Book Review: Wedding Night

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Eh... I will give it a reluctant 3. More like a 2.5 stars for me.

I like Sophie Kinsella. I got hooked on to her books since I read I've Got Your Number. But Wedding Night is plain, for a lack of a better word, stodgy... It starts out promising, but somewhere in the middle it takes a nose dive and never recovers. The ending is too cute to be true. Don't get me wrong. I love happy endings. They are the only reason I read rom-coms. But for the ending to be awww-worthy, all the events leading up to HEA have to fall in place harmoniously. In this book, it looks like the author was in a rush to tie up all the loose ends at once!

Anyway, coming to the book - Lottie dumps her boyfriend, Richard, because he hasn't proposed her after three years of their being together, her biological clock is ticking, and he appears squeamish at the thought of marriage. On a rebound, Lottie rashly agrees to marry her ex-boyfriend, Ben, (from 15 years ago, from a summer fling) when he declares himself in a dramatic fashion (after one drink too many) in a pub! Lottie's sister, Fliss, isn't too thrilled with what she calls Lottie's "Unfortunate Choices" (which Lottie inevitably regrets), particularly as they stem from messy breakups.

Fliss is battling the aftermath of a nasty divorce, with a lively 7-year old in tow. She is like a mother hen to Lottie. She wants Lottie to avoid the parson's mouse trap, failing which goes on to sabotage her wedding night as the hastily newly wedded couple head out for a honeymoon to Greece. For some reason, Lottie and her husband come to an agreement to abstain from consummating their relationship until after the wedding. Fliss thinks (rightfully so) that it is a case of teenage lust rather than true love. So her goal is to get an annulment for Lottie as quickly as possible if things have not progressed as far. To that end, she makes a mad dash to Greece with her 7-year old son, Noah, to attempt to knock some sense into Lottie.

Some initial schemes that Fliss arranged to interrupt their honeymoon were plain funny like Teletubbies episode on TV that wouldn't stop, or two twin beds in a honeymoon suite or the butler who was extra chivalrous with his constant attendance etc... But after a point, things took a dip. Substituting peanut oil for massage oil, knowing her sister was allergic to peanuts was a low point for Fliss's character. Who does that to their own sister? While Lottie broke out into hives, Fliss was getting moony-eyed with Ben's best man, Locran, who had his own reasons for not wanting the wedding to take place. Accompanying the fateful trio on their adventurous trip is also Richard, the guy Lottie dumped. He too is motivated to stop Lottie from taking the next step.

For starters, I did not like the fact that almost everyone was calling the 30 something ladies Lottie (for Charlotte) and Fliss (for Felicity) AT ALL! I know I am not a prig, but somehow those cartoonish nicknames did not suit the characters at all... Of all the characters in the book, I liked 7-year old Noah the best :) His innocence is truly endearing... And that somehow ends up being the best message of the story. Rather than trying to fix the world, rather than trying to rush through your life, rather than hurrying or trying to cram everything in one day - stop, look around you and smell the roses. Get the most of every moment ... ah now there I've said it!






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