This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Susan Lobban
Lucy and Jamie are getting married.
Fran and Saul are the married couple in marriage guidance.
Katy and Rob are on the verge of splitting up.
Pip is pregnant by a married man.
Other people’s weddings make you analyse your own relationships. Over the course of Lucy and Jamie’s wedding weekend, Fran and her family’s secrets come to the forefront and can no longer be ignored. Everyone will be leaving this wedding with more than sugared almonds as a memento.
This book is set over 36 hours of a wedding weekend and each chapter charts the time ticking away. The story starts with Fran waking up in her hotel room with an empty space next to her in bed, as her husband is off on a early morning run. Fran and Saul are stuck in a marriage rut and at first you think it is Saul’s obsession with fitness and routine that must be to blame, but as the story progresses, you realise this is the least of their problems. I loved the way the narrative progressed in real time and Fran’s recollections of the past were seamlessly inserted to give the reader an insight into how her marriage had changed over recent years.
Fran is struggling to keep her family together whilst also shouldering the worries of her daughters. Everything is threatening to come to a head during what should be a happy occasion. The groom, Jamie, is even involved in adding to Fran’s dilemmas in a way I never saw coming.I lost myself so completely in Fran and her family’s woes that I read the whole book in 24 hours rather than the 36 hours it took for everything to unfold. The wedding part was very realistic from the over amorous guests to the women changing into comfy shoes, but this was certainly the most intriguing wedding story I have ever read.
Fast paced and absorbing, I felt like I was one of the guests listening in to something I shouldn’t. A very juicy read!
9/10