Wednesday 20 August 2014

Book Review time - 'The One Plus One' by JoJo Moyes


I am one lucky blogger, being given another book to review by Mumsnet. This time it’s JoJo Moyes *chick-lit-fest ‘The One Plus One’ 

An extract from the back page:

'One eternal optimist…
Jess Thomas, with two jobs and two kids and never enough money, wears flip-flops in the hope of spring. And when life knocks her down she does her best to bouce right back. But there are some challenges even she can’t meet on her own. 

Plus one lost stranger…
Ed Nichols is the good guy gone bad. He had it all, then one stupid mistake cost him everything. Now he’ll do anything to make it right. 

Equals a chance encounter…
Ed doesn’t want to save anyone and Jess doesn’t want saving, but could Jess an Ed add up to something better together?'

This is the warm hearted tale of hard up single mum Jess, her mathematical genius daughter and her troubled step son who are forced to embark on a calamitous road trip with Ed Nichols, an about-to-be-disgraced business owner wrongly framed for insider trading. 

Usually when reading anything from the ‘chick-lit’ genre I do this concealing numerous yawns accompanied with sporadic fits of eye rolling. However, I am very pleased to report that on this occasion I was entranced without issuing so much as a sneer. Of course the premise of 2 unlikely characters pitched together to witness tumultuous episodes in each other’s very different lives, virtually screams the ending to you just a few pages in, but this didn’t detract from the story at all. 

The plot is so neatly patchworked together with hilarious obstacles between our 2 protagonists cropping up on every page it is automatically a boldly captivating and pacey read. At numerous points it reminded me of John Cleese’s hysterically ill fated journey in the film ‘Clockwise’. It also sensitively and humorously tackled some tough subjects such as poverty, single parenting and bullying with delightfully gratifying outcomes starring affable and genuinely likeable characters. I am positively loathed to go into any more detail as I refuse to spoil any of the story of this gem of a book. 

JoJo Moyes - I salute you. This is a beautifully sophisticated yet effortlessly lighthearted read that I guarantee will have you transfixed. If this hasn’t already been optioned with a  cast lifted from Richard Curtis film already on queue, then call me Beryl.