This is a contemporary novel set in Yorkshire, exploring the life of Michelle Banks, an overworked mother and district nurse. Struggling with the demands of her teenagers, elderly parents, and a spendthrift husband, Michelle’s life takes an unexpected turn when Pauline, a former actress posing as the family’s Alexa device, decides to intervene beyond her virtual assistant duties. The narrative alternates between Michelle’s and Pauline’s perspectives, addressing issues like adolescent challenges, online scams, and personal health. Overall, it’s a heartfelt tale about resilience, friendship, and the unexpected ways technology—or its human counterpart—can impact our lives.

Alexa is not an AI that has all the answers, it's a real human not just listening into everything their allotted family is doing, they can also see them as well. Pauline is our Alexa. She has only a few weeks left until she retires. Michelle Banks is struggling in her everyday life. Her husband keeps wasting money buying children's TV memorabilia. Her daughter suffers from anxiety. Her son, well, he's done something stupid.

his is an intriguing read with a unique premise. I've always believed Alexa listens in to your conversations, bit I never thought that there was a real human, every home has their own human, watching and listening to their families every move. They are not supposed to strike up a conversation with any of their family members, they are only allowed to answer any questions they are asked. We get some humour, it's sensitively written, and there;s character development in this well-written book.

Published 26th February 2025

I would ike to thank #NetGalley #BoldwoodBooks and the author #LindaGreen for my ARC of #TheWomanWithAllTheAnswers in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Boldwood Books for this arc.

The idea of this one sounded fun with AI being a hot topic now. But the reality of it isn't much fun - at all. I get that the Banks family had to have issues and they had to be bad enough that "Alexa"/Pauline would want and need to finally step in but this pile on of misery and idiocy isn't something I want or mentally need to read now. Plus the son's issues, which aren't detailed in the blurb, look to be headed in a direction that I want no part of.

As I continued to read, the premise that had sold me on the book just felt creepier and creepier - that AI is watching every move that this family makes and even if the AI is a person, it's still creepy. Readers should also be aware that Pauline's Yorkshire way of speaking (she says nowt, summat and drops "the" from her sentences a lot) is (I assume) accurately used. Think the original "All Creatures Great and Small," which wasn't an issue for me but might be for others. DNF

What a fun and enlightening read! In a world of AI, it’s become our norm to ask Alexa, Siri and Google for answers and information, but what if it goes a step further and we come to depend on them a bit too much?

Busy wife and mum, Michelle, is in a bit of a rut and is being treated like a doormat by her family. Her husband is addicted to buying memorabilia online, her daughter barely leaves her room and is too anxious to face going to school and her son has been reported for sending an inappropriate photo to his girlfriend. The only sane voice in the house belongs to Alexa!

Far from the AI Michelle assumes she is talking to, the reality is that Michelle’s Alexa is voiced by 65 year old Yorkshire woman, Pauline! When it becomes clear that Michelle needs more help than Alexa can formally give, Pauline decides to come clean and identify herself.

Heart warming and at times, hilarious, this was a great read with a refreshingly clever concept.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Linda Green and Boldwood for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a great story. I have read books by this author before and always enjoyed them.

This story is told in a different way and is very imaginative - Pauline isn't known as Pauline... she's Alexa. She has been with Michelle's family for 6 years now and knows her family well from what she's seen through her various smart devices. Now Pauline is coming up to retiring, Michelle, who is oblivious to the fact that her Alexa is actually a real human, needs Alexa more than ever. She has so many things happening in her life.

The story shows us how Michelle is part of the 'sandwich generation' trying to deal with teenage dramas and the extra-increasing needs of her parents.

I really enjoyed reading this story as it's so unusual and I found the characters engaging and very well crafted too. This is a story which will stay with me as I could relate to so much of it - the miserable Billie Eilish songs being one...!

What a brilliant idea for a book!
Imagine if your Alexa was actually a person who found out and knew all about you, they lived their lives alongside yours?
I really enjoyed this book, I didn’t give it 5 stars as Pauline’s character speech sometimes annoyed me but thats just personal preference.
Would definitely recommend - goes off to ask Alexa some rogue questions….

