weddings are happy events – right? sometimes they can be stressful, sometimes your crazy relatives can make things complicated, but ultimately two people are getting married! when my sister walked down the aisle a month ago, i decided to read some wedding romances to prepare and BOY were they fun!

the engagement plot by krista phillips

4 stars

Funny, engaging and sometimes frustrating.
Fake fiancés, the wake of reality TV drama and coming to terms with your life, romance and faith – this book had it all. There was even a small mystery to ferret out, so nothing lacking.
The banter was fun, the characters feisty and romance cute. I hate miscommunication and there was a bit of that, I also find it frustrating when people refuse to forgive just because they feel like being mad some more, but all in all, it was pretty good.
The ending felt… missing. Stilted. It was a little unusual and left a lot of open ended questions (especially for a stand alone book). However, it was enjoyable and had me laughing aloud and close to throwing things against the wall on more than one occasion.

the enemy by sarah adams

5 stars

So much fun.
Love and hate really are a thin line and I LOVED the way things play out with Junebug and Mr Darcy… 😀

Actually though, they were so cute and the way everything was developed was hilarious and heart warming.

the wedding shop by rachel hauck

3.75 stars

I don’t usually like dual timelines, but I liked both the timeline plots – I just wished they were not the same book jumping back and forth.
Cora’s story:
Moving, interesting and heartbreakingly annoying – commit woman!
Hayley’s story:
Moving, interesting and a nice homage to traditions and vintage.

The jumping back to other earlier books didn’t feel too jarring. I know of the books but hadn’t read them, yet it felt easy to understand where they stood and where it fit with the plot of this book.
A fun and cute book about love, forgiveness and weddings.

the wedding planner by dianne steel

1 star

Depressing. Best word I can think of for this book. There are too many things I want to say, so I’ll try and keep it simple.

This books theme and opinion on marriage is simple. Unless you’re in a minority of marriage goers:
Weddings = bad
Babies = bad unless you’re old and even then probably still
Not good anyway
Abuse = inevitable and unworthy of real intervention

There might be some spoilers ahead so read at own risk.
Out of the three major weddings our planner Faith handled through this book, the only one that was happy and calm was the minority one. Almost all the others were either chaos or abusive. Sometimes both.
We then had a random spin off moment where we follow an adoption… for no reason at all.
Apparently, if you’re a minority, you get it all (happy and easy wedding with not one, but TWO babies in the same period) and if you’re not you get crap (abusive husband, babies when you don’t want them, parents almost splitting up and on and on it went).

Faith – the planner – had a life she insisted over and over that she was happy in. For me it sounded sad and lonely and if you have to try and convince someone that much, it’s probably not true.

For a book about a wedding planner it has a very bleak attitude towards marriage indeed.

the groom by melissa mclone

3.5 stars
Quick and easy to get through.
Funny and meaningful moments scattered through wounds and attraction that all parties are trying to fight. For no reason at all.
Forgiveness is hard to come by, but a slow burn romance during an across the world competition was the perfect place to be thrown together and figure it out. In front of reality tv cameras and “the world” when it airs.
I liked it, and felt the character development for well within the plot and country hopping. It was nice to see and hear about various countries and places, and characters were likeable enough – though I did find Millie more likeable overall.

the accidental bride by denise hunter

3.5 stars
Not a lot of forgiveness and an ending that felt rushed after a particularly solid “enemies” part of the enemies to lovers trope.

While I enjoyed this book with funny moments and warming sincerity by some characters, I found it difficult to connect with a main character that held so much Unforgiveness and didn’t ever really address that side of her own heart. She got everything she wanted and needed but didn’t really assess her own shortcomings in that.

We also got hints of their lives before they came back for a second chance romance, but it was never fully explained or expounded upon.

I enjoyed this book – don’t get me wrong – but there were also a few glaring issues for me that means it can’t get any higher of a rating than 3.5 stars.

the summer of broken rules by K L walther

4.5 stars

Love this book! So cute, so funny, so moving – just adored the romance hahah.
Wit and Mer were so fun, and had such a beautiful romance in the midst of the family game.
The game itself unfolded so hilariously – I LOVED Wit’s commitment to spraying people with water guns 😂
Touching moments of grieving and moving on with life. Forgiveness and healing.
The final showdown….. the best!
A wedding thrown in the midst of all the chaos and alliances was just cherry on top.
Such a fun and easy read 🙂

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hope your weddings (and mine whenever it happens) aren’t quite as dramatic as all these, but who knows!

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace