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shaunok

ShaunOK 'Book Addict'

Avid reader reading a mixture of crime fiction, chick lit, young adult, autobiographies and true crime. Looking to follow readers who actively read and review books I enjoy to read.

Wedding Night - Sophie Kinsella I am really disappointed with this book. In some ways it was Kinsella's best book but in others it was her worst. The fact that it was written from the point of view of two characters was fantastic, I thought that worked really well. Lottie and Fliss were both likeable characters and I liked the subplots that took place around the whole wedding fiasco with Lottie. It was a nice change to follow other characters rather than just the main character. However the book did verge on the ridiculous. I know with fiction, and chick lit in particular, you can account for parts of the book being over the top and unrealistic but some of the things that happened in this book were so unrealistic that it did border on the silly side.

Lottie assumes that her boyfriend Richard is going to propose to her, and when he doesn't she gets back in touch with her first love Ben and they head off on honeymoon to Ikonos, where it all began. Fliss, Lottie's sister is going through a nasty divorce and when she finds out about Lottie's marriage she uses her position as editor of a travel magazine to force a hotel manager to prevent Lottie and Ben from consummating their marriage, thus making them eligible for an annulment and preventing Lottie from making another 'Unfortunate Choice'. Hilarity then ensues for the rest of the book as we follow Fliss trying to stop Lottie having sex. Don't get me wrong the book does have some funny moments, but none of them to me were laugh out loud moments, as it was just like that would never happen.

I also didn't take to the characters as much as I have in previous Kinsella books. I also found them to be very 'middle class'. Or the sort of women that I wouldn't like in real life. I can't really explain what I mean properly but I prefer chick lit with stronger female characters and these two [Lottie and Fliss] weren't fantastic characters. Ben, Richard and Lorcan weren't great either. I didn't care whether Fliss stopped them having sex and I wasn't really bothered about whether Lottie ended up with Ben or Richard. I also didn't know where Kinsella was going with Noah. The child is making stuff up and his mother doesn't know why yet even when he is with her she is abandoning him and forgetting about him for the sake of her sister. Is it any wonder the child has problems?

I think I would have enjoyed this book more had it been a film. It sounds just like the sort of film you could see the likes of Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in. And that's usually how I feel after a Kinsella book, they are good reads but would be better on the big screen. Overall this was an enjoyable read, at times I didn't want to put it down. However it was just 'okay', I had high hopes for the book but it wasn't amazing. I would reccommend the book to chick lit and Kinsella fans but doesn't be expecting to be blown away. I was surprised at some of the reviews of this book before I read it, most of them from people who received the book early, but after reading it I can see why people didn't love it. As another review said: 'Found myself skimming towards the end. Very predictable and samey. Not her greatest but then will still buy her next book. as I am a fan. There is a lot of competition in this genre now and I think Kinsella needs to stop relying on her reputation to shift books and actually write a story that is on par with her earlier work.