‘Crossed Wires’ is a light and gentle character-based story featuring two main people. Mina, who’s in her twenties, works in an auto insurance call centre in Sheffield. Peter, who’s around forty, is a lecturer in Cambridge. Both are single parents - Mina to a shy ten-year-old bookworm called Sal; Peter to identical nine-year-old twins called Kim and Cassie. But that’s about all they have in common until they 'meet' by phone...

The story is told alternately from Mina’s and Peter’s points of view, charting their lives as they struggle with day-to-day problems. I found most of the characters likeable, even if one or two were a bit caricatured. I thought the three girls were well-drawn and believable, and enjoyed their interactions with their parents and others.

It's a gentle book, but there’s some drama in the middle of the book, and various crises; I found it quite hard to put down during the latter half. I felt that one or two threads weren’t really resolved at the end even though the conclusion is hopeful and mostly satisfying.

Recommended if you want a pleasant, undemanding read. ( )

Peter, a widowed father of twin daughters, calls his insurance company to report a minor collision and speaks to Mina, the single mother of a daughter. Mina looks up Peter's telephone number and calls him from home and soon they are phoning each other every week.

I wanted to enjoy this novel more than I did, but I really struggled to believe that Peter and Mina had anything in common. I also had problems getting to grips with the Ruby-Jeremy-Martin relationship dynamic. Not a lot really happened: Peter walked the dog, Peter went to the pub, Trish baby-sat, Mina went to work, Sal read a lot, Jess got up to goodness knows what and no one was responsible for her. Then suddenly Cassie went missing; then later, Sal went missing (unoriginal?!). I did think the gypsy storyline was well done, though.

Perfectly pleasant, just a bit lacking some how. ( )

Crossed Wires is so much deeper than a stereotypical romance novel. I probably wouldn’t have picked it up on the cover alone. But there are so many other issues addressed in the midst of a gentle romance that it doesn’t feel unrealistic. You don’t know how the main characters will get to the happily ever after (and, in fact, the ending is not completely that either).

This modern-day romance is a delightful and a realistic ride. Given that Mina and Peter live more than two hours away from each other, it seems highly unlikely from page one, where Mina answers her call center telephone to take Peter’s car accident report, that the two will get together. I love the satisfactory and yet open conclusion.

Mina and Peter never seemed to be anyone but ordinary people, maybe even someone like me. It was reassuring to read a love happen to ordinary people too, in an ordinary way.

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It’s a romance and I’m always a sap for a romance. It’s an unlikely romance. How many people meet when one calls into the insurance helpline? Nice plot. Nice characters. Nice dialogue. A nice summer read. ( )

Crossed Wires is a light romance that isn’t quite chick lit. It has a lot of what I want in chick lit and none of what annoys me. It’s easy to read and has a straightforward plot that you pretty much know is going to end well. It has characters who would obviously be good for each other if they could just find a way to get together. There’s just enough dramatic tension to keep you reading and wondering what’s going to happen. It’s a lovely comfort read. There are perhaps not as many laughs as I’d expect when reading chick lit, but there are plenty of smiles—and frankly, I’d rather the characters keep their dignity than become slapsticky messes just to elicit a laugh.

Thornton manages to entertain while avoiding the familiar, obnoxious tropes of so much chick lit. The leading characters are not overly neurotic, although they do have problems and worries. When they go into crisis mode, they have a good reason to. The main characters, Mina and Peter, are depicted as equals—not in social status but certainly in desire for a partner. And they get roughly the same amount of “page time,” which keeps this from being a book about the needy woman finding her prince (or “earning” her prince by finding herself or some such nonsense). Peter and Mina’s friends and family members feel like authentic people with inner lives of their own. I liked them.

So what’s the story? Well, it begins with Peter, a Cambridge geography professor, calling his insurance company to file a claim for a car accident in which he hit the stump of a tree while swerving to avoid the neighbors’ cat. Mina takes the call. She appreciates his self-deprecating sense of humor, even if his jokes aren’t very good. He appreciates her reassuring tone, so much so that when he gets into another accident not long after, he asks for her when filing his claim. Before long, they’re exchanging calls regularly—a ritual that gives them each a brief respite from the stresses of their daily lives that comprise most of the book. They commiserate about being single parents and share what’s going on, never talking about what’s happening between them and where these conversations might lead. There are other threads involving Peter and Mina’s friends and family that explore the connections we make and the ones we sever, whether we choose to travel as ones or twos or threes or in a pack. And it’s all very well done.

See my complete review at my blog. ( )