September book of the month: THE ONE PLUS ONE by Jojo Moyes. Read and join Jojo for webchat on 30 September, 9-10pm

[NataliaMumsnet]

Jojo Moyes' Me Before You was a phenomena with over 3 million copies sold worldwide. Fans are in for a treat this summer with her latest novel The One Plus One which follows the story of a relentlessly determined and supportive single parent, Jess. Described as 'a heartbreaking, laugh-out-loud, thought-provoking, emotional rollercoaster' by The Sunday Express, Moyes' story tells of an unexpected love story that develops amid the ups and downs of a hectic family life.

Jojo Moyes is a novelist and a journalist. She worked at the Independent for ten years before leaving to write full time. Her previous novels have all been critically acclaimed and include Me Before You, The Girl You Left Behind, The Ship of Brides, Foreign Fruit, and The Last Letter from Your Lover. She lives in Essex with her husband and their three children. Jojo will be joining us for a webchat on 30 September to chat about The One Plus One so post your questions in advance or join us on the night.

We have 50 copies of Jojo's book to giveaway. Apply here for a free copy. If you're one of the lucky 50 we will inform you next Tuesday (29 July). If you don't access a free copy, order it up online to read over the summer and join us for book club in September.

Happy reading!

[whatwoulddexterdo]

Lonecat,
If you don't get a copy, pm me your address and I will send you mine once I have done.

[MrsRedWhite214]

Got my copy but just finishing off my current book first. Can't wait to get started!

[peanutmum111]

Got my copy ........many thanks as I've now put JoJo Moyes on my to read list. Some I like more than others but this was amongst the top and kept me entertained. have passed on to my sister , thanks

[RachelMumsnet]

Great to hear the books have arrived and we hope you enjoy reading this over the summer hols. Do let us know what you think and post up your questions for Jojo who will be joining us for a live webchat on 30th September.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Rachel I have had no reply to either e-mail or private message about my missing book.
Sorry if I seem pushy, but I would hate for you to be thinking I just hadn't bothered to review.

[RachelMumsnet]

@Lonecatwithkitten

Rachel I have had no reply to either e-mail or private message about my missing book.
Sorry if I seem pushy, but I would hate for you to be thinking I just hadn't bothered to review.

So sorry - I've just returned from hols so just picking up my emails now. I'll look into this and make sure another copy is sent out to you. Will pm you once it has gone out.

[mugglelady]

Just finished reading this today. Whilst I did enjoy reading this one, I preferred Jo Jo's other book Me Before You (however in my mind don't think many other books will live up to that one!!). Having said that, I really enjoyed the second half of the book and got more into the story from there on.

[lauraelisa]

I have this book on my kindle and would love to join in, if that's ok?? I'm new to this site so not sure how this works :£

[Olegjogalot]

Just downloaded it onto my Kindle, looking forward to reading it and being part of the Book Club.

I'm also new to this site so not really sure how it works.

[AfternoonsandCoffeespoons]

Just finished this last night. I really enjoyed it. Loved all the charactors and had more than a few damp eye moments as well as one or two laugh out loud moments! I've read all (I think) of Jojo Moyes books (Last Letter from Your Lover is my fave, although loved them all) and this didn't disappoint. I'll think of a question for the webchat later!

[Lonecatwithkitten]

So my book arrived on Wednesday and I finished it last night. I am thinking of some questions. Having been left like Jess was two years ago, I can understand some of her desperation (not just about money, but about the best decisions for the children) and also trying to keep cheery and swan like on the surface whilst paddling frantically.

[jelliebelly]

hmmm - just finished this after admittedly skipping through quite a few pages to get to the end. Disappointed that I didn't really engage with the characters as frankly it all felt a bit too unbelievable. Who on earth would choose to drive all that way after considering other public transport options - the cost of fuel would have been extortionate even if she could drive! And if Ed really wanted to help out surely he'd have just offered to pay the train fares. I have lots more similar questions but will save them for the webchat!

[dippybaby]

Thank you very much for my free copy of this book. It was an enjoyable and easy read- perfect summer holiday reading. The characters were realistic and could be easily identified in society, however I did find some aspects of the book hard to swallow. Jess had two part time jobs for which she wouldn't have been paid much above the minimum wage. Realistically therefore she would have been struggling much more than she seemed to be to keep herself, Tanzie, Nicky and Norman fed and a roof over their heads. Despite this she seemed to have £63.81 in her purse for the road trip, "spare" 20 pound notes to repay Ed and was still able to pay her electric bill even after she took out £35 from her electric kitty to buy Tanzie some new clothes. I am not sure how she managed it all on such low wages and there was no mention of benefits. Also I didn't find it credible that Jess "forgot" that she had stolen £500 from Ed. Money is such an important part of your life when you don't have any and Jess appears to have moral principles and is trying to bring up Tanzie and Nicky as honest individuals that the fact that she had stolen from Ed would have been on her mind the whole time. Also what happened at the court case for driving without a valid tax disc, an unroadworthy car and no insurance? That seemed to have been missed out at the end!

[UnMasterChef]

I read this on holiday (perfect timing for the free copy to arrive). I enjoyed it, it was a quick easy read. The story was fun and I liked the characters, I was engaged with them. Not completely believable, but that's not always an issue. Have to admit I prefer some of her other books, in particular "The Last Letter from your Lover", which was brilliant. One plus One just didn't have the same depth or complexity.

