Author: Jill Mansell

Review: Solo by Jill Mansell

Posted January 23, 2017 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Solo by Jill MansellReviewer: Rowena
Solo by Jill Mansell
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: January 1st 2017
Pages: 480
Add It: Goodreads
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"Mansell's...gentle humor and enormous heart always ensure a treat for her readers." -RT Book Reviews for Making Your Mind Up 4 Stars
It all starts at a party, as these things often do...
- A one-night stand with far-reaching consequences - Momentarily enamored guests going home with all the wrong people- An unfaithful wife struck by jealousy and getting a dose of her own medicine- A shocking family secret revealed at the worst possible moment
One fling follows another, and now the whole community is embroiled in a great big web of deceit, the untangling of which will charm you, amuse you, make you laugh and make you cry.
Whatever's going on in your life, Solo by Jill Mansell is the perfect distraction right about now...
"A graceful blend of heartbreak, humor and redemptive love." -Kirkus for The Unexpected Consequences of Love

Jill Mansell is a master at writing contemporary romances set in English small towns. They’re always filled to the brim with characters, storylines, and laughter. This book was no different…except that the more that I read this book, the more pissed off I got. The different stories worked for me and while I was more invested in Max and Holly, I was still interested in what was happening with everyone else. Everything was going swimmingly until about halfway through and the stuff that worked was still happening with no kind of growing happening. There was a lot of infidelity, a lot of boneheadedness and the characters that showed promise in the beginning, I started to hate.

Ross and Tessa drove me nuts, I wanted to knee Max in his balls every time he went running back to that old hag, hurting Holly in the process and then the whole thing with Antonia, Richard, Mattie, Grace, all of it made me either roll my eyes around the room or seriously pissed me off. I was Team Max for Holly until he kept right on hurting her because then he stopped deserving her. Same with Ross. I was frustrated with Tessa’s inability to ride things out. She was always running away and that annoyed the snot out of me.

By the time the end came, I was glad to be done with these characters. Ross was a huge disappointment, and while Max came around, I thought Holly let him off the hook too easily. The character that I probably liked the most was Grace. Her story was funny because she fell in love with her Dad before she knew that he was her Dad and then once she found out, she was so grossed out. That was funny.

Overall, this was a miss for me. It started off great but kind of veered off into the OMG what the hell is going on right now? land. I just couldn’t get behind all of the dumbass antics of everyone involved. Such a disappointment.

Grade: 1 out of 5

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Review: Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Mansell

Posted October 4, 2016 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Three Amazing Things About You by Jill MansellReviewer: Rowena
Three Amazing Things about You by Jill Mansell
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: October 1st 2016
Genres: Chick Lit
Pages: 384
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three-half-stars

Jill Mansell's enchanting new novel will drive readers to seize life with both hands and make the most of every minute...Hallie has a secret. She's in love. He's perfect for her in every way, but he's seriously out of bounds. And her friends aren't going to help her because what they do know is that Hallie doesn't have long to live. Time is running out...Flo has a dilemma. She really likes Zander. But his scary sister won't be even faintly amused if she thinks Zander and Flo are becoming friends - let alone anything more. Tasha has a problem. Her new boyfriend is the adventurous type. And she's afraid one of his adventures will go badly wrong. THREE AMAZING THINGS ABOUT YOU begins as Hallie goes on a journey. A donor has been found and she's about to be given new lungs. But whose?

Jill Mansell writes great contemporary stories that promote strong female characters and Three Amazing Things about You is no different. She also writes stories that will break your heart but mend it right back up by the end of the book.

Three Amazing Things about You follows Hallie, a young woman suffering from cystic fibrosis and Flo, a young woman who inherits a cat after her boss dies and who has to move into her boss’ house since the cat inherited a house and last but not least, Tasha, the serially single Tasha who falls in love with a man while she’s digging into a trash can looking for her credit card.

Each woman was as different as can be but over the course of the book, you see their lives come together through a shared connection and the book ends with all loose ends tied together and a great big smile on your face.

