Review: Miranda's Big Mistake

Summary: Jill Mansell is one of the UK's premiere contemporary authors, with her 19th title coming out in January 2009. She has sold nearly 4 million copies of her books in the UK.

Miranda is thrilled with Greg. He's gorgeous, funny, and practically perfect. Greg thinks Miranda is great, but he hasn't told her everything about himself. After all, even the sweetest girl is likely to be put off by a man who's left his newly pregnant wife. But there's now way she'll ever find out... is there?

When Greg inevitably breaks Miranda's heart, her friend Danny is there to cheer her up, and they quickly wreaks an unforgettable revenge. Miranda's now ready to move on to another affair - but will Danny get a chance to tell her he's in love with her himself... -- Sourcebooks

Awhile back, I began to wonder if I were getting too old to appreciate chick lit. I mean, I still knew that enjoyed the new "mom-lit" type books, but I thought maybe true chick lit had passed me by (or should I say I passed it by). Well, I know that is definitely not the case ever since I discovered Jill Mansell. A few months ago, I read and reviewed AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE; and I really liked it. Well now I've read another one of her books MIRANDA'S BIG MISTAKE, and I think I enjoyed it even more.

I couldn't get enough of MIRANDA'S BIG MISTAKE and characters; and I didn't want the book to end. After reading two of her books, I now consider myself a huge fan of Ms. Mansell's; and I am glad that Sourcebooks is releasing more of her books in the next few months. I can't put my finger on exactly why I enjoy her books so much, but I think it has something to do with the way she writes them. She comes up with an entertaining story, creates memorable and likable characters, and then writes her books with lots of humor thrown in. Whatever it is, it's a formula that definitely works for me!

There were so many great characters in this story. Of course, Miranda was terrific and I couldn't help but like her (even when I knew she was being rather thick-headed.) But I actually liked some of Miranda's friends (and housemates) even more. I absolutely loved Chloe, the woman whose husband left her when he found out she was pregnant; and I also loved Florence, the older woman with whom Miranda lived. I even really liked Miranda's hot boss Fenn and her best friend at work Bev. All of the characters, even the minor ones, were interesting and made the story better; and they all complimented Miranda perfectly.

In addition to the characters, I thought this story was terrific. There were quite a few twists and turns and even some confusion between the characters that caused some awkward (yet hilarious) moments. And while I was expecting this book to be very funny, I have to admit that I was surprised by the serious turn the story took. I can say that I was actually shocked at one point in this book, and I found myself appreciating the story on a whole new level. Don't get me wrong: MIRANDA'S BIG MISTAKE is an overall fun read and perfect for the summer, but there were a few pages that did make me a little sad.

As was the case in the last Mansell book I read, there are a lot of characters and a lot of side storylines going on in MIRANDA'S BIG MISTAKE. In fact, this book is pretty long compared to your typical chick-lit book -- it's around 475 pages; however, the book is a very light, fun read and it's not at all hard to follow all of the characters and their stories. I know this sounds sappy, but I loved that all of the characters (well, the likable ones) eventually discover love and happiness. I guess that is the reason that I read these types of books -- for the happy endings.

Thanks to Danielle from Sourcebooks for sending me an ARC of this novel.