Mr Almost Right

by Eleanor Moran

[Leah]

Lulu Godwin has just met who she believes to be her Mr Right in Charles Adamson. The thing is Charles has a wife and kids. So what should Lulu do about it: tell herself that nothing can happen and do everything she can to keep out of his way or should she just give in to her feelings for him and let the chips fall where they may? Of course nothing is that simple and when Lulu and Charles end up on location together for an entire week all bets are off. Lulu longs to confide in her twin sister Alice but she’s too busy with her new boyfriend, Richard. Will Lulu ride off into the sunset with Charles or could there be someone else on the horizon who can give her all that she wants?

Mr Almost Right is Eleanor Moran’s second novel but the first I’ve read as I haven’t read her debut Stick or Twist?. I was offered a few books to review by her publisher Penguin and this one also arrived in the envelope. I read the prologue when it first arrived and although I liked the sound of it, it’s only now that I’ve actually gotten around to reading the whole thing.

The prologue was a fantastic opening to the book showing Charles and Lulu together in his car when they’re interrupted by a sheep singing Baa, Baa, Black Sheep sending Lulu’s guilt into orbit. She then denies that she’s a bad person and we start right at the beginning to just before Lulu meets Charles. It’s a very intriguing opening to the book and I was immediately sucked in. Mr Almost Right is told entirely from Lulu’s point of view which kind of works, but as I’ll say below, I would have liked Alice to have some say in proceedings. The book doesn’t seem to span too many weeks/months so it moves along rather nicely and I found myself able to read multiple pages at a time.

As far as characters go I did actually like Lulu. Sure, she’s not exactly morally correct in what she does/wants to do with Charles but she seemed genuinely confused about it all and I couldn’t help feeling for her. Alice was a fantastic character and she and Lulu were a great double act. I would have loved more Alice in the book. She is in it the book a lot – she and Lulu live together after all – but I’d have loved it if half of the book was told from her point of view as well as Lulu. After all Alice has a lot of problems also so her perspective/feelings/opinions would have been a welcome addition. I can’t say I was a huge fan of Charles as we don’t really get to know him so for as long as he was around all I could think of him was the fact he seemed cliched in everything he said. To make me like someone who doesn’t really mind cheating on his wife then Moran would really have to give him some re-deeming qualities and for me, he didn’t have any. The fact is, his wife seemed incredibly nice so I couldn’t see why he was willing to lose all of that for Lulu. A character I really liked was Ali, a policeman who pulls Lulu over at the beginning of the book for speeding. He makes some re-appearances and I really liked the scenes he was in. Another character I adored was Zelda, Lulu’s boss. Although for most of the book she seems to be ill, I could see what she was like before she had to stop working for a while. As most of the book focuses on Lulu’s home- and working life Zelda doesn’t make as many appearances as I’d have liked but she sparkled whenever she was featured.

The book has an incredibly sad ending and I truly didn’t see it coming. I was almost in tears and that rarely happens with a book. Moran’s writing doesn’t seem to be anything special but I did find myself speeding through the book. I can’t say I agree with the plot of the book – cheating being the focal point of any book will make it seem slightly off-putting as I find it hard to sympathise with someone who struggles with feelings for a married man. Yes, it happens in the real world all of the time – I do know that – but with a plot like that I found it hard to see how there could be any semblance of a happy ending. I was surprised with how the book did end, it was a slightly open-ending leaving us to decide how we think it will all pan out between the two of them.

I really enjoyed reading Mr Almost Right and that’s a great feeling since I didn’t even know what to expect when I first started the book. It was a good way to pass the time and although some might say it has a slightly predictable storyline I did find myself enjoying how it all unfolded. Although I must say it’s probably only a book I could read the once. I still recommend it though as it’s a good way to whittle away an afternoon!