s a story of survival and a story of waking up one day to know nothing is as it was yesterday!
Danielle West writes All Change Please with the emotional impact that puts the reader deeply inside the pain of this trio of friends. When their friend, 27 year old Laura, unexpectedly dies it throws the surviving friends into the journey of grief.
The story meanders from Ophelia to Kat to Elise. West gives each a turn at point of view to delve into their reactions and how each handles it. With their self-reflection they come to realization of unmet dreams and misdirection of their lives. The reader is taken along on the path through their self discovery. One of the many related themes, sometimes the end of something can bring about positive change, shows the growth of these characters as they deal with the changes. Even though there are the scientific stages of grief, each character has their way of handling the raw emotion that has overtaken their lives.
Fortunately for these friends, they have each other to depend on carrying them through. Life doesn’t stop for these ladies to grieve, more changes occur that transform and mend relationships. Two are American transplants in the city of London, another theme of fitting in-being an outsider, helps see how a person’s past colors a personality but it is up to the individual whether it defines their character. Anglophiles will smile at the glossary of British phrases with American translations.
This is Danielle West’s debut novel. Visit her Amazon author page for more information:
http://www.amazon.com/Danielle-West/e...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews