Rowena’s review of Rumor Has It by Jill Mansel.

When newly single Tilly Cole impulsively quits her London job for a fresh start in the small town of Roxborough she finds she’s arrived in a hotbed of gossip, intrigue and rampant rivalry for the most desirable men. Tilly has no intention of joining in – she’s just happy with her new Girl Friday job.

Then she meets Jack Lucas.

Jack is irresistible… and he’s got his eye on Tilly. But there are shocking rumours about his wicked reputation. Tilly doesn’t want to be just another notch on anyone’s bedpost. But is she being mature and sensible – or is she running away from the love of her life?

When we got this book for review, I was all about it because I adore reading chick lit book and this seemed like something that I knew I would be in the mood for and when I finally picked it up. I couldn’t put it down. The book starts off with Tilly’s boyfriend leaving her and her not being too bothered about it. She goes to visit her friend in the country and that trip changes the course of her life.

Watching as Tilly came into her own with her new job, her new home and everything else made for a very entertaining read. This book had me cracking up. I thought it was just too funny watching the adventures Tilly went through in this book. I really enjoyed the characters interactions and the British humor. They’re such great conversationalists. I love reading and listening to the British slang and everything. They’re such a hoot!

This book had it all. It had great dialogue and fantastic characters. What more is there to want? Not much but as much as I enjoyed this book, there were loads of things about Tilly that totally got on my frickin nerves. Tilly’s whole thing about keeping her distance from Jack, even after she found out that she was wrong in everything she thought she knew about him (you know what they say about people who ASSume) that she walked away from him in an effort to save herself from heart ache. I could respect that if she knew that he was a player for real, she had concrete evidence then yeah, I could see her trying to save herself the heart ache but he WASN’T like that. He wasn’t guilty of ANYTHING that she accused him of and she still kept her distance from him. It was so dumb and that was the other thing that annoyed me about Tilly. She called Jack on every little thing, everything and none of it was true and even when she was made to look like the idiot that she was, she didn’t seem genuine in her apology. It was more like, “Oops, my bad” and then she just went back to whatever it was she was doing.

And while we’re on that, Jack. He was the perfect guy, charming and hot and everything that a girl could want. Women all over town wanted to do him and he could have his pick of the litter and the one woman he does want makes him jump through hoop after hoop after hoop. It was so annoying that he let Tilly get away with treating him the way that she did. I kept waiting for him to get good and pissed at her but he kept trying to explain himself to her when he shouldn’t have but alls well that ends well because I forgave them for acting like idiots. The book ends the way it’s supposed to end and that’s really all that matters but their stupidness does affect my grade for the book.

I really enjoyed getting to know the other characters as well. From Max and Lou to Kaye and Erin. I loved them all. Even Declan from the pub.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Sourcebooks. You can buy it here or here in e-format.