Review: Staying at Daisy's by Jill Mansell

Staying at Daisy’s tells the tale of a hotel manager Daisy MacLean. Going through a rough patch in her love life, Daisy’s concentrating on making sure her hotel is running as smooth as possible, which proves nearly impossible when cocky sports hero Dev Tyzack seems to always be around. Her staff keeps her on her toes—her best friend and co-worker Tara, is involved with a shady ex, who happens to be newly married, her father and hotel owner Hector, starts dating a famous actress which has the whole town talking (but he’s keeping mum about what he does when he disappears some days) and one of her porters, Barney, falls madly in love with a woman from Daisy’s former husband’s past—and that reveals secrets no one could have ever imagined…

My thoughts: Does this sound like another mad-cap feel good adventure from Jill? You're right if you answered yes because nobody writes a fun chick- lit/romantic comedy book like Jill. Her characters never fail to amuse and delight me.

In Staying At Daisy's, we meet Daisy MacLean at her father's hotel where she is the manager. It's a busy day as a wedding and reception is scheduled for the afternoon but Daisy is worried that her friend and employee, Tara, will fall apart as the groom, Dominick, is Tara's ex-boyfriend. Tara assures Daisy she couldn't care less but Tara finds herself in a sticky situation when she tries to explain just who was hitting on whom after being found in a compromising position by the bride's sister.

Hector, Daisy's father, is quite the jovial character - one of those people some would call larger than life. He shares a love life with one of the locals but little does he know it's not  the  no-strings attachment that he pretends to himself that it is. I loved it when realization hit!

Then there's Barney, the hotel's new porter, who harbors a romantic secret himself. The old adage about it's a small world certainly fits Barney's situation. Daisy is dumbstruck when she finds out who Barney is seeing. Barney is one of those characters who is almost too good to be true but I found myself really rooting for him to get everything he wanted.

Let's not forget Maggie, Tara's aunt who has her own romantic adventures going on. I loved Maggie as a character; she has a lot of spunk and a great sense of humor. When the appliance company fails to fix her washing machine, Maggie comes up with a way to get the company's attention and it is one laugh after another.

Full circle back to Daisy; she's pretty much sworn off men since her late husband's cheating behavior devastated her trust in men. However, Dev, the best man in Dominick's  wedding is a well known sports figure with quite the reputation. Totally hot! He seems to keep turning up at the hotel. As much as Daisy tries to ignore him, she finds herself thinking of him more than she would like.

A lot of trial and error in the love department and a few mismatches but Mansell manages to tie the ends up neatly in a satifying conclusion. This enjoyable read is not to be missed if you like romantic comedy with a lot of humor and terrific characters in an English village setting. I really liked it a lot! 4****

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Sourcebooks in exchange for my honest opinion.