And there were some errors in the techy financial markets stuff (two really obvious ones), maybe I can start offering advice to authors in this (not just to stalk my favourite authors )

[boodles]

I was looking forward to this book as I had previously enjoyed other jojo books, as with the poster above the last letter to my lover being my favourite.
I did enjoy this but found it much lighter than LLTML. There were things in the plot I could pick holes in, however it was a nice read, I did like the characters and wanted to know what happened to them. A good holiday read. I shall pass this on to my mum now.
Thanks for the book :)

[whatwoulddexterdo]

Thank you for my copy.
I did enjoy this and had years in my eyes at one moment.
However, I did feel it was all a bit rushed into the happy ever after ending and i also that Ed was very quick to forgive Jess which wasn't very believable.

[MrsRedWhite214]

Jojo Moyes makes Jess and Ed perfectly believable characters who by chance end up on long car journey with her two kids and very large dog. This is a story as much about the children's evolving relationships with their mum as it is about her relationship with Ed. Tanzie and Nicky are lovely characters who you are rooting for the whole way through the book. Jess isn't depicted as a weak woman who needs a man to save her; instead as a strong independent woman who is doing her best for her children. She's a good role model for them.

I love the humour and awkwardness that Jojo Moyes introduces to her books. It takes the edge off what could be a very cliche, sickly love story to become more believable. The most emotional part of the book came at an unexpected point for me, but I won't spoil that for others.

My question would be:
You tend to depict strong female characters in your books. Is that something you have to actively try for, or do they come quite naturally to you? Was Jess mapped out from the beginning or did her character develop more through the process of writing?

[toothlessoldhag]

Loved the book, which I borrowed from my library. I liked the portrayal of the world of computer programming I parallel to the bleak small town setting. Both had aspects of loneliness.

Nb. Shouldn't the original posting say "a phenomenon"?

[MrsWickens]

I was lucky enough to receive this book from Mumsnet and finished it today. I absolutely loved it. The relationships were brilliantly written and made what could have been stereotypical characters interesting. Having the chapters written from different characters viewpoints usually annoys me but in this book made sense. I was disappointed when it ended as it was such a great story I wanted it to carry on.

[PepperMallow]

I read this a few weeks ago and although I couldn't get into it on first reading (IIRC I thought it might be a bit depressing; buying the clothes for her daughter from the neighbour etc) but went back to it and thoroughly enjoyed it. The revelation about the husband and how Jojo portrayed the different emotional responses from the various characters struck a chord with me.

[GrouchingTiggerHiddenSomething]

Thank you so much for my copy of this book I really enjoyed it and managed to read it quite quickly despite having the children at home for the summer holidays (obviously didn't manage to write my review quite so quickly!) I liked how the chapters switched between the different viewpoints and felt like I got to know the characters really well. Some parts I felt were pretty unrealistic (would Ed really have been that stupid to get himself in the situation he was in? Would he really have offered to drive a bunch of people he hardly knew and their smelly dog to Scotland? Would they really have gone slowly all the way, I suffer from travel sickness myself and fast motorways are actually better than slower windy back roads!) Still I was happy to suspend my disbelief and go along with the story! I enjoyed the unmasking of the husband and the developing relationship between Ed and Jess. I think what makes this book work is that you care about the characters, and not just the two main ones, even the smaller charaters are well drawn.

I would ask the author if the characters were completely set and fully formed in her mind before she started writing or if they developed and changed as the book went along?

I've read Me Before You and enjoyed that one too so I think I will be seeking out more books by this author! Thanks again :)

[TallulahPumpkin]

I was amongst the lucky ones to have received the surprise book!

I read it on holiday over a few days. Overall it was an enjoyable holiday read and towards the end I couldn't put it down. However, I do agree with some of the other reviewers that there were a few plot holes/unrealistic plots/events. On the whole I suspended my belief for a while but there were a few 'huh?' moments (covered by other reviewers). I did feel like I'd been dragged through the crappy stuff with Jess & co - which I guess is good from a 'good book' point of view and engaging with the characters etc. However, the upbeat ending I think was overshadowed by the crappy and downbeat stuff that had happened throughout the book and over all I didn't end it feeling upbeat despite the positive ending - it seemed a bit rushed in comparison with the rest of the book. Too much went wrong for the characters or perhaps the good stuff was more unbelievable than the bad. Having said that, I'm the type of person who wants everything to go right in a book/film but recognise that, if/when it does, it would be really boring - there's no winning when you're me!

I would definitely read another of her books partly on the basis of the book and partly on the comments above.

[Pointlessfan]

I got this for my birthday and read it within the week. Entertaining and very readable. I started to care about all the main characters and enjoyed the funny parts.

[mistyegg]

I found it a generally enjoyable read which didn't take too long to finish despite the size of the book. As with previous posters, I agree there were some plotholes, unrealistic situations and the car journey part of the book was slightly too long so I ended up skim reading chunks of it while the last few chapters seemed too short to cover everything that had happened to the characters.

It still had enough going on with good development of the characters to make me want to read through to see what was going to happen next.

[RachelMumsnet]

@lauraelisa

I have this book on my kindle and would love to join in, if that's ok?? I'm new to this site so not sure how this works :£

Apologies for not getting back to you before Lauraelisa, we've sent you a PM about how book club works. We'd love you to join us - either share your thoughts about this book or post a question up for Jojo Moyes or wait until she joins us live on this thread next Tuesday between 9 and 10pm.