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.

Review: Wedding Night

Sophie Kinsella is a must read author for me. I've been reading her for so long that I can't even remember when I first picked up one of her novels. I was so excited when I heard that she was releasing a new book and Wedding Night did not disappoint. It was exactly what we've come to expect and love from Kinsella - funny, sweet, and crazy chick lit.

Here's the synopsis:

Lottie just knows that her boyfriend is going to propose during lunch at one of London’s fanciest restaurants. But when his big question involves a trip abroad, not a trip down the aisle, she’s completely crushed. So when Ben, an old flame, calls her out of the blue and reminds Lottie of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. No formal dates—just a quick march to the altar and a honeymoon on Ikonos, the sun-drenched Greek island where they first met years ago.

Their family and friends are horrified. Fliss, Lottie’s older sister, knows that Lottie can be impulsive—but surely this is her worst decision yet. And Ben’s colleague Lorcan fears that this hasty marriage will ruin his friend’s career. To keep Lottie and Ben from making a terrible mistake, Fliss concocts an elaborate scheme to sabotage their wedding night. As she and Lorcan jet off to Ikonos in pursuit, Lottie and Ben are in for a honeymoon to remember, for better . . . or worse.

Some of you may know that I just recently completed an internship at Random House of Canada (you can read my recap of it here if you like). In my first couple of days I realized that Kinsella is a Random House author so I was eagerly waiting for the ARCs to come in. One day I was grabbing something from the book room, looked down, saw the box of advanced copies, and, I kid you not, gasped and held my hands to my chest. That is how excited I was to see the ARCs in front of me. Knowing the right people paid off and I left work that day with a copy in my hands.

I do find that it has gotten to a point that I go into reading Kinsella's novels knowing the main character will drive me at least a little batty. I'm not sure that's a good thing, either. I mