The Bridesmaid Chronicles: First Date
Sydney Spinelli, an uptight accountant from New Jersey, has never been in love. She doesn't believe in making impulsive decisions, so when her flighty sister, Julia, announces that she's marrying her boyfriend of only one month, Sydney rushes to Texas to stop her. However, as soon as she meets Alex, the charming best friend of Julia's fiancé, her plans begin to unravel and she finds herself unwillingly falling in love. The premise that a grown woman would go to such extremes to prevent a sister's wedding-Sydney even steals the engagement ring to prove it's fake-is almost irredeemably ridiculous, and the author's habit of inflicting exaggerated accents on her characters (Sydney's fathers asks, "You heah from dat useless sistah o' yours?") is also distracting. Its many flaws, though, don't spoil this lighthearted comedy completely. The snappy talk keeps the plot in constant motion, and Alex's struggle to deal with his mother's Alzheimer's adds some much needed emotional depth to this otherwise shallow story. Readers looking for an absorbing romance will be disappointed, but this breezy novel may satisfy those wanting something fun and mindless to read on the beach.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.