To The Moon And Back: An uplifting tale of love, loss and new beginnings

by Jill Mansell

The gorgeously indulgent, funny and touching new novel from the bestselling author When Ellie Kendall tragically loses her husband she feels her life is over. But eventually she's ready for a new start - at work, that is. She doesn't need a new man when she has a certain secret visitor to keep her company...Zack McLaren seems to have it all, but the girl he can't stop thinking about won't give him a second glance. If only she'd pay him the same attention she lavishes on his dog. Moving to North London, Ellie meets neighbour Roo who has a secret of her own. Can the girls sort out their lives? Guilt is a powerful emotion, but a lot can happen in a year in Primrose Hill...

• ISBN10: 0755355792
• ISBN13: 9780755355792
• Publish Date: 17 February 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 20 July 2011
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
• Imprint: Headline Review
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

When Ellie Kendall loses her husband Jamie her entire world collapses. She throws herself into her job, and spends her evenings trying to keep her ever-decaying flat together. Until her father-in-law Tony insists she looks after his house in Primrose Hill. There, Ellie meets the enigmatic Roo, who brings some much needed vitality into Ellie’s life. When Ellie gets a new job working for Zack McLaren it’s the start of a new life almost. But will Ellie ever be able to let herself fall in love again, especially when Jamie was the love of her life. And what of Roo, with her very own secrets. One thing’s for sure, Ellie’s new life in Primrose Hill will change her life in ways she’s never known.

I’d like to let it be known that I love Jill Mansell. I’ve read the majority of her earlier novels, devouring them all a couple of years ago. However since her 2008 release An Offer You Can’t Refuse I haven’t read a Jill Mansell novel. I have the books on my shelf, but I just never found the time to manage to read them. I received a proof copy of To The Moon and Back, though, and I was desperate to end my Jill Mansell drought and I thought this was the best one to start with as it sounded very intriguing from the synopsis. And while I did enjoy the book, there were aspects I didn’t particularly like and it was only an average read for me.

To The Moon and Back, with the greatest of respect to Jill Mansell, has a fairly average main plot mainly because there isn’t much to it. Yes, Ellie is still trying to get over Jamie’s death but even that’s a stretch because after Jamie’s death the book skips fifteen months so we seem to miss the entire grieving period. So I would assume the plot is meant to be Ellie’s new life in Primrose Hill which comprises of a new flat, a new job and some new friends. It just didn’t really excite me, and it really didn’t hold my attention as much as I would like. To top it all off, Ellie’s new friend Roo is the kind of female I’m coming to hate: having an affair with a married man, believing he’s going to leave his wife. It’s so cliched and if I’ve read it once I’ve read it a million times and it’s gotten to the point where any sort of plot line that goes in that direction, no matter how vaguely, annoys me.

As for the characters, I must admit it took me a while to really take to Ellie as there just wasn’t much there for me to work with early on. Don’t get me wrong, I liked her a lot I just didn’t feel connected to her at all. Despite my reservations and annoyances over Roo’s plot, she was in fact my favourite character. She added some sparkle into the book, well, she did until she went on her mad mission to atone for her mistakes. I liked Zack McLaren and bar Roo he was a favourite, but again, there wasn’t enough substance to him. Despite dying in the first few pages, Jamie is fairly prominent in the book and from what I can tell he seemed like a very nice person, he seemed wonderful in fact. Jamie’s dad Tony is also heavily featured, as he and Ellie get on well and Tony was the realest character to me (which is funny, since he’s an actor!). Mainly though I just felt disconnected to them all. I wasn’t entirely fussed about what they did or didn’t do and that’s really the kiss of death with any novel. You have to be invest in the characters otherwise it’s never going to work.

Now it might sound like I’m totally hating the book, I didn’t, not at all. It was a decent enough effort and I enjoyed the fact that although Jamie died in the first few pages he is with us throughout the book as Ellie keeps him alive in her mind. The writing is classic Jill Mansell and is always a joy to read but the plot and most of the characters just didn’t really grab me. I feel awful for saying that I didn’t enjoy the book, as Jill is one of my favourite authors but this book didn’t grab me or speak to me like previous books of hers and I found myself getting bored as the book neared its conclusion and I couldn’t wait for it to end because I just wanted to get it over with. So although the book itself was readable enough, the plot and characters didn’t really speak to me like I would have expected them to and I just feel a little let down by To The Moon and Back. The potential was there, but I just didn’t feel it was utilised to its best ability.