This Is like a slightly weird modern day fairy godmother! Becuase at first hearing the premise od alex coming to life,or being manned by a real person, freaked me out. Alot. Isn't it most people modern day night mare that robots take over or are somehow real? But this took a rather lovely turn. Because In this case Alex IS actually a real person. Who kind of sprinkles help whenever she can. And in this book she's needed more than most.
This family are a family. But at this time in life there is alot going on for them. But can our fairy Alex help? Should she? And how far should that help really go?
I love Linda Green. She has such an emotional depth to her characters. You warm to each detail and quickly cherish her stories. This was no exception and such an original plot. Yet still held Linda's warmth and usual gorgeous way of writing.

This was a fun story about 52yr old Michelle Banks who is struggling to keep all the plates spinning in her life, then her Alexa reveals her true identity as a former voice over artist and sets about trying to help Michelle. This is a nice beach read!

Michelle is a nurse and mother of two, in the grips of peri-menopause and midlife frustrations. Her husband Marc, once a competitive journalist now unhappily employed doing technical writing, is struggling with his own existential crises. On top of her nursing job, Michelle cares for her elderly father as well as Marc's mother-in-law, in addition to managing the needs of her two teen children. Like many households, Marc and Michelle and their children rely heavily on the household Alexa, never dreaming that there's more to this device than it seems. It's an interesting premise: what if our Alexa devices were manned by real people? Oh, and they were monitoring us around the clock, listening in and following all of our tech activity? Pauline, a kind-hearted mother and aging voice actor, voices Michelle's Alexa. She knows all the family's secrets and patterns, and is sometimes tested by the limits of her job, especially this close to retirement. And most especially when the family's struggles escalate and they could use the extra help. Pauline sees ways she can help the family, but just how far will she go? It would be easy to use that kind of access for bad deeds, but this isn't that kind of book. Instead it was an imaginative and thoughtful story, with humor in all the right places. It was actually very sweet and surprisingly emotional, and there are some heavier themes so heed the content warnings. The story has a lot of commentary on family roles and life demands in middle age, especially focusing on women's struggles. And honestly, as a mid-life woman juggling all kinds of demands, I'd *love* to have someone anticipating my every need and doing some gentle, behind-the-scenes maneuvering to get me where I need to go. Sometimes you just need someone to believe in you, and sometimes that's your Alexa. Publishes February 26, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing an eARC of this story, all opinions are my own.

“The Woman with all the Answers” by Linda Green is an innovative and entertaining novel built on a completely outlandish premise. What if the Alexa, the digital assistant that many of us use in our daily lives isn’t just the product of AI but an actual person whose job is to be our personal assistants? What if there is an army of people, who know the nitty-gritty details of our lives?

Michele Banks’s family is in trouble. Her husband has a shopping addiction problem, her daughter cannot leave the house, and her teenage son seriously mishandles a budding relationship. Everything looks like it’s falling completely apart (and at this point, I disliked nearly every character in the book!). But then Alexa steps in and helps Michele get through everything. Alexa really is “the woman with all the answers.”

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this unusual book. I am looking forward to more by this author. My opinions are my own.

This was a pretty fun read with a unique premise. I loved the idea of Alexa being a real person, not AI. It was a very lighthearted and easy read that will definitely entertain you.

Hysterical! Michelle’s family are driving her to insanity; she’s not quite sure how much more she can take… Alexa holds the answers to most of her daily questions but she still needs some more support. Who knew that the was actually a group of woman who ARE the brains behind the Alexa’s and sometimes they go rogue just to help their families in need. This book was hysterically funny when Michelle gets the help she needs in the most unexpected of places!

This was a completely different book to what this author has written before and has a unique and interesting premise.

What would you do if your Alexa suddenly became alive and turned into your fairy godmother otherwise known as Pauline from Halifax well in this story Michelle was about to find out as her Alexa helps her to navigate the struggles of family life and the menopause. .

This book was funny, quirky and uplifting in equal measure and had lots of references that women of a certain age will be able to relate to and makes you feel you are not alone.

3.5 Stars

This was my first read by Linda Green and it won't be my last because I actually have In Little Stars on my to-be-read pile. This was such a unique premise, Amazon Alexa is a real person behind the speaker and has undergone rigorous training. The one in this story is named Pauline and she's getting ready to retire so she finally reveals herself.

