One plus one = heartwarming +feel-good. {One Plus One by Jojo Moyes}

One plus one = heartwarming +feel-good. 

About One Plus One by Jojo Moyes: Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages... maybe ever.

My two cents

What a pleasant surprise. Was I expecting fluffy .. maybe. Was I expecting cheesy ... I think so. Was I expecting lots of tugging on the heart strings ... absolutely. This defies the genre of chick lit or women't lit. (What's in a genre anyway? Plus I was fresh off reading this, which I frankly wanted to throw out the window.)

Told from multiple perspectives, the story is about the life of a struggling single mom -- with a misunderstood teenage stepson and a math savant of a daughter -- just trying to grab opportunities and make things happen for her kids. But the challenges along the way are many and conspire against her.  Money is always tight and there is never enough despite working multiple jobs. The ex-hubby is equally elusive ... and useless on all fronts. Until her path crosses with a well-to-do techie slash not much of a businessman who she happens to clean house for. Unwittingly, both save each other from mundaneness and find some semblance of happiness.

Slyly reminiscent of Little Miss Sunshine's roadtrip, and alternately hilarious and poignant, I loved all the characters, felt deeply involved in their personal struggles, and read often with bated breath. I loved the feeling of falling in love with this book, and with Jojo Moyes's voice.

Verdict: Ahh ... I want to read it again to the power of ten.

P.S. Sometimes reviews don't need to be long to say "I loved it."

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