The One You Really Want - Jill Mansell

...state-of-the-art lawnmower for Christmas? Not the most romantic of presents, eh? A potential sign that your relationship has gone stale, perhaps? Or how about the fact you KNOW your husband has recently became a customer of one of Edinburgh's most exclusive, not to mention expensive, jewelers? If he's not buying jewellery for you, then who is the lucky woman?

Okay, so that's a lot of questions to introduce my review on Jill Mansell's ...
...Nancy does after she receives the aforementioned lawnmower!

THE ACTION

When matters come to a head and the truth is well and truly exposed, a hurt and humiliated Nancy retreats to her best friend Carmen's mansion in London to lick her wounds and, somewhat predictably, starts to realise she's actually better off without the lying, cheating so-and-so.

Of course, Nancy isn't the only one with serious problems ... more

INTRODUCTION

How would you feel if your husband bought you a state-of-the-art lawnmower for Christmas? Not the most romantic of presents, eh? A potential sign that your relationship has gone stale, perhaps? Or how about the fact you KNOW your husband has recently became a customer of one of Edinburgh's most exclusive, not to mention expensive, jewelers? If he's not buying jewellery for you, then who is the lucky woman?

Okay, so that's a lot of questions to introduce my review on Jill Mansell's latest novel and you're probably feeling a little overwhelmed. Much like one of our heroines Nancy does after she receives the aforementioned lawnmower!

THE ACTION

When matters come to a head and the truth is well and truly exposed, a hurt and humiliated Nancy retreats to her best friend Carmen's mansion in London to lick her wounds and, somewhat predictably, starts to realise she's actually better off without the lying, cheating so-and-so.

Of course, Nancy isn't the only one with serious problems to deal with. Carmen is still dealing with the death of her rock star husband, and getting so close to his brother Rennie in the aftermath may not be the best idea for there is a chance she is starting to view him as more than simply a shoulder to cry on. And, when she finally finds a boyfriend in the shape of eligible and gorgeous plumber Joe, Rennie is constantly interfering in her relationship. However, he may have her best interests at heart in this case - as a result of this relationship, Carmen starts to feel like she must pretend to be someone she isn't in order to get unconditional love.

Meanwhile, Nancy has developed an embarrassing crush on Carmen's next door neighbour, the delectable Connor. Connor, experiencing emotional turmoil himself due to the sudden reappearance of his free-spirited teenage daughter Mia in his life (who clashes dangerously with current girlfriend Sadie) isn't interested in Nancy as more than a friend but that can't stop Nancy wishing for more.

MY OPINION

How Nancy and Carmen come to terms with their respective losses and manage to move on with their lives is what is mainly focussed on in this novel, but somehow it doesn't ring quite true. Don't get me wrong, Mansell's novels are never entirely realistic, usually comprising an entertaining selection of ludicrous situations and coincidences - and this novel is probably more true-to-life than the others in that sense.

It is in fact the characters I had the problem with. I just didn't feel like I bonded with the lead characters, which is unusual in a Mansell novel. Carmen especially grated on my nerves - I understood how she would feel wary about trusting guys when they might be after her money but I think she went too far in her desire for an honest man. I just couldn't understand her motivation for a lot of things she did in the book, and I didn't especially like her as a character - she seemed to go from one extreme to the other, either depressed and sorry for herself, or stubborn and full-of-herself. Nancy, on the other hand, was fairly likeable in general but a little wimpy - you just wanted to shout at her "make a move on him, for god's sake!" Even the heroes of the book didn't impress me all that much - I tend to judge a chick-lit novel by whether or not I fall in love with the fictional hero myself, and while I suppose I liked the sound of (perhaps even "fancied"!) a couple of the blokes, there were no sparks (my god, that sounds insane, doesn't it???).

The characters who rescued the book, in my opinion, were Nancy's mum Rose, and Mia. When Rose first enters the book, we see a frail old woman who Nancy thinks will be crucified by finding out her son-in-law's betrayal, but Rose proves to be much stronger than this. She also comes down to stay with Carmen and proves herself to be warm, sweet and absolutely adorable, sorting out the lives of everyone in the household - and the lives of a couple of strangers too! Mia, on the other hand, is a schemer in the nicest possible way, trying to make her dad happy while getting rid of the horrible Sadie - her clashes with Sadie are hilarious as it is completely clear to all that the two can't stand one another.

Unusually, it is not immediately obvious who will end up together by the end - it actually takes a while to work this out because there are so many complications and characters who appear during the course of the novel. This definitely makes you more eager to keep reading. Of course, this shouldn't prove to be a problem anyway. Just because the book isn't quite up to Jill's usual high standard, and she has admittedly re-hashed a few of her old ideas in it, doesn't mean her storytelling isn't as readable as ever. I may not have been as enamoured with her characters as I was with previous ones, but I still greedily devoured the story in a matter of hours, longing to know the outcome. The fact is that Mansell, along with authors like Marian Keyes and Fiona Walker, is one of the best chick-lit authors out there and even on a bad day, she still manages to beat most of the other (often substandard) woman's fiction out there hands down. So if you are a fan of Jill Mansell, I would recommend you give it a read, but if you are new to her work, start with "Millie's Fling" or "Miranda's Big Mistake" which I think really showcase her style much better.

I had been looking forward to reading this book for ages when I finally could afford to buy it (I got the trade paperback copy for about five quid off amazon marketplace). When I finally got round to reading it, it wasn't QUITE what I really wanted - but I enjoyed the read all the same!

THE ONE YOU REALLY WANT IS PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE AND IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE IN HARDBACK OR TRADE PAPERBACK. HARDBACK COSTS £18.99 FROM AMAZON AND TRADE PAPERBACK COSTS £6.59 FROM AMAZON. THERE ARE ALSO COPIES CURRENTLY SELLING ON EBAY.
THE PAPERBACK WILL BE OUT IN JULY 2005. 

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