Abandoned by Booklikes

Jill Mansell books are hit or miss with me. I needed some good reads this weekend and just read books til I fell asleep. This was the only sample by Mansell that actually intrigued me, so I ended up buying this. Per usual there is a cast of characters, some misunderstandings, and a HEA for all the people involved. The only reason why I didn't give this five stars is that I thought the reaction of one of the characters to another character butting in on her business was not what we have been shown the whole book. If she had a bad reaction to the things that he went and got nosy about, that would have felt more real to me.

"The Unexpected Consequences of Love" has photographer Sophie doing what she can to build up her business in Cornwall. Due to events that happened years ago, Sophie has sworn off all men, Her best friend Tula, ends up getting fired and moves to Cornwall to work as well. Tula has a crush on the local hotel owner's grandson (Josh) but he only has eyes for Sophie. Too bad Tula doesn't like the local writer's grandson (Riley) who only has eyes for her. Josh's grandmother and grandfather (Dot and Lawrence) are divorced though both wish that they could go back and do things differently. So that sets up things between all of the major characters in this one.

I have to say that I loved Sophie a lot. We find out why she has sworn off men. Though she is curious/intrigued by Josh, there's a reason why she is rightfully gun-shy about becoming involved with anyone.

Tula was a bit of a mess, but also lovable. She wants a romantic happily ever after and believes that Josh is the one that will give it to her. Even though he practically puts up smoke signals to let her know that he's not into her at all. Tula's father ran off when she was young and her mother kept getting involved with men who were allergic to work. Due to Riley not having a real job, Tula is staying far away from him even though she acknowledges how attractive he is.

Josh bugged me. Due to Sophie turning him down repeatedly, he is determined to figure out why she won't go out with him. He snoops and involves himself with her past all so she will go out with him. Sorry, I am still annoyed by this whole thing. Due to how Mansell characterized Sophie in this book, I had a hard time with this whole thing without her being really upset by it. And this is all due to a guy not hearing the word "no". Instead he is determined he is going to "fix" her or her past so that he can finally get with her. Ugh. 

Riley was very cute and I loved the reveal about him.

Dot and Lawrence were adorable. I don't know what I would have done in Dot's shoes, she has a rightful reason to be upset with Lawrence. When she starts dating someone else, I was of two minds about it while reading. A very good resolution occurs with these two, but then they kind of just disappear for the last portion of the book.

The writing was very good. I liked all of the interactions between characters. The flow worked too.

The ending didn't feel very realistic and was kind of abrupt. I wish we had gotten a chance to look at everyone months down the road or something.