I’ll lead this review off by saying that I usually really like Jill Mansell’s books, especially her newer books, so I was excited to get a copy of Mixed Doubles to read and review. However this particular one is a re-release from the late nineties, and it feels very dated.
Three best friends end their year together sharing their resolutions. One wants to stay married (even though her husband is a jerk, a gambling addict, and a cheater,) one wants to get divorced from her husband (because he’s too boring and nice and works too many hours so she can be a member of the country club and go shopping all the time,) and the third just wants to meet someone and get married. None of them were very interesting, and instead the focus was on them filling a specific, predefined role rather than in creating a character that readers could relate to.
It’s a basic chick lit/light romance book, very light reading, and the sexism was definitely kept in throughout, which is so much more obvious now than it used to seem. I’m looking forward to reading future new Jill Mansell books, but her older books definitely don’t hold up over the decades as society has changed.
Disclosure: I received a free arc from NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.