Top Ten Tuesday: Here Comes the Bride

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they're "particularly fond of lists" and since I also enjoy lists, I've decided to participate in this fun feature.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday has us listing our favourite books with a certain setting. My first thought was to do a geographical location and pick Canada but then I realized I could have a little more fun and make my list more abstract. I decided to list ten of my favourite books that feature weddings! It is wedding season, after all. (Seriously...is everyone else's Facebook timeline exploding with wedding pictures and engagement announcements right now? Or is it just me because I'm 26 and at the age where everyone is getting married?). Anywho. I picked these ten books because I've read them (there are obviously many others out there). I've reviewed almost all of them so the links lead to my reviews. Did I miss any of your favourites?

Don't forget to check out their blog for a full list of everyone participating this week!

Bride Quartet - Nora Roberts
This is probably my favourite all about weddings book. I loved loved loved this series. It was sweet and fun and I loved reading about the four friends that planned weddings. And the covers are gorgeous, too!

Wedding Season - Katie Fforde
I adored this book that features a wedding planner.

Nearlyweds - Beth Kendrick
I loved this book about three couples that weren't technically married. Talk about a paperwork screw up!

Chose the Wrong Guy, Gave Him the Wrong Finger - Beth Harbison
This is another one where the main character doesn't actually get married but she does work in a wedding dress shop and designs and creates dresses. And she does attend a wedding at the end.

When Girlfriends Chase Dreams - Savannah Page
I love the When Girlfriends... series and I liked reading about Claire and was happy she was finally getting married.

Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan
Anyone who knows this book is probably wondering why I put it on the list. The wedding isn't really the main point of the story but it is the reason Nick brings his girlfriend Rachel to Singapore. Plus the wedding (and bachelor/bachelorette parties) are so ridiculously extravagant that it's so much fun to read about. Amazing novel.

Arranged - Catherine McKenzie
One of my favourite books ever, Arranged takes a different look at a wedding as the main character ends up using an arranged marriage service. This is a fabulous novel that I highly recommend.

All At Sea - Heather Wardell
In this novel, the main characters are to marry on a cruise ship after only a few months of dating. But what happens when the bride to be has already dated the groom's brothers?

Wedding Night - Sophie Kinsella
Imagine getting married and then having anything and everything go wrong so you can't enjoy your wedding night to the full extent? I'm sure that would be quite frustrating. This novel is classic Kinsella and so much funny ridiculousness ensues.

The Wedding Beat - Devan Sipher
I'm sure you're familiar with the movie 27 Dresses, yes? So you know the character played by James Marsden, The New York Times wedding beat reporter. Turns out he's based on a real guy - Devan Sipher. This novel is loosely based on his experiences and follows a wedding reporter on his various adventures.

Awesome Contest Announcement!

Hi friends!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile you know that I LOVE Catherine McKenzie's novels. No idea what books I'm talking about? Read my reviews of Spin, Arranged, and Forgotten to catch up.

Forgotten is going to be released in the US coming up on October 16th so in honour of that, Catherine's publishers William Morrow and HarperCollins Canada have dropped the price of the ebook for Arranged and are also holding a fabulous giveaway.

All of the info can be found on the note that is on Catherine's author page. Click here to be taken to it and to comment and share the note (they count as entries!).

Here are the ways you can win:

• Comment on the note on her Facebook page (see above) – 1 entry
• Update your Facebook status (e.g. 'Arranged is $1.99 for a week. Awesome!') – 2 entries
• Share this note on Facebook - 2 entries
• Tweet about it – 2 entries
• Grab the tile ad (the image in this note) and put it on your website  – 3 entries
• Write a blog post about the price drop and contest – 5 entries
• NB -- add a comment on this post with a link to your shares to get those extra entries!
• AND FINALLY: Email proof of purchase of the e-book of ARRANGED to catherinemckenzieauthor@gmail.com - 10 entries

What can you win?: One of FIVE signed copies of FORGOTTEN

What else can you win?: If ARRANGED breaks the top 100 on Kindle or Nook or Kobo you can win a signed set of all three books + a $50 giftcard to the bookseller of your choice. And if we break the top 10, there may be more awesome prizes.

