Book Review: Don't Want To Miss A Thing by Jill Mansell

"Dexter Yates loves his fun, care-free London life; he has money, looks and girlfriends galore. But everything changes overnight when his sister dies, leaving him in charge of her eight-month-old daughter Delphi. How is he ever going to cope? 

Comic-strip artist Molly Hayes lives in the beautiful Cotswold village of Briarwood. When it comes to relationships, she has a history of choosing all the wrong men. Leaving the city behind, Dex moves to Briarwood - a much better place to work on his parenting skills - and he and Molly become neighbours. There's an undeniable connection between them. But if Dexter's going to adapt, he first has a lot to learn about Molly, about other people's secrets...and about himself."

Rating: 5/5

You can buy Don't Want to Miss A Thing as a paperback or an eBook now!

I really look forward to Jill Mansell's books each year, they are always guaranteed to be a brilliant read, and I always enjoy her stories. This year, interestingly, the publishers and Jill allowed her fans to choose the cover for her new book, between a pink version and a yellow one. I was personally all about the yellow version but clearly the pink one won out, and I have to say I quite like it now it's out in hardback form. I think it's a soft subtle pink, and looks really pretty on my bookshelf. The book title Don't Want To Miss A Thing makes me think of the famous Aerosmith song (you'll probably be humming it now too lol), I can't say that's a bad thing, and the story inside fitted the title perfectly.

Dexter Yates is a real party boy - he works hard for his money, but also plays hard as well, coming with a different woman far too regularly for his own liking sometimes, but he's sure he isn't ready to settle down. However, when his sister suddenly dies just a few months after giving birth to her first baby, Dexter finds himself the sole carer of his niece Delphi, and without a clue of how to look after her either. He quickly moves to a more suitable, small cottage in the Cotswolds, and finds himself living next door Molly, a single woman who is getting over her own break up. When the pair realise there's a chemistry between them, Dexter's worried as he doesn't know how to deal with it, and they end up finding out things about themselves that they find surprising...

I was really invested in this story from really early on. I really warmed to the main character, a man named Dexter, even though his lifestyle at the beginning wasn't ideal. In fact, that goes to show how much of a change he makes in himself when he takes on his lovely niece Delphi, who really steals the show even though she barely speaks in the book, just babbles and sounds immensely cute! Dexter was a great man in all senses, he's handsome, he's good with his baby niece, he's determined and he really wants to change and make a change in himself for the better. He almost sounds too good to be true, and you can see why Molly likes him a lot! Molly herself is a lovely character, really friendly and open, the perfect next door neighbour actually, and because they're both so nice, you really want a happy ending for the both of them, and care about what happens to them in the story.

Mansell's writing, however, is what really made me love this book. She has a real way with words that allows the story to unfold at a natural pace, and keeps you wanting to read on right until the last page. There are a lot of serious moments in the book, and these are tackled perfectly, but also nicely balanced with humour and happiness. The subject matter, a young, free, single fun-loving man having to grow up quickly and effectively become a father is interesting and allows for laughs, but also emotional moments too, and I really enjoyed this storyline a lot. I loved how as well as the main story of Dexter, Delphi and Molly there were a couple of sub-plots going on too which were almost as good as the main one, and I was as eager to read these as I was Dexter's story.

I thoroughly enjoyed Don't Want to Miss A Thing and I think it's my favourite book of Jill Mansell's for a few years now, I read it in just a couple of evenings because I just didn't want to put it down, and I found the story really fun to read. A lovely setting, a fab set of characters that you want to read about and brilliant writing make this book a real must-read, and I assure you every woman who reads this will want to find her own Dexter asap, he's the perfect hero for the book! Yes, it was slightly predictable but I actually enjoyed this about it - I just cared about how it was going to get to its end, not what it's ultimate end might actually me. Mansell's storytelling is second to none, and baby Delphi was certainly a scene-stealer. I loved this book, and hope you will too, definitely one to read!