One Plus One by Jojo Moyes, 384 pages

This was my first Jojo Moyes novel.  She is a British author who writes humorous women's fiction, or at least that is how I would categorize this book.  My sister brought it to the beach and this is the book that got read quickly and passed on to the next person in our group so they could enjoy it too.

Jess Thomas is a single mother, struggling to make it in a small resort town in England.  Her estranged husband left and moved in with his mother 2 years ago because he couldn't cope with life.  Jess is raising her 10 year old daughter, Tanzie, and 15 year old step-son Nicky all on her own, struggling to pay the bills.  Nicky is being terribly bullied and math prodigy Tanzie is facing the same fate.  Tanzie has a chance to go to a posh private school, but Tanzie needs to win some money at a math competition in Scotland to help make that happen.

Meanwhile, Ed is a rich software developer who is in hot water with financial regulators because he gave a crazy girlfriend he was trying to gently dump insider trading secrets so he wouldn't feel so bad about dumping her.  He needs to get out of town.

Ed ends up driving Jess, Nicky and Tanzie to Scotland.  Problems and romance ensue.  Put this one on your list to read if you need a fun, light fiction escape.