Not bad, right?

I strongly encourage you to go buy Spin, Arranged, and Forgotten (for those of you in Canada). My favourite is Arranged. My copy is currently with my mom to read on her upcoming cruise!

Where can you buy these wonderful books? Good question.

US Buy Links:
Amazon
Nook
iBookstore
Kobo 

Canadian Buy Links:
Amazon
Kobo (only $2.99!!)
iBookstore

(PS If for some reason those links decide to be stupid and not work, hop on over to Catherine's note and copy and paste the links from there)

I hope all of this has convinced you to give at least one of her books a try. Have you already read Catherine's novels? I'd love to hear what you think of them!

For now, I wish you all luck (but not too much luck since I want to win too ;) hehe) and happy reading!

Just Finished: Forgotten

Catherine McKenzie is one of my favourite authors - she gets bonus points for being Canadian - so I was very excited when I learned she would be publishing a new book this spring. Forgotten (published May 1) is McKenzie's third novel (I've reviewed her first two on this blog, Spin is here and Arranged is here and both made it on my top books I read in 2011) and I was lucky enough to snag a review copy from NetGalley.

Here's the synopsis for her new release:

When everyone thinks you’re dead, how do you start your life over again?
Emma Tupper, a young lawyer with a bright future, sets out on a journey after her mother’s death: to Africa, a place her mother always wanted to visit. But her mother’s dying gift has unexpected consequences. Emma falls ill during the trip and is just recovering when a massive earthquake hits, turning her one-month vacation into a six-month ordeal.
When Emma returns home, she’s shocked to find that her friends and colleagues believed she was dead, that her apartment has been rented to a stranger and that her life has gone on without her. Can Emma pick up where she left off? Should she? As Emma struggles to recreate her old life, everyone around her thinks she should change – her job, her relationships, and even herself. But does she really want to sacrifice everything she’s working so hard to gain?

It's quite the interesting premise, isn't it? I can't know exactly what Emma was feeling during this insane/tumultuous/stressful time but because of the way McKenzie writes I was better able to imagine it. I did think that Emma was crazy because she assumed she could just plop herself back into her old life without any issues whatsoever but I didn't think she needed to change something about her life, as many others believed she should. If you like your life, why should you bother changing things just because you've gone through a traumatic event? Makes sense to me. It was tough to read when Emma realized that things were not going to be as easy as she hoped. It's a brutal situation but she handles it well and I was so happy with the way things turned out for her.

Even though this book deals with some pretty serious issues there are still some light and humorous moments. For example, there is a scene that involves Emma wishing she could use the Marauder's Map incantation from Harry Potter. This would be most hilarious to Harry Potter lovers but even those who don't know which spell I mean can appreciate the humour in an adult female lawyer wishing she was able to use the same magic as teenage boy wizard.

I don't want to give anything away (and, ok, I didn't make specific notes) but I just want to say - I love love love the New Year's Eve scene. It's sweet, fun, and a little heartbreaking all at once.

I adored Emma's best friend Stephanie. The two were childhood best friends who continued to grow closer as they got older. Stephanie has been with Emma through it all and is able to provide a family-type link when Emma is left alone after her mother's death. She knows just when to push Emma and when to leave her on her own, and is always there for her. In short, she's an amazing best friend - and a well written character. In fact, I would love to learn more about Stephanie and find out what she's up to now. At the end of Forgotten she's launching a new business that I think would be quite entertaining. What do you think, Catherine - care to write a sequel that focuses on Stephanie? :)

I could probably continue gushing about this novel but I won't. Instead I will say: I cannot recommend Catherine McKenzie's books enough. If you want to check them out and wonder what order you should read them in, I would personally suggest starting with Spin, moving on to Forgotten, and finishing up with Arranged. By then, I would hope that you'll be just like me - already eagerly awaiting her next novel.

Happy reading :)

September Chick Lit Review: Arranged

Ever read a book that you almost didn't want to finish because you didn't want it to be over but you desperately needed to find out what happened to the characters? Arranged by Catherine McKenzie was one of those books for me. I did not want to put it down! As much as I wanted to know what happened at the end of the story, I also didn't want it to be over because I wanted to stay engrossed Anne's life.