The book has two points of view from both Alexa/Pauline and Michelle who is the owner of the speaker. I didn't like Michelle at first she is of the sandwich generation and lets her family walk all over her. Her children are teenagers and her husband works from home, whereas she is a personal carer and works outside the home. Instead of insisting her family help her more she just complains about it a lot. She is helping her dad and her mother-in-law. On the plus side, the characters were very real and true to life. I loved Alexa/Pauline she's the granny everyone wishes they had. She was funny, self-deprecating, full of love and had a caring attitude. I like books where you come to care about the characters.

There are a few side stories that I felt got lost along the way and that's where the book lost me, I wish they were more in-depth as they were important issues. This was a very quick read and you won't miss the Mary Poppins vibe and the Banks family name. I didn't like the jokes about the serious mistake the son made that just gave me an icky feeling all around.

The Woman with All the Answers is a charming contemporary story set in Yorkshire, with an unusual premise - what if it turned out that Alexa is not just an AI-driven piece of domestic tech, but was instead a kindly human being, employed to assist stressed modern families in any way she can?
I’ve been resisting requesting ARCs lately, but was seduced by this title, and tickled by the idea of a human Alexa - not something I’ve ever had, but friends seem to use it all the time. While not as funny as I was expecting, I loved this story of a woman of my age getting her life back on track thanks to an unlikely ally.

Michelle Banks is an overworked mother of two teenagers, who is struggling to balance full time work as a district nurse with caring for elderly parents and reigning in her feckless husband’s online spending. Typical of the Gen X “sandwich generation”, she’s already lost herself, but when perimenopause hits, she’s starting to lose control. Pauline, the ex-actress masquerading as the family’s Alexa, decides enough is enough and it’s time to do more than just manage their shopping lists…

While I’m spared the trials of both teenagers (cats are so much easier) and parents (having migrated to the other side of the world long ago) I could relate to Michelle’s battles to manage her life on broken sleep and with little help from Him Indoors… The chapters alternate between Pauline/Alexa and Michelle’s perspectives, which worked well, and dealt with apparently common issues like adolescent sexting, online scamming, and access to appropriate medical help, as well as losing a parent. It was poignant but ultimately uplifting, and I would recommend it to anyone who is or knows a middle-aged woman. The only thing I didn’t like - and this could’ve been a fault in my review copy that’s been since corrected, was all the “The”s missing from Pauline’s narration: I wasn’t sure if this was an attempt at regional dialect, but it was annoying and often made her sentences confusing to read. 4.5 rounded up.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the Advance Review Copy. The Woman with All the Answers is published on February 26th.

I absolutely loved this book.

Many of us have an Alexa, but did you know she isn't AI but a real person? She is sat listening to you and giving advice from her own home. Well, that is the premise of this book, which may be a little far fetched, but I just went with it and I am so glad that I did. I would have missed out on a real corker of a read.

Michelle is a District Nurse juggling so many plates. She has a Husband, two children, a father and a mother in law who all have demands on her time, not to mention her job.

With Alexa (aka Pauline) listening in on the smart speakers and seeing through the webcam and door bell, she is able to give Michelle a few pointers about what is going on in her house. To begin with she carries on as she has for the last six years, just putting reminders and prompts onto Michelle's phone. With Pauline's retirement looming, and things worsening for Michelle, Pauline decides to finally reveal her true self.

Some of this book is hilarious and some is sad. All in all it's about life and a very down to earth portrayal it is. Many of the situations rang so true for me. If you take away the idea that Alexa's all over the country are actually manned by a real person, the story is very heart warming and not at all impossible.

