I tried really hard to love this book. It took me forever to finish! It was not about tennis like I originally thought but about friends in various stages in life.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

At first I thought this might be a book about tennis. But it was a fun story of three female friends dealing with love. It was fun to see all the ups & downs. Fun read.

Another spot on book from Mansell! You will root for all three friends finding their happiness Their friendship is realistic and positive no back stabbing Housewives here!

Such an entertaining book that was a pleasure to read.
Some brilliant characters that caught your attention from the start. It was interesting to see three friends, all very different personalities come together to support each other as they go through difficult times and changes to their lifestyles.
It was fabulous to see them all find themselves and to watch them grow.
A great book to relax with and enjoy.

Three friends make their resolutions for the new year, each committing to a fresh focus. Liza wants to get married, Dulcie decides that a divorce is the way forward, and Pru will do whatever it takes to maintain the status quo in her existing relationship. They are lofty goals, but who better to hold you accountable than your best friends?

While this was, by most accounts, an enjoyable read, I did find myself struggling to connect with any of the three women, and as a result was not as engaged with the story as I would have hoped. As previously noted, I would not rate this as one of Ms Mansell's best, although I will continue to look forward to any new offerings from this tried and true author.

I love Mrs. Mansells stories. The characters and storyline always keep me invested until the end. Thanks for letting me read it.

The Best Kept Promises.....
Three friends, promises, secrets and .....resolutions- aren’t they made to be broken? The trouble starts with a complete lack of communication from which the inevitable chaos ensues. A fun read in true Jill Mansell style. Perfect chic lit.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the chance to read this book by Jill Mansell. Mixed Doubles is the first book by her I've read. And I'll be honest and say it's not my normal type of book. But trying to step out of my reading rut.

For me the book took sometime to get into seemed to take a bit to get into the story. But then once I got into the story and was really enjoying the book it took a turn and was done. I felt like there was too much to get into the story. Then not enough after the story got going.

This book was so sweet, genuine and engaging! Jill Mansell NEVER disappoints. I will always buy anything she writes.

Jill Mansell always provides a simple and enjoyable read.... the characters are always well developed and has the ability ti make you feel like you get to know her characters and invested in the story.

Wonderful Brit Lit! Loved the LOL funny side of this book, loved the brit vocab (and I'll apologize right now if I slip into that while talking now 😂) but I also enjoyed the "real life" stories here. Three women, relationships, marriage, divorces, hold on one divorce, age differences, and more. There was a lot going on but it wasn't "too busy" and it kept me reading page after page to see what was going to happen next 😁

I like Women's fiction and I have read books by this author in the past but this wasn't my favorite of hers. It seemed more "Chick-lit-ish" and less Women's fiction. Most of the characters were shallow and not really likable or maybe it is just me as I'm older than these characters. lol

I agree with others that it seemed dated, if it was going to be re-released it would have been a good idea to update it to make it more inline with current day like other authors have done when re-releasing past books.

It probably was my kind of book back whenever it was originally released, but I was much younger then too and probably just as shallow and stupid as these characters were and my reading tastes have changed over the years.

Mixed Doubles is a fast, light read. It has multiple story lines as the reader follows the lives of close friends. Thank you to NetGalley.

I'll lead this off by saying that I really like Jill Mansell, generally, especially her newer books. However this one is a re-release from the late 90s, and it just feels 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.

Not my favorite Jill Mansell book, it took me until the book was coming to the end to grab my interest. The three main characters are very unique in their personalities!
Overall, Mixed Doubles is a very light, cheesy read that has a happily ever after ending. If you are in the mood for this type of book, it will be a perfect read for you.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and give my honest review about this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

Mixed Doubles was my first book by Jill Mansell. Her writing style is fantastic. The book was well-written. The characters were well-developed and easy to relate to. The book itself .. read/felt a little out-dated. I guess that makes sense since it apparently is a re-release of a book from the 80s. Either way, cute read.

Mixed Doubles by Jill Mansell left me with mixed feelings. I liked parts of the story, but I didn’t like other parts. I liked some characters, but I didn’t really like any of the 3 main characters. I felt that the characters remained very shallow, meaning they I never felt like I really knew the characters-who they were, what motivated them, their backgrounds, etc. On the surface, this is a light, easy, chick lit book and if you like that, you’ll probably really enjoy this book. For me, it wasn’t my favorite story by one of my favorite authors.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-copy in exchange for a review. #netgalley #mixeddoubles

When I started reading this book, it seemed a little out of date for today. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or if it had been earlier. It turns out to be the latter. The book was release close to a decade ago and in some ways it shows. Having said that, I still enjoyed reading the book.

Dulcie, Liza and Pru are all friends. At the beginning of the year, they all get together and find out what each one wants.

Liza has never been married and would like to find someone to love who doesn’t bore her silly after a few weeks.

Pru is married to someone that neither of her friends like. Pru is happy and wants to stay that way with her husband.

Dulcie is married to a wonderful man but a man who doesn’t give her enough attention because he is working himself into an early grave. Because of his neglect and because she is pretty much entirely self-centered, she wants a divorce.

The story goes on to follow each of these women as their lives start to either fall apart or their wishes are coming true. Where they end up is very different just one year later.

I enjoyed each of the characters and their stories. Sometimes, I wanted to reach into the book and shake a little sense into each of them but that shows that I invested very quickly into the book and the characters were becoming real to me.

I always enjoy Jill Mansell books and this was no different. It was a tad dated but I was able to ignore that and continue to read. You might want to check to see if you have the earlier version as I have ended up unintentionally buying duplicate books when authors re-release them.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

When i requested this from NetGalley, I didn't realise it was a re-release of a rom-com from the late 80s. It's really cute the way they FAX in their work, and people leave messages on answering machines. What's not really cute is that it is full of slut-shaming, body shaming, and snobbery. But what made me DNF (at 8 percent, yes, Jill Mansell managed to pack that much dated, sexist nonsense into 20 pages) was this: Dulcie wants to leave her husband "it would be so much easier, Dulcie thought if Patrick was awful. If he used her as a punchbag, blackened her eyes and sent a few teeth flying". Yes, that's right, instead of taking responsibility for your own life, wish for domestic violence.
I have rarely picked up a book and put it down so fast.
Some things used to be OK that aren't any more. This book is meant to be fun, but just seems problematic.

Jill Mansell’s novel starts with three close friends on New Years Day, each at very different points in their lives with varying stability. What ensues over the coming year stretches them each personally, and their relationships as well.

Mixed Doubles is an easy read, although many of the characters are not all that relatable. I did appreciate that the women’s friendship endured real ups ad downs, and wondered at times how they came together.

If you enjoy fluff reads, this book is a good read, especially on a long road trip or plane ride. Many parts of it seem a bit far-fetched unless you go into it with that perspective.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC copy (this was previously released in the late 90s) in exchange for an honest review.

#mixeddoubles #netgalley #roadtripreads