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booksuzi54's review
4.0
Silly, sad, trying, angusty, and fun moments and characters that chase your blues away! I love chick lit --especially British chick lit--- because they are a quick route to an enjoyable read.
adnar1m's review against another edition
4.0
Ik heb het boek geluisterd. Daar lenen deze boeken zich perfect voor. Dit boek zat veel beter in elkaar dan de vele andere doe ik al heb geluisterd. Vandaar dat dit boek in mijn Goodreadslijstje mag :)
kimberussell's review
4.0
Oh, this was just a lovely fizzy romp full of humor and whimsy. But just when you let your guard down, a touching moment happens that puts a lump in your throat.
This is so smartly-written, too! I enjoy chick lit books where I *can't* envision Jennifer Aniston in the lead role.
This is so smartly-written, too! I enjoy chick lit books where I *can't* envision Jennifer Aniston in the lead role.
pepperpots's review against another edition
3.0
It's been ages since I've read one of Jill Mansell's books. I enjoyed this one ... perfect for my week off. I know it was first published in the 1990s but it was a bit disconcerting to read the odd reference to how awesome Gary Glitter was!!
bridget_in_md's review
4.0
my first Jill Mansell read - perfect timing on vacation! =) great, easy chick lit!
silkxr's review
bleh. I don't know why I used to enjoy these. Maybe this is just a bad one, but ugh. Maybe I was happy then to ignore all the problematic characters, but I can't do that anymore.
mrsbooknerd's review against another edition
2.0
This review is difficult to write because there were two very distinctive halves to this novel. The first was engaging and entertaining, our leading lady Poppy was introduced, as were her supporting cast and their individual storylines were mapped quite quickly.
The plot progressed at a nice pace throughout the first half, but I felt that this dropped off by the second. Characters such as Dina were allowed a lot of page time, yet her story was nothing more than a filler and slowed the pace of more important events. If you take Dina out, did she really have any significant impact on any other story line? Not really enough to warrant the size of the role awarded to her, and espescially as I found her such a horrible character.
I have always said that Mansell can be a bit 'Picasso' in her characterisation, a bit overexaggerated and bold, and Dina was as exaggerated and bold as she could get, gratingly so. Claudia also teetered on the edge, I felt like Mansell wanted us to be sympathetic to her, and to ultimately like her, but I just couldn't. She was such a bitch and a snob and I was desperately wishing that she wouldn't hook up with sensitive Jake.
The saving grace for this novel was the relationship between Poppy and Casper. Their friendship was as instantaneous as her attraction to Tom in the opening chapter, and developed at such a believeable and lovely pace which led naturally into romance.
Overall I quite liked it, and it had all the markings of a classic Jill Mansell novel, I just felt as though importance was awarded to aspects that didn't warrant it, while others fell flat. The pacing of the plot drifted off by the second half of the novel and I ended up growing bored.
The plot progressed at a nice pace throughout the first half, but I felt that this dropped off by the second. Characters such as Dina were allowed a lot of page time, yet her story was nothing more than a filler and slowed the pace of more important events. If you take Dina out, did she really have any significant impact on any other story line? Not really enough to warrant the size of the role awarded to her, and espescially as I found her such a horrible character.
I have always said that Mansell can be a bit 'Picasso' in her characterisation, a bit overexaggerated and bold, and Dina was as exaggerated and bold as she could get, gratingly so. Claudia also teetered on the edge, I felt like Mansell wanted us to be sympathetic to her, and to ultimately like her, but I just couldn't. She was such a bitch and a snob and I was desperately wishing that she wouldn't hook up with sensitive Jake.
Spoiler
The start of this novel set-up the introduction of Alex and Rita as Poppy's biological father and step-mother. I do wish this had been progressed more than it was. I needed a proper ending for that storyline because it was so important to Poppy. I wanted Alex and Poppy to talk and to discuss the relationship between her mother and Alex so that she felt closer to him and also to her mother, who was killed at such a young age. Instead it was all wiped out once Alex died and it all fell terribly flat and pointless. It could have had a hugely emotional impact on the whole novel, but was lost.The saving grace for this novel was the relationship between Poppy and Casper. Their friendship was as instantaneous as her attraction to Tom in the opening chapter, and developed at such a believeable and lovely pace which led naturally into romance.
Overall I quite liked it, and it had all the markings of a classic Jill Mansell novel, I just felt as though importance was awarded to aspects that didn't warrant it, while others fell flat. The pacing of the plot drifted off by the second half of the novel and I ended up growing bored.