Review: Meg Benjamin at her chaotic best
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 24, 2009
4.25 StarsWEDDING BELL BLUES can be read on it's own, but I would not recommend it - as the personalities that I know and love takes a back seat to the drama of the wedding in this second book, but they creep in every now and again and without reading the first book, you will definately be missing out.The book starts off with small town Konigsburg preparing for the wedding of the year, now that Docia has agreed to marry Cal. As with all not normal wedding with a hyperactive mother of the bride - everything went bigger and larger than life and it is only with the buffer of Docia best gal pal Janie Dupree is she able to survive the day to day angst of her mother.Janie is sweet, really sweet and most everyone that meets her know immediately that she is a push over. There is a however a strand of steel that runs through Janie, but she never shows it but at the rate at which the wedding plans are going downhill it might just make an appearance. While Janie is working her butt off to make every little thing as perfect as possible for the big day - her support which is suppose to be the bestman - could not have a care in the world.Pete Toleffson is the bestman and his motto is "if  Cal wants something done Cal will ask and if he is not asked it wasn't worth doing". Pete is Cal's older brother and not that he is not happy for his brother, but he wants no part of the horse and pony show that was happening - this level of happiness was just something that was un-natural for Pete. Pete is a lawyer in his hometown and surprises of surprises the office is getting on fine without him, then there is Cal, he has not stopped smiling since Pete has been in Konigsburg - it's just not natural, then to top the whole mess off, the cute little pixie of a bridesmaid wants to tell him what is role is in this carnival of chaos.Things were bound to come to a head and Pete and Janie was more or less pushed together to stop the wedding train derailing. While they battle the forces of in-laws, family dramas, personality issues and even issues closer to home they find the budding seeds of attraction and appreciation growing between them.They are not fools and they make the best of what is there for them - because Pete must eventually go home and Janie is under no illusion that she has what it takes to hold a man like Pete in Konigsburg.How man ways can I say I love this book. I was determined to  read this before the end of the year and I was so pleased I did that this weekend. WEDDING BELL BLUES is a convoluted mess of comical what if's, that did eventually happen and it was a fun read.I must mention Meg Benjamin's skill first at keeping at the going ons in Konigsburg together and in a straight line, because the chaos was coming from all angles and  everyone had drama or trauma as the case might be. She still managed to maintain that small town feel to her writing style and along with some creative language. The uptight and upright new cast she introduce in this book was a perfect fit to the laid back and irreverent lot of Konigsburg.WEDDING BELLS BLUES is Pete's and Janie's story - even if it was wrapped up the carnival of Docia's wedding. Janie knew right from the moment Docia agreed to a wedding date that she was not going to do it without Janie and Janie got into the spirit of things and at time she almost feels like a dogsbody.  She kiss ass, she sucked up and she made nice and denies alot of what she wanted to get off her chest just for the sake of seeing things through to the end.Even when the bestman started looking like he had two heads for his incompetence as a bestman, she still was sweetness itself. In all that sweetness however Janie had issues closer to home - a nosey demanding mother, a almost boyfriend who will be anything but and a town that she is just coming to see the beauty of, even if it was not her first love.Meeting Pete sets off an emotional chain reaction that she was not stepping away from and she was willing to roll with the punches wherever they take her, even if it's only for a short while, no matter how she wish it was more.Pete is a heart attack waiting to happen - he gives the appearance of laid bad with not a care in the world - a whole new meaning, but underneath he was a bundle of nerves worried about job, home, family and just life in general. Janie crawled under his skin an inch at a time and he was not opposed to what it was doing to him but he was not in the business of hurt - and he had no intention of staying in Konigsburg and this he knew without a doubt will hurt Janie.The highlight of this book for book was it's natural flow from  VENUE IN BLUE JEANS, it build on the special relationships that were being formed in that first book. With an array of characters and side stories popping up, some so everyday it was comical in it's realness.I loved themI hated themand mostly, I wanted to drop a few of them in a vat of oil.But one thing I did was laugh with this book and I laughed alot.Because of this flow from book to book, I would not recommend reading this book without reading VENUE IN BLUE JEANS first because you would miss out on what made these characters who they are.All the issues that befalls a wedding and more is presented in this book and this was one of the more meatier side story, which will ultimately be the cornerstone and why we will are destined to get two more Toleffson men story. I am so looking forward to those as these Toleffson men are rouges and lovers alike.Bottom LineIf you are looking for a read that just hits the spot - with small town issues aplenty, nosey community with no remorse about being nosey and at anytime you just never know what will come out of their mouth - this is the book for you. Scandal, spite and a good fisticuff are just apart of the everyday order of Konigsburg. With loveable characters and everyone having a opinion on everything - Janie And Pete are a blessed calm in the storm - that is until they start creating their own waves.