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November 23, 2005 8:36 PM
Solo
I've been reading Jill Mansell novels for a good few years, and can always rely on her to write easy, witty and surprisingly believable stories. With that in mind, it was really interesting to read this - a re-release of one of her first novels - and see just how much her writing has developed. Ironically, this early work turned out to be one of my favourites...
Solo centres around Tessa, a strong-minded young painter. Unlike a lot of later Mansell novels, which have various stories running in tandem and concentrating on different characters, Solo is esentially all about Tessa, though a great cast of supporting characters do help to pad out the tale to great effect, especially her best friend Holly and her love interest, Max.
Tessa meets ladies man and all-round loathario Ross at a party, and after an ill-advised one night stand, finds herself in trouble a few weeks later when she realises she's pregnant. The bulk of the novel is taken up with her life after this point, and (of course) lots of interesting encounters with the father-to-be.
Though her books don't exactly break any exciting new ground, Mansell can always be relied upon to come up with likeable but realistic characters, a great plot that has you turning the pages at a serious pace, and warm and mushy happy endings that leave you thinking life's just fine, thank you. She's the queen of the romantic comedy novel, and Solo is a great read. While the formulaic romance plot might not be to everyone's tastes, if you like simple, well-written escapism to while away the train journey home, you can't go far wrong with this.
If you liked this, you might like Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde
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Posted by Gemma on November 23, 2005 in British Authors, Rating: 4/5, Romance | Permalink
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