Michelle Banks is a district nurse, wife and mother to two teenagers. She has her hands full with her job, keeping the family and home running, and regularly checking on and doing chores for her dad and mother-in-law. Michelle has little help and support from her husband and children and she relies on the family’s Alexa device to manage her life, with numerous reminders and lists.
Behind the façade of Alexa is Pauline from Halifax, an elderly lady with no family close by who thrives on being part of Michelle’s family, albeit through a device in the corner of the kitchen. One day when Michelle is alone in the kitchen and particularly in need of a friendly ear, Pauline decides to go rouge and make herself known. She is part of a group of people employed to hide behind the misconception that Alexa’s are AI, when they are actually people answering never-ending questions in their ‘posh’ voice.
As Michelle’s life begins to spiral out of control, Pauline is there for her, coaching and supporting her through it all. But what Michelle doesn’t know is that Pauline’s retirement is imminent and she doesn’t want to tell Michelle. As her retirement draws nearer, Pauline tells Michelle who goes into a serious panic as she doesn’t know how she will cope with her life with Pauline’s replacement who will perform their Alexa duties by the book. But through all of Michelle’s trials and tribulations, Pauline has unwittingly been equipping Michelle to be strong and face things herself.
The premise of this book is unique which I really loved. It’s packed with a rollercoaster of emotions and I found it quite humorous in places. It’s told from the points of view of both Michelle and Pauline. The one thing I found particularly irksome was the way in which Pauline spoke and the non-existent word ‘the’, in every sentence she spoke throughout the book. I am not sure if this is down to Yorkshire dialect or an editing issue, but I found it annoying distraction. I am not sure that I really got over this, but found that I still enjoyed the book.

This is a fun, lighthearted, take on the privacy issues surrounding Amazon Alexa (and similar) devices.

Michelle Banks is a nurse, wife and mother to two teenage children. She also has her hands full with an elderly parent whose independence to deal with personal affairs is fading with each day.

In comes Alexa (AKA Pauline). Pauline is employed by Amazon. She is one of many individuals posing as Alexa. She listens and watches and listens to ‘her family’ (Michelle’s family) everyday and night to ensure she provides the best customer service… but this entails 24/7 monitoring across all devices (Alexa, mobile phones, webcams, doorbell cams, you name it, ‘Alexa’ is monitoring.

As Michelle’s life starts to spiral as the problems mount up, ‘Alexa’ can see that she is struggling and needs her help… will Pauline break rank and reveal all to Michelle in her hour of need?!

Sometimes help comes from the most unlikely of sources!

5* rating for such a cunning plot

I just love the idea of allocating a real person to every Alexa subscriber, what an ingenious solution to drastically lower unemployment figures. Told from three POVs. Michelle Banks 52 years old, wife, mother, daughter to elderly parents, she's battling menopause and exhausted by family difficulties. Alexa, the electronic virtual assistant. And Pauline, an elderly, white haired lady, sitting in her own living room ready to answer every query and command directed to Alexa.

Pauline's chapters were written in her broad Yorkshire accent which might be difficult for non-UK readers to understand, also there were countless amusing references or expressions only recognised by us Brits.

This is a very funny and thought provoking book where the plot careers from tragic to extreme farce (the appointment with the nurse), plus a good sprinkling of Michelle's self-depreciation while she's desperately trying to hold herself and her family together.

A compelling read.

With thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book, this review is my personal, unbiased opinion.

I really tried with this book and made it 2/3 through before I just got to the point where if nobody was paying me I wasn’t going any farther. The premise is ludicrous ~ that every Alexa and home AI assistant is actually secretly some woman (one for every household) who answers everything in a posh accent. Someone else takes the overnight shift. Presumably each of these women earns a salary to live on to take care of one single family. Our particular heroine Alexa is being forced to retire soon so she goes rogue and breaks the fourth wall to tell her long suffering woman of the house how to sort her life out. After listening to everything in these people’s house for five years. That’s not creepy at all.

This book beats you over the head with all the miseries of being a perimenopausal woman. Oh my bleeping goodness, it beats you over the head. Poor Michelle, who doesn’t get HRT for her symptoms, whose husband doesn’t help enough, whose teenagers are idiots, who has to take care of her elderly father and mother in law, and on and on. I’ve been through menopause and did it without HRT and having read this book it appears I am a mythical creature and should have thrown myself off a bridge because of my insurmountable misery.

I just could not relate to either of these miserable martyrs of women or the horrifying premise that we are supposed to apparently think is heartwarming or funny. I already unplug the “assistant” one of my kids gave me for Christmas a few years ago if I don’t have it playing music. I don’t want either a robot or an older British lady listening in on my family’s life 24/7.

Sorry, this was a miss for me.

I read a digital copy of this book for review.