Miranda's Big Mistake by Jill Mansell

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...

There are some days when you don't want to read something that is hard to concentrate on or just long! When I read this book, I was actually in the middle of reading The Terror by Dan Simmons. I may (or may not) have stayed up until 2am messing around on the computer and so was really, really over tired when I began my trip to work, and the thought of carrying around an 800 plus page opus that was somewhat heavy to read as well was the last thing that I would be able to stay awake for. So instead, on my way out of the door, I grabbed this book, and it was a perfect read for me. In the end I read it on the train trip to and from work, and then finished the last part of the book that night. It was exactly what I needed to read on that day! Probably could have done without tearing up on the train at certain parts of the book, but I like it when a book affects me emotionally.

The two main female characters in this book are Miranda and Chloe. Miranda is a somewhat unique young lady who works as an apprentice hair dresser at a celebrity hair salon run by a very patient boss by the name of Fenn. She lodges with an older lady named Florence who is now in a wheelchair and is a little neglected by her family, unless of course they want something from her.

Chloe thought she was happily married to a man named Greg, until she finds out that she is pregnant. Greg had told her that he didn't want children and left her as soon as he found out about the baby. Chloe works in an antique shop that happens to be owned by Florence's somewhat lame son. Unable to continue to afford her current flat, Chloe is thrilled when Florence offers her a room in her house at an affordable cost.

Greg and his mate attend a celebrity function where he meets Miranda and they instantly click. Miranda falls hard for Greg and has no idea that he has been less than honest about his past. To the reader, Greg is clearly a cad, and when the truth comes out Miranda determines that she needs to teach him a lesson.

To aid her in her ruse, Miranda enlists the help of not only Florence, Fenn and Chloe, but also the resources of her new friend Danny who is a journalist who has made Miranda one of the stars of the documentary he is shooting about the plight of homeless people in London.

Whilst Miranda is recovering from her broken heart she meets grand prix racing driver Miles, and she again finds herself treading the path towards new love. With Danny on the sidelines, Florence providing advice and getting one up on her snivelling son and daughter in law, and Chloe beginning to find her own feet in her new life, there is a lot going on.

I must confess I was very surprised at the twist in the tale of this one. When I read my last Mansell (An Offer You Can't Refuse), one of the things that I was a little critical of was how neatly all the loose ends were tied up at the end of the novel. The same is true of this one, all the loose ends are tidied up, but in no way would I call it a neat solution for all the characters.

With a full cast of entertaining characters, interesting secondary storylines, a few tears and more than a few smiles and laugh out loud moments, this is definitely a book that I would recommend to anyone who likes chick lit, or who just wants a fun beach read.

If you want to read for pure entertainment then so far Mansell hasn't disappointed. If I had to pick whether I enjoyed An Offer You Can't Refuse or this book more, I would probably have to go with this one, but it is a very close race! The next book to be released by Sourcebooks is going to be Millie's Fling which I read years ago along with another book called Good at Games . I have fond memories of both books and I am planning to reacquainting myself with more fun characters, and an entertaining storyline.

My thanks to Danielle from Sourcebooks for sending this book to me for review.


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