Adventures of an Ice Princess [Paperback]

Liz Maverick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2004

Clarissa Schneckberg wasn't ready to leave her Silicon Valley job, get dumped by her boyfriend, or move back in with her parents. She's officially pathetic. And her prospects are dim. At least that's how they look from under the covers of her childhood bed.

But just when her life seems to be heading south, Clarissa decides to head really south-to Antarctica, to be exact. After all, the male-to-female ratio at the South Pole is something like four-to-one. With her friends, Delilah and Kate, she's ready to make the trek and sign up for some equal-opportunity jobs...even though none of them has yet to live through a winter without fuzzy slippers.

It's an amorous adventure Clarissa would be insane to pass up. But for this snow angel, sanity has outlived its usefulness.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The premise is a bit of a stretch: three young women leave behind cushy lives in Northern California to work in a scientific community on the South Pole. In Maverick's hands it's not so unthinkable; she easily pairs likable characters with bizarre situations. Clarissa has been unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of eight years. Her best friend, Kate, has been downsized, and endearingly ditzy Delilah has sold her cosmetics company to a corporate giant. It's logical they'd want to strike out on their own. What's not so logical is their plan to take on the arctic tundra in search of adventure and available men, and what ensues is a comedy of errors. The girls are unprepared for the bitter cold and the bitter glares of their outdoorsy roommates. Kate and Delilah are stuck in horrible jobs, scraping plates and chipping outhouse ice, while Clarissa is assisting with an ill-fated documentary. Toss in a seal on Ecstasy and a bizarre CIA project, and you have the makings of an outlandishly funny adventure. Aleksandra Kostovski
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Liz Maverick is a writer and adventurer whose travels have taken her as far as Ross Island, Antarctica. A former CPA with an MBA, she once worked as a tax accountant in corporate America and then as a website developer in Silicon Valley. She is currently living on the West Coast.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (October 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451213009
• ISBN-13: 978-0451213006
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,261,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hey, everybody! I write! I travel! Life is good! Come visit me at www.lizmaverick.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Needs to Go Back to the Deep Freeze, March 8, 2006

By 

Mindy K. Hanson (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adventures of an Ice Princess (Paperback)

This was one of those books I kept reading just waiting for it to "get good". Well, I just finished the last page and it never did. Too bad, it had potential... I really wanted to like it!

I was on the ice a few years before the author and got a very occasional chuckle from events that I recall happening but overall this book was more fluff than actual story.

Less dialogue and more story would have made the book move along faster. There was so much conversation that significant parts of the story were left hanging. What happened with Clarry's new found love interest?

I can not recall the last time it took me 3 weeks to get through a 260-page book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great premise but falls short in delivery, May 4, 2005

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adventures of an Ice Princess (Paperback)

I was really looking forward to this story - what a great premise - to relocate to Antarctica after being dumped to get a new lease on life.

Clarissa has been with Kieran for eight years. On the night she assumes he is going to propose, he instead dumps her. Out of her home, with no job, she moves back with her folks until she and her 2 friends come up with the idea to move to Antarctica to start over.

There were a couple parts of the book that were hilarious - particularly the necessities that they packed, and all the mistakes Clarissa made. But there were far too many extended conversations among the three, and I just could not get into the dialogue - as it droned on and on. There were so many other areas that could have been further expanded on, particularly the post-Kieran relationship with Mitchell, and perhaps some background on why she stayed with him so long in the first place.

I was really disappointed in the story. In the right hands, it could have been so much better.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars coming of age chick lit tale, October 5, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adventures of an Ice Princess (Paperback)

Clarissa has lived with Kieran for eight years and thinks he is about to propose. Her best friends Delilah and Kate agree and even throw an engagement party, but Kier fails to give her a ring. Instead he breaks up with her after she quits her job to become a housewife to him. She returns to her mom's place with her tail dragging.

While Clarissa mopes, her friends try to cheer her up without success. Her mom wanting her daughter back on her feet and happy gives a brochure on Antarctica to Kate. Before Clarissa knows what is happening she is on her way to Antarctica for employment accompanied by her two buddies. There the male to female ratio is 4:1 with most of the men being single.

Though the heroine is in her late twenties-early thirties this is a coming of age chick lit tale. Readers will have to adjust to decisions that flaky Clarissa makes but will find the time worth doing. Antarctica serves as a terrific backdrop even if plunging into the icy water seems cold for even a polar bear. Chick lit fans will appreciate this fine tale of a woman trying to find herself in the frozen Antarctic tundra.

Harriet Klausner