Sunday 2 August 2015

Reviewed: The Parent Trap (Mishaps in Millrise Part Three) by Tilly Tennant







The Parent Trap is part three of Tilly Tennant's four novella spin-off from Mishaps and Mistletoe. It was published on July 30, 2015.




I was excited to see The Parent Trap pop up on my Kindle at the end of July having eagerly pre-ordered it straight after reading the previous book in this four part series. Of course, I had to start reading straight away and happily this was my favourite instalment so far. The first two books in the Mishaps in Millrise series has seen the relationship between Phoebe and Jack change a lot. Though their feelings are still there, families, work-life and names from the past are getting in the way of any harmony and instead of being filled with smiles and romance, their relationship has turned into argument after argument. What I liked about The Parent Trap was how it was kind of a combination of Little Acts of Love and Just Like Rebecca – we still get to see all the drama and chaos but it is mixed with the humour and light-heartedness the first book so wonderfully brought. For a novella, The Parent Trap had it all – along with an ending that, again, left me needing the next book immediately.

Evident from the first few pages of this novella is that Jack’s mum, Carol, and his brother Archie are still making a nuisance of themselves. Carol is so infuriating and nasty that she has become the character I love to hate in this series. When we meet May, Rebecca’s mum, later on, it made me dislike Carol even more because May had all the reason to act up yet instead she was lovely and kind and I wondered why Carol had to be so rude. Archie’s character is developed even further by Tilly here which I enjoyed, especially getting to see yet another side to his character. He’s the kind of person that I like for a second or two and then he reverts back to that nightmarish nineteen year old and I go off him. Which I think is pretty much how the author is meaning his character to be taken. I loved how each character in The Parent Trap is realistic and believeable and there’s so many little parts to this story, little developing stories within each character, that I ended feeling like I’d read a full-length novel.

Phoebe has had some news and she’s not sure how anybody will take it, especially Jack. I was surprised by how he took the news and I found myself warming to him all over again. There’s so much happening in Jack’s life that I think does lead him to taking things out on the people he cares about, but he’s a character that I cared for right from the first time we met him and I find myself urging all the drama to step away from him so he and Phoebe can find that happy ending which appears more and more unlikely with each novella. Through all the chaos, his daughter Maria really brightens up this series with her energy and enthusiasm. If Jack’s brought her up to be such a delight, I get the feeling he can’t be too bad himself. After The Parent Trap, a lot of things, in the lives of Jack and Phoebe, are still up in the air and so I’m interested to see how everything can, if it can, work itself out over the course of the final novella in the series, And Baby Makes Four. Does it really have to end??


My favourite part to the series so far - don't want it to end!





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