Review: Did You Miss Me?

Did You Miss Me? by Sophia Money-Coutts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

On paper Nell Mason should be happy, a successful divorce lawyer with prospects of partnership within the next six months, a long-term relationship with her partner Gus, a house in Clapham and money in the bank. What more could she ask? Maybe Gus won't set the world on fire but he's solvent, kind, and reliable, even if he does have a regrettable liking for German petnames.

Then her mother calls to say that Lord Drummond has died, the father of Nell's schoolgirl crush, Art(hur) Drummond, her brother's best friend. Nell, Art, and her brother Jake grew up together, it didn't matter that Art was the son of the landowner and Mr Mason worked for him, the Masons were in and out of Drummond Hall all day long and Art was in and out of the Masons' far less impressive semi-detached cottage just as often. Then Art broke Nell's heart and has been living in America with his wife and son pretty much ever since.

Although she's avoided anything and everything to do with Art ever since, Nell knows she will have to return for his father's funeral, especially since Jake can be guaranteed to weasel out of doing anything. But meeting Art again after all these years brings back all those hopes and dreams that Nell has suppressed for years, is the grass always greener or has she been settling for boring all these years?

I liked this but I felt that too many of the secondary characters were characters. Nell's brother was a wide-boy estate agent who acted like a teenager. Nell's mum leaves her father for a caricature, Nell's boss is a ghastly misogynist, her clients are foul, her father is oblivious, Gus is self-absorbed - it was all too much and too strong. It felt like these characters overshadowed the romance, which in itself had broken down because of a series of coincidences, and consequently the ending felt like bish-bash-bosh, the end. More comedy than romance, which meant that some of the story didn't hang true for me, if Nell works 12-14 hour days in London how can she take her Dad down the pub every night at 6pm when she is working from home, and go for a run every morning?

Recommended if you are looking for a good laugh about divorce lawyers (and their clients), London snobbery and parental disasters, not so much if you are looking for a touching romance.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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