Guest Post: Melissa Brown

I'm happy to host another stop for the Bouquet Toss blog tour! Today author Melissa Brown stopped by with a guest post for all of you lovely readers. I was curious about her inspiration because of something I read on her website - that writing Bouquet Toss was very cathartic. In case you missed it, I reviewed this novel the other day. Make sure you check out the main tour page to see everyone else's thoughts!

The inspiration for Bouquet Toss stemmed from my own romantic life.  In my early twenties, all of my friends were getting married right out of college and I could barely find dates to their weddings.  I never caught the bouquet, but was a bridesmaid so many times that it gave me the premise for the book.  I was also lovesick and missing the boy who stole my heart in college.  Mayson's character is based on him and the prologue of the book is an actual diary entry written at at time when I was finding it hard to move on.  Daphne's cousin, Morgan, is based on my cousin Kelly.  And there's a character in the book who's based on my husband...but, I can't tell you who that is.  The actual story is complete fiction, but I did pull from my life quite a bit.

Author Bio:
Melissa Brown is a hopeless romantic living in the Chicago suburbs with her husband Chris and their two children.  Aside from writing, she enjoys reading and baking. She also has a slight obsession with actor Henry Cavill and the TV show New Girl.

Connect with Melissa:
Blog
Facebook
Goodreads
Twitter: @LissaLou77

CLP Blog Tour: Bouquet Toss

Welcome to my stop on the CLP Blog Tour for Melissa Brown's novel Bouquet Toss. I'm happy to kick off the tour with my review of this sweet and sad novel.

Here's the synopsis:

Ever since Daphne Harper graduated from college, all of her friends have fallen in love, become engaged and walked down the aisle. Be it a blessing or a curse, Daphne (a hopeless romantic and perpetual single girl) catches the bouquet at every single wedding she attends.
Daphne’s love life is a mess. Her first love, Mayson, haunts her heart and keeps her from pursuing happiness with any man who comes along. As she struggles to move on from the one who got away, Daphne wonders if she will ever break her curse and find her happily ever after.

I found that this novel was a lot heavier than I was expecting and I think that might be what I struggled with when it came to reading it. Daphne has to deal with a lot (way more than anyone should have to) and at times I felt like there was just too much going on. I understand what Brown was going for and I enjoyed the story but I think the storyline needed to be tied together just a little bit tighter.

That sounds really negative, doesn't it? I really did enjoy reading this book. In fact, I read it in virtually one sitting on New Year's Day! Daphne had some hilarious dates (it's a little sad that those kind of men really are out there!)  and she has wonderful friends (even if I wanted them to be a little more three dimensional). Minor spoiler but not really - I'm so glad Daphne got a happy ending. I don't think I would have been able to handle it if she hadn't! She deserved happiness and I'm happy she found it.

Overall, I liked Bouquet Toss but I didn't love it. I think others would probably really enjoy it. Melissa Brown has written a sequel, Champagne Toast, that I will probably pick up one of these days simply because I'd like to see what happens with some of the characters. Make sure you keep checking the main tour page to see what others have to say about this novel. And stay tuned for a guest post from Melissa herself coming up later in the week.

Happy reading :)