Review: Funny, heartwarming and witty - The Wedding Diary is brilliant!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 13, 2013
Acclaimed historical novelist Margaret James proves to be a contender to Sophie Kinsella's chick lit crown with her first contemporary novel, The Wedding Diary!After her handsome but feckless fiance walked out on her, all Cat Aston wanted to do was curl up on the sofa, eat her body weight in chocolate and wallow in self-pity. Jack had been the man of her dreams and Cat had spent the last couple of months fantasizing about her dream wedding and a blissful future with Jack. Sadly, her errant fiance was more concerned with his quest for superstardom and finding ways of not paying his own way than with place settings and tiered cakes - which is unfortunate as Cat has just won a fairy-tale wedding at one of the UK's most lavish hotels! How on earth is Cat going to claim her prize when her groom has disappeared off the face of the earth? Although she knows that the most sensible option would be to rescind her prize, Cat cannot resist keeping mum about Jack's current whereabouts. After all, he is bound to turn up sooner or later with a perfectly logical explanation, isn't he?Romance is the last thing on Adam Lawley's mind. When he had met the beautiful Maddy, Adam had thought that he had found his soul mate. Unfortunately for Adam though, Maddy cared more about her charity work than she did about their relationship. When she turns down his heartfelt marriage proposal, a heartbroken Adam vows never to put his heart on the line ever again. Having resigned himself to spending the rest of his life as a single man, Adam decides to invest all of his time and energy into his fledgling business. His love life might be a disaster area, but at least his business is thriving. However, when a chance encounter propels him into Cat Aston's path, the recently single Adam soon begins to find his resolve to stay unattached weakening...Although a part of Cat hasn't quite given up hope of being reunited with Jack, another part of her has started to find the moody, brooding and heartbroken Adam rather attractive. As fate throws the two of them together, an attraction which simply cannot be denied soon develops. But will a casual infatuation give way to something more?Are Cat and Adam ready to let go of the past and grab this second chance at happiness? Or will they let this unexpected blessing slip through their fingers because they are both afraid of getting hurt again?Margaret James has written some of my all-time favourite historical romances, so I must admit that I was initially dismayed when I found out that she was going to start writing contemporaries, but no sooner had I read the first chapter of The Wedding Diary that I found myself falling head over heels in love with sassy Cat, sexy Adam, ditzy best friends Tess and Bex and the eccentric - but absolutely wonderful - Fanny.The Wedding Diary is a fabulous story of love, friendships and relationships that made me laugh out loud. Fast-paced, hilariously funny and impossible to resist, The Wedding Diary proves that, regardless of genre, if a book has got Margaret James' name on the cover, then a first-class read is guaranteed!