5 Star
Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for.That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages . . . maybe ever.
Kathryn - 5 Star
I absolutely loved this book. Maybe it's Moyes' writing that is so appealing? Maybe it’s the initial simplicity of the characters who become so much more? Maybe it’s the intensity of the emotions that Moyes’ gets across the page? Most likely all of the above.
One Plus One is both fast and slow moving as the action in the novel never really takes a swift course but the emotional interactions between the people becomes more and more intense. Jess is a woman anyone would want as a friend, she’s a wonderful selfless mother and she’s even a pretty laid back ex-wife (to a fault, in fact). I admired her handling of her children’s difficulties so much that it made me sad to know she wasn’t a real mum (or indeed a real person Kathryn!). Her children are endearing with their troubles, so full of love for their mother and each other (and the giant, smelly dog) that you’re always aching for them to be happy and content. I found Nicky’s voice haunting and sweet, I know he wasn’t supposed to be sweet exactly but I couldn’t help but feel his empathy for his sister and mother, even early on in the novel when we were just starting to get to know him. Tanzie is quirky in her thoughts and obviously brilliantly aware for 10 years old- my heart broke for her many times too.
One interesting part of the novel was Ed’s integration into the family. He’s given a complete story of his own and yet his voice starts to mingle with theirs without us even noticing. He becomes part of their uncoordinated little gang, on a road trip from hell, with a thousand worries of his own. I liked the slow romance that developed and though it was obviously obvious it was happening, I wouldn’t have expected anything else.
My admiration goes out to Jojo Moyes for a realistic set of voices in a non-fairy-tale romance. I loved every minute of One Plus One and may actually read it again one day!
Thank you to Penguin Group for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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