I have been reading Jill Mansell’s books for a few years now and I adore them! The newest from Sourcebooks is Don’t Want to Miss a Thing and yet again another from Jill Mansell to rave about. Her novels remind me of taking my favorite sweater out of the dryer all warm and cozy and putting it on. I know when I curl up in my favorite spot with her newest offering that I’m in for a comforting treat to the senses and once again she delivered with Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. It was sweet, funny, and even a tiny bit sad but oh so fantastic!
Dexter is a regular ladies man. He enjoys the single life, meeting women, and doing what he wants when he wants. He has no intentions of getting tied down… that is until his sister passes on and he’s left to raise his eight-month-old baby niece Delphi. Needless to say his first thought is to find a good home for her because obviously he isn’t even remotely parent material but as more and more people tell him that his niece is better off without him raising her he becomes determined to do just that. So he gives up his high paying job and moves both he and Delphi out to a small English village and sets up house. It’s rough going since he hasn’t much experience with babies but he’s learning and more than that he’s finding that little Delphi is stealing his heart and he’ll do anything for her. Yet even away from the city and the parties and such Dexter still attracts the attention of women… the problem though is that it isn’t the attention of the one woman that he wants.
I was completely hooked on this book from the very first chapter. Even though Dex was a womanizer in the beginning he has this charming quality that draws you to him and then once he starts with caring for his baby niece – well then he becomes even more attractive. I like that he opened himself up to life and love and grew so much as a person and a man. The other character I really liked was Molly who is an artist and lives next door to Dex and Delphi. When Dex first makes his interest in her known she pretty much turns him down flat but as time goes on she begins to wonder if she made the right decision. The back and forth banter kind of relationship between the two was pretty amusing. Then there is the rest of the village full of quirky and delightful characters. While they may not play a huge role they still fit perfectly in with the story and it wouldn’t be the same without them. As with all of Jill’s books I found myself really caring about these characters and what would happen with them. To me that is always a mark of a really good book.
I listened to the audiobook of Don’t Want to Miss a Thing which is narrated by Clare Corbett who has fast become a favorite narrator of mine. She is utterly fantastic and adds so much to story just in the way she tells it. She really does fabulous voices and I must say my favorite was her Delphi babble. It was awesome and made me smile each and every time I heard it. The audio version is pretty much eleven hours and it flies by so quickly that before you know it you are at the end of yet another amazing novel by a favorite author. Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Jill Mansell is another winner for me and one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend of course!
Buy at: Sourcebooks, Amazon, Amazon Canada, and B&N
Source: Audiobook from my personal library.
