To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell tackles relationships on a whole new level and looks at what it means to love someone for better and for worse and in sickness and in health. While the novel is infused with Mansell’s humorous style, it is more serious than her other novels.
Ellie Kendall, the main protagonist, finds that losing the love of one’s life is not the end of the world, though it is devastating. She finds a way to move on with her life, though she’s cut herself off from all of her friends and family to do it and feels as though she’s drowning in sympathy. Meanwhile, Zach McLaren is a workaholic with no idea what his life is missing until Ellie literally walks through and into it.
“It was starting to concern her, just slightly, that it wasn’t quite normal to be doing what she’d been doing for the last year. Because Jamie wasn’t here anymore. And he wasn’t a ghost either. All she did was conjure up a mental image of him in her mind, talk to him and have him talk back as if he were real.” (page 18 of ARC)
In addition to the two main leads, there are some great side characters who are fleshed out really well, including the U.S. actor/father-in-law Tony Weston and the former girl band bad girl Roo. Todd, who was one of Ellie’s good friends before her husband died, is not as well fleshed out as the others — at least initially — but readers won’t mind because he’s sort of a stand in for Ellie’s deceased husband much of the time. Roo is a delight with all of her antics and her selfish nature, which as always gets turned on its ear when she realizes that the man she’s dating is a cheater.
Mansell’s got a wit about her unlike other authors in her genre, she’s connected to her characters in a way that makes readers feel like they are hanging out with friends, even if those friends are formerly famous. Ellie has a great deal of grief to deal with, while Zack must navigate his relationship with her very carefully and wait for her to be ready to begin again. Readers will enjoy the realistic way in which their relationship blossoms and their tentative interactions as they become friends and more. Todd and Tony round out the narrative, showing how events can change relationships in unexpected ways.
Readers seeking happy endings at the end of an evolutionary road will adore To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell. When you need a pick me up, her books are there to cheer you up, provide a spot of romance, and tug at your heart strings.
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