Want to know what this amazing book is about? Well, no need to wait any longer - here's the synopsis from Goodreads:

Anne Blythe has a great life: a good job, good friends, and a potential book deal for her first novel. When it comes to finding someone to share it with, however, she just can't seem to get it right.

After yet another relationship ends, Anne comes across a business card for what she thinks is a dating service, and she pockets it just in case. When her best friend, Sarah, announces she's engaged, Anne can't help feeling envious. On an impulse, she decides to give the service a try because maybe she could use a little assistance in finding the right man. But Anne soon discovers the company isn't a dating service; it's an exclusive, and pricey, arranged marriage service. She initially rejects the idea, but the more she thinks about it-and the company's success rate-the more it appeals to her. After all, arranged marriages are the norm for millions of women around the world, so why wouldn't it work for her?

A few months later, Anne is travelling to a Mexican resort, where in one short weekend she will meet and marry Jack. And against all odds, it seems to be working out-until Anne learns that Jack, and the company that arranged their marriage, are not what they seem at all.

 Wondering why the name Catherine McKenzie sounds familiar? Regular readers of my blog (and I love you guys!) will know that I read her first novel Spin awhile back (read my review here!) and absolutely loved it. I had actually picked up Arranged while I was in Chapters before I read Spin but didn't buy it. Once I got Spin from the library and devoured it I went right out and purchased Arranged. I'm so glad that I did.



Oh, Anne with an E. I love you.

 First of all, I LOVE that the main character's name was Anne Shirley Blythe. Yes. Named for that Anne Shirley. Anne of Green Gables was one of my favourites growing up and I know I'm not alone. Many Canadian girls grew up reading about this innocent red headed orphan. Highly recommended! Anyway, it was a little extra something in the novel that I just couldn't not mention. :)

Staying with Anne - I loved her. I think she was an amazing character and McKenzie made sure that the reader really got a sense of what Anne was like. She's a much more "with it" character than Katie in Spin but she still had some, shall we say, flaws that she had to work on throughout the course of the novel.

Anne also had a great cast of supporting characters - her best friend Sarah, boss/editor/friend William, brother Gilbert (yes, Gilbert Blythe), and sister-in-law Cathy. The only thing I'd say is that there were perhaps too many secondary characters and I didn't get a real sense of any of them. However, they were all there for Anne and that's quite important.

The story itself seems a little crazy but it really isn't. You just don't hear about arranged marriages very often anymore. I'm actually very curious as to how McKenzie came up with this idea. It's just such an interesting topic that I found myself wondering how many people have arranged marriages these days.

As for Jack? Loved him too. He really does seem like a perfect match for Anne but a good story can't be, well, good without some twists and turns. McKenzie delivers and makes you wonder how everything's going to turn out. The chemistry between Jack and Anne is just sexy enough and pretty realistic. Granted, I don't know what it would be like to jet off to Mexico to marry a man without ever meeting him before, but, hey, anything can happen on "vacation" :)

Finally, one other tidbit about this book that I loved - after a catastrophic revelation Anne is watching a marathon of Gilmore Girls on tv. As it turns out, Anne and I have the same favourite Gilmore Girls episode! It's the episode when Luke and Lorelai finally kiss for the first time (though the episode before that, Liz's wedding, is also a fave episode). I just thought it was pretty neat that we loved the same episode. Kinda geeky, I know. But I'm ok with that!
Exciting side note: While checking out Catherine's website I discovered that she has a third novel, Forgotten, coming out sometime...well, sometime. SO EXCITED! :) You can bet that I'll be reading it as soon as I can get my hot little hands on it.

Any readers from the States concerned that they can't get a copy of this easily? Not to worry! You can buy Arranged for Kindle (ok, it won't let me link which is SUPER annoying but go to Amazon.com, search for the book and it's there. Unless it's lying to me. I'm sorry if that's the case) AND Spin, Arranged, and the forthcoming Forgotten will all be published by HarperCollins in the US next year. Canadian friends, on the other hand, have no excuses. Buy Arranged and Spin right now. Read and enjoy. You won't be disappointed!

Happy reading :)