The nominees for Best Wedding:
Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella
Wedding Season by Katie Fforde
Scot on the Rocks by Brenda Janowitz
For Better, For Worse by Carole Matthews
I Do, But I Don’t by Cara Lockwood
Please vote for your favorite by commenting below. Everyone who votes is entered to win!
Sarah is a jaded wedding planner, helping couples create their special day while not believing in love after her college heartbreak. Bron, a hairdresser, is struggling while living with her over-demanding boyfriend and working at a salon where she clashes on every subject with her overbearing boss. And Elsa, a dressmaker, is painfully shy and would prefer to live life in the shadows. Together, these three women form a tight friendship, each trying to help one another with their issues while working on two weddings-scheduled for the same day.
Sarah is trying to pull off a wedding for her pregnant and over-exuberant younger sister and one of the biggest celebrities, all while fighting feelings for a photographer that is already engaged. Bron is desperate to get out of her relationship and away from her salon job, but never expected to find betrayal on both ends. And Elsa is unsure how to handle advances for the charming Laurence, not used to someone being interested in her romantically. The woman work together charmingly, even when multiple plot twists threaten.
Wedding Season by Katie Fforde is a fun read for chick lit fans, filled with weddings, parties, love, and friendships. Even though Sarah is the main character, Elsa and Bron each get enough time in the spotlight so a deep connection is made with them and their personal stories. An entertaining and light read throughout, sometimes a bit too fluffy for my taste, but still a fun book.
1. What I like most about the stories I write is exploring other lives and professions. It’s a way of having all the jobs I can’t have now. I can also give myself skills I don’t have, like being able to turn a tatty cardigan into a stylish shrug with just a few bugle beads. (That’s in my next book, A Perfect Proposal, that has a lovely preppy American lawyer hero.)
2. I keep thinking I’ll run out of ideas and then I’ll hear a snatch of conversation, or someone will tell me something about themselves that make my antenna twitch. People who know me recognize ‘the look’ which means the wheels are turning and another idea for a book is being formed.
3. I think readers will enjoy Wedding Season because it’s about weddings, which most of us enjoy. It also has lovely dresses, women trying new things and discovering things about each other, and especially women having a lot of fun. Also, there are some cute men, too!
4. I can’t start a book until I’ve decided exactly where the story starts. I can have the characters, the theme, the setting, but until I know exactly that pivotal moment in their lives that sets the story going.
5. How do I get over writers’ block? I take the day off, go shopping, or go for a walk, or read someone else’s book. Basically, if I give my conscious mind a rest the subconscious will sort out the problem. Time off between books is good, but not always possible.
6. My early married life was spent on the water for two reasons. My new husband was an officer in the Merchant Navy and I went to sea with him just after we were married. (I was very seasick!). And later, we set up a business on the canals on Britain. We had a pair of boats and ran them as a hotel. I did all the cooking. Very hard work!
7. My bad habit (well one of them) is playing Spider Patience on my computer. I always start the day with a game and quite often play for a while before I start work. Sometimes I am thinking about what to write (which is good) but sometimes I’m just listening to the radio, which is bad! Although I might easily get an idea from a radio program.
8. My free time is spent doing flamenco dancing, singing in a choir, playing with my grandchild, shopping – the usual stuff really.
9. My best advice for aspiring writers is to read a lot and write. Don’t worry if you don’t get your first, fifth or tenth novel published, if you keep going you’ll make it. Also read ‘how to write’ books as they may make the process a bit quicker.
10. I love traveling and so far haven’t been to Australia. However before I can do that, I’m hoping to visit the Hudson Valley in Upstate New York as two of my books have been turned into German TV films, and they have set them there. If they do a third, I want to go and appear as an extra, for my Alfred Hitchock moment.
In My Mailbox Week of March 28th
Title: Wedding Season
Author: Katie Fforde
Received: From Katie Fforde/St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis: Katie Fforde’s unique spin on romantic comedy is a blend of the sweet, the sad, and the sexy.” Patricia GaffneySarah is a wedding planner hiding a rather inconvenient truth she doesn’t believe in love. But as the confetti flutters away on the June breeze of yet another successful wedding season she finds herself agreeing to organize two more events, on the same day, and only two months away. And while her celebrity bride is all sweetness and light, the other bride, Sarah’s own sister, quickly starts driving her crazy with her high expectations and very limited budget. Luckily, Sarah is aided in her seemingly impossible task by two best friends, Elsa, an accomplished dress designer, and Bron, a multitalented hairdresser. All three are very good at their jobs, but romance doesn’t feature very prominently in any of their lives. As the big day draws near, every moment is spent preparing for the weddings, and they certainly haven’t got any time to even think about love; or have they?
Title: Just Like Me, Only Better
Author: Carol Snow
Received: From Carol Snow
Synopsis: Ever since Veronica’s husband found the love of his life-not her-she’s been a walking zombie with runny mascara. It doesn’t help that she keeps getting mistaken for Haley Rush-the Hollywood starlet whose dazzling life is plastered on every magazine.
When Haley’s manager offers Veronica a job as a celebrity double, it only takes a moment before she says yes. Veronica gets to drive Haley’s car, wear her phenomenal clothes-and have fun with her hot celebrity boyfriend, Brady Ellis. Too bad the job’s only part-time, and at the end of the day she has to return to her life as a cash-strapped substitute teacher and cub scout mom.
But when real sparks fly with Brady, is it a fantasy come true or a disaster in disguise?
Title: The Cinderella Curse
Author: J.L. Penn
Received: From J.L. Penn
Synopsis: This is the hilarious tale of a girl who whacks a witch, gets cursed, and becomes a pumpkin at midnight. Sound strange? She thinks so.
Cindy had a fairy tale life – well, not literally – but she was pretty and popular. Then one fateful autumn day, while picking apples, she encountered a real-life witch. After accidentally clocking the witch on the head with her basket of apples, the angry witch put a spell on her. As Cindy would soon find out, she was destined to live out her nights turning into a pumpkin at midnight. Talk about a crimp in your social life!
There is only one antidote for Cindy’s terrible curse – if only she knew what it was. Hilarity ensues as Cindy attempts to lead a normal life as a part-time pumpkin.
