Customer Reviews

Mixed Doubles

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pure fluffy fluff. But it was just the kind of book that I was in the mood for and it was a quick, funny read.

Dulcie is married to a work-aholic. She wants a divorce.
Liza is a food critic who has men falling in love with her at the drop of a hat but she gets bored in relationships easily.
Pru is married to a gambling womanizer and desperately wants to stay married no matter what.

They are best friends and we get to watch as their romantic lives fray, unravel, and then come back together again nicely.

Pru is the sweetest one of the bunch. She is the one I had the biggest issues with. She is a bit of a drip who completely enables her husband's bad behavior -- a husband who treats her like a 50s housewife (and she let him) and humiliates her in public. I love the fact that when Liza sees Pru's husband out with another woman, she goes and finds her and tells her about it. That is what a good friend would do. They wouldn't wimp out to leave you to find out in worse ways. Of course it doesn't help because Pru is in huge denial.

I liked Liza the best of the three women. She seemed the most centered and most mature of the three. And I loved the running gag of how men just seemed to swoon over Liza even though she wasn't the skinniest (she is lushly curved and has a magnificent cleavage). I pictured her as a Christina Hendrickson. She seems a little quietly resigned over her not finding the guy that keeps that spark with her past three weeks. Until she meets one who does.

And then there is Dulcie. It get the impression that the author had fun writing Dulcie. Dulcie is one of those love her or hate her characters. I actually quite liked her. For all that she is selfish, lazy, rich, skinny (but could eat loads of salt & vinegar crisps and Ice cream and never gain an ounce) and absolutely had no idea what a great guy she had in her husband, she was still quite likeable. She has absolutely no self awareness and she makes comically bad decisions that have predictably horrible (yet really funny) results. The thing about Dulcie is that a lot of the stuff she does, the bad decisions she makes completely blow back on her. She never gets by unscathed and yet she's like the energizer bunny, she picks her self up and goes on to the next, bad idea. This is why I couldn't dislike Dulcie. The author really balances Dulcie's shallow character with her consequences.

The friendship between the three women is strong and realistic. They support each other, they bicker and they have more serious fights that are not allowed to wallow into melodrama. Instead the one who is in the wrong often realizes she needs to apologize. She may drag her heels about it, she may be sheepish about it, but she does it.

I can't finish the review without saying something about the supporting characters. To the person all were interesting and 3-dimensional. I especially liked all the different incarnations of he various men in the women's lives. They were all different and interesting. I especially liked Kit and Patrick.

I usually am not a hug fan of chick lit but this was so light, funny and effortless that I can't help but want to read more by this author

I read a lot of British chick lit and IMO, Jill Mansell is probably the best author in this genre. I don't understand the negative reviews on here. Mixed Doubles is probably my favourite Jill Mansell book, and one of the main reasons is that the three female leads are *not* saints. They're reflections of real women, with all their faults, quirks and problems. Those women would be terribly boring if they all did the right thing and converted to being perfect models of womanhood (whatever that is.)

I couldn't put this book down and laughed and cried. Fantastic stuff - but not for those expecting heroines who are paragons of virtue or Stepford Wives.

I've read all of Jill Mansell's US releases (Millie's Fling, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Miranda's Big Mistake, Perfect Timing, and Rumor Has It--my favorite) and loved them. They were perfect light reads and all were well written with fully developed characters. Of course, they're all formulaic, but that's what we love about Chick Lit, right? It's all in the telling.

That being said, "Mixed Doubles" seems to be an anomaly. I looked to see if it was Mansell's first book, but I don't think it was. It does look like it was published the same year as "Head Over Heels" (which I also enjoyed), so maybe this one was rushed? The characters are shallow and underdeveloped, Dulcie especially. I don't care about any of the characters. Dulcie is a flighty tramp, Pru is a whining martyr, and Liza is boring. I've figured out who ends up with whom, but the characters are so poorly written that I can't bring myself to keep reading. I'm really disappointed with "Mixed Doubles". I was hoping for a good I'd-rather-lay-on-the-couch-and-read-than-watch-daytime-television book, but I found myself more entertained by an episode of "Jerseylicious." (Please don't judge me.)

I'd skip this one.

Not up to Mansell's best. Not as much dialog between the two main characters to make the romance believable. Still fun though...