Mixed Doubles by Jill Mansell

Mixed Doubles by Jill Mansell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 416

Publisher - Headline Review

Source - pound shop

Blurb from Goodreads

Love is always just around the corner in a Jill Mansell novel - with a few surprises and a lot of humour on the way to happiness

New Year is looming and best friends Liza, Dulcie and Pru are making their resolutions. Liza wants to get married - she's never had any trouble hooking a man. The trouble is, she can never stay interested once she's got him. Dulcie thinks marriage sucks. Her husband, Patrick, may be gorgeous and charming, but the impulsive Dulcie needs more excitement in her life. She wants a divorce. Pru loves her roving husband, and she secretly enjoys the periods when he's making up for his outrageous behaviour. All she wants is to stay married. Liza, Dulcie and Pru have no idea what the New Year has in store - but Fate has some sneaky plans up her sleeve...


My Review

In their thirties, new year is coming and with it New Year resolutions for friends Liza, Dulcie, and Pru. Liza would like to get married but gets bored after five minutes, Dulcie wants a divorce as her hubster is more into his work than her and Pru, sweet loyal Pru just wants to stay married to love of her life Phil. Life has a way of throwing curveballs and sometimes that what we wish for doesn't always turn out to be what we wanted.

Pru is so sweet but essentially a doormat, her husband ugh I hated him, philandering, gambling, self obsessed and rude! Liza, a food critic and always looking for love but gets bored or like Chandler from friends, always finds something daft that breaks the relationship up. And Dulcie, she was on par with Pru's husband. Rich, spoiled, self involved and no thought to her actions and their consequences, she really got my goat! However, even the annoying characters brought something essential to the story and as you read page after page, irritation building it helps to really get into what then follows for each of these characters.

Family and friendship dramas, personal growth, some really cringe situations. Dulcie, whilst being a spoilt diva she also gave me a twitchy eye going through her "second stage" I was mortified for her. I think because sadly I have seen people jump through the same hoops and make such horrendous decisions such as hers, knowing where it will all end. I think when you carve characters like that, much as we can hate them, it stays true to life so you can immerse completely in the story. Some things really annoyed me, some made me smile and chuckle, overall a good read, 3.5 out of 5 for me this time. I can't remember if I have read Mansell before but I will absolutely read her again.

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