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mirandadarrow 's review for:
One Plus One
by Jojo Moyes
I got the audiobook for One Plus One at the library because I had wanted to read the author Jojo Moyes’ more famous book, Me Before You, but for some reason my library doesn’t carry that one. Oh well.
I’m in several book clubs, including one that reads almost exclusively science fiction and fantasy novels, but none of my book clubs read very many “ladies books” which are the literary equivalent of a romantic comedy set in a realistic current world. I’ve read plenty of books that contain romance, but to me anyway, if there is time-traveling, alternate universes, fantasy realms, or alien species or magic, then that is not this. So, I’ve read some (recently, I can only recall The Rosie Project and The Matchmaker) but not a ton in this genre. I’m not sure what the hallmarks are for this type of book, but this certainly seems to follow a pattern.
Hapless girl meets slightly awkward guy.
He does something stupid and she dislikes him.
He redeems himself.
Romance.
Some misunderstanding or past mistake threatens romance.
Sadness.
Romance resumes.
Curtains – the couple sallies forth, happily ever after.
The characters are mostly charming, and far from perfect. The protagonist Jess was actually my least favorite, as both her kids, the male lead Ed, and even the slobbering enormous dog Norman are more likeable than Jess. I get that part of Jess’ story arc is that she makes poor choices, but at some point, just stop. The story is fine, but nothing stellar.
My favorite part is the quest to get Tanzie, Jess’ 8 year old math wiz daughter to a big math competition where she could win a prize that could allow her to attend a prestigious school. I was a little weirded out that Tanzie is a math prodigy, as I’ve also just read two of the Flavia de Luce mysteries in which the protagonist is a mystery solving 11 year old chemistry aficionados. Where are all of these brilliant and motivated children in my daily life?
So, of my whole recent repertoire of ladies books, I found this not quite as good as The Rosie Project but infinitely better than The Matchmaker (which I thought was awful and I’ll never read anything by Elin Hilderbrand again if I can help it). It was compelling enough that I’ll probably continue my quest to try to find Me Before You, but it isn’t at very top of my list (and if my library doesn’t get it, I won’t lose any sleep over it).
I’m in several book clubs, including one that reads almost exclusively science fiction and fantasy novels, but none of my book clubs read very many “ladies books” which are the literary equivalent of a romantic comedy set in a realistic current world. I’ve read plenty of books that contain romance, but to me anyway, if there is time-traveling, alternate universes, fantasy realms, or alien species or magic, then that is not this. So, I’ve read some (recently, I can only recall The Rosie Project and The Matchmaker) but not a ton in this genre. I’m not sure what the hallmarks are for this type of book, but this certainly seems to follow a pattern.
Hapless girl meets slightly awkward guy.
He does something stupid and she dislikes him.
He redeems himself.
Romance.
Some misunderstanding or past mistake threatens romance.
Sadness.
Romance resumes.
Curtains – the couple sallies forth, happily ever after.
The characters are mostly charming, and far from perfect. The protagonist Jess was actually my least favorite, as both her kids, the male lead Ed, and even the slobbering enormous dog Norman are more likeable than Jess. I get that part of Jess’ story arc is that she makes poor choices, but at some point, just stop. The story is fine, but nothing stellar.
My favorite part is the quest to get Tanzie, Jess’ 8 year old math wiz daughter to a big math competition where she could win a prize that could allow her to attend a prestigious school. I was a little weirded out that Tanzie is a math prodigy, as I’ve also just read two of the Flavia de Luce mysteries in which the protagonist is a mystery solving 11 year old chemistry aficionados. Where are all of these brilliant and motivated children in my daily life?
So, of my whole recent repertoire of ladies books, I found this not quite as good as The Rosie Project but infinitely better than The Matchmaker (which I thought was awful and I’ll never read anything by Elin Hilderbrand again if I can help it). It was compelling enough that I’ll probably continue my quest to try to find Me Before You, but it isn’t at very top of my list (and if my library doesn’t get it, I won’t lose any sleep over it).