Writing Tips Oasis

Review – The Wedding Writer by Susan Schneider

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This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.


The wedding writerREVIEWED BY AMANDA KEATS

 Lucky has just been promoted to Editor in Chief at "Your Wedding", the bridal magazine she used to be the Wedding Writer for. Of course, her promotion means that her mentor and friend Grace has been ceremoniously dumped for a younger model. Women who work at the magazine are disgruntled that Lucky has beaten them to the Chief position and bridal magazines are being closed all over town. Can Lucky bring "Your Wedding" into the modern world with a fresh approach? Or is she being set up to fall…?

 
This book focuses on the aftermath of Lucky's shock promotion on her, Grace and two other women at the magazine. Working as a bridal magazine editor, Schneider clearly knows about the cutthroat world of magazines, weddings and editorial. Sadly, what she doesn't seem to know is how to engage the reader. To me, there is one key element that is essential in literature – and without it, you will lose the reader no matter how well you write or how interesting the topic may be – and that is the desire to keep reading. If there is no connection with the main protagonist of the book, there is no reason to continue. And Lucky just isn't interesting. Her back-story is only explained about a quarter of the way into the book and by that point, I had entirely lost the will to continue.

 

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Schneider also made a decision in her writing which I loathe, and would be interested to know if I am alone in this. She wrote the entire novel in the present tense. The present tense is gripping, it is happening right now this second. It should have you on the edge of your seat with suspense, desperate to see what is about to happen. This may work, at a stretch, with a thriller or crime novel or can be used in dream sequences to show a change in the text. It does not work here. It feels more like you're stuck in a horrendously dull meeting at work and can't leave.
 
One of the things the book also promises is the gorgeous Manhattan setting, but even that fell flat. Apart from mentions of the high-rise apartments, there is no mention of the city itself. And as Lucky comes across as a callous, superficial and utterly unlikeable character I really didn't care that she could now move to a bigger apartment. Even Grace is not particularly interesting as the older, more experienced Editor, stuck at home with nothing to do but cry.
 
I grant that perhaps if this is an industry you work in, it might be of interest – but a great novel should not be quite that specific. Women the world over lovedDevil Wears Prada and you didn't have to work in fashion to see why.
 
I'm sorry to say that about half way through I gave up entirely. It was exhausting soldiering on with it, waiting for it to improve. If a book hasn't grabbed you on the first page, then it doesn't bode well. But if I am still bored stiff half way through, there's no reason for me to continue on to the end.
 
2/10