Each woman falls in love, gets their heart broken and then put back together again and each story wiggled its way right into my heart and stayed there. I think of the three women, Hallie’s story was the one that broke my heart the most. She’s in love with her doctor and he doesn’t seem to reciprocate her feelings she’s bogged down with this disease and just wants to live a normal life. Flo’s story also hurt my heart but I was thrilled to see her grow and count her blessings with each passing day. Tasha was probably my least favorite of the three women as I was a bit frustrated with fear of adventure. I was mostly frustrated with it because I didn’t understand it and I can’t even remember where those fears stemmed from but alls well that ends well. I was really happy with the way that this story came together and then the way that it ended was just great.

This is a heartwarming story of three women and the directions their lives take toward each other. It was another hit from Mansell for me and I’m looking forward to more from her.

Grade: 3.75 out of 5

three-half-stars

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Review: Walk in the Park by Jill Mansell

Posted November 28, 2012 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Walk in the Park by Jill MansellReviewer: Rowena
A Walk in the Park by Jill Mansell
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: November 6th 2012
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 446
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four-stars

It's been a while, but Lara Carson's back in Bath and lives are set to change as a result. Because Lara left her family and boyfriend Flynn eighteen years ago without a word to anyone. Why has no one heard from her since? Her childhood best friend Evie is thrilled Lara's back and able to share her happiness. Evie's about to walk down the aisle with her dream man, Joel. Or so she thinks... Then there's Flynn Erskine, even more attractive now and stunned to see Lara again. The spark between them is as strong as ever, but how's Flynn going to react when he discovers the secret she's been keeping from him? Oh yes, there's a lot of catching up to be done...

This was another enjoyable read by Jill Mansell.  What I like about her books is that in one book, we get many stories.  There are so many different storylines being woven together to tell the bigger story and I liked it.

This story follows Lara Carson as she makes her way back to her hometown after being gone for 18 years.  She left when she was 16 and is back now, in her thirties and carrying some 18-year-old baggage.  When Lara left, she didn’t keep in touch with anyone.  Not her best friend at the time, not her boyfriend who she loved more than life itself, not anyone.  When her father dies and her childhood best friend camps out at the funeral to catch Lara, Lara is surprised…but happy.  Evie was a good friend to her and when Lara is invited to Evie’s wedding, she’s glad.

Lara wasn’t prepared for seeing Flynn after all these years apart.  She’s changed so much over the years and there are things that he just doesn’t know about her.  Like they have a daughter together and she’s 18 years old and her name is Gigi.  With Lara’s father out of the picture, Lara inherits the house that he lived in all these years.  When he kicked her out of the house way back when Lara went to live with her Aunt Nettie.  Going to live with Nettie was probably one of the best decisions of Lara’s life.  Her life turned around and she finally got the stability and the home life that she always wanted (and never got) with her father.  She also found a love that she didn’t expect to find when she had her baby.

When things don’t work out the way that they were supposed to work out, Evie finds herself going to stay with Lara at Nettie’s house for a few weeks before coming back to live with her and Gigi back home and well, things get a whole lot interesting.

Jill Mansell knows how to string along tiny stories into one huge story that keeps me interested, keeps me laughing and keeps me sighing all over the place.  It’s no different with this book.  There are tiny little stories wrapped up in the bigger story and I enjoyed it all.  I enjoyed getting to know Lara, Flynn, Gigi, Evie and well, just everyone.  They all added a little something special to the story and I ate this book up.  Now, there were times when the story dragged a bit but Mansell picked it right back up and I was able to finish the book with giant, dopey grin on my face.

Lara isn’t perfect and even though there were times when her stubbornness was going to be the death of me, I never not liked her and I really enjoyed getting to know her.  Getting to know Gigi.  Seeing Flynn and Gigi building a strong and lasting relationship together.  I really enjoyed seeing Evie learn to live on her own and really find herself without Joel.  I also really enjoyed getting to know Harry and see his friendship with Enjay.  There was a lot to like about this book and it really made the slow bits fade into the background.  Overall, I was a happy camper with this book and I’m anxious for the next Mansell book to devour.

…and that’s your scoop!

This book is available from Sourcebooks. This book was received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

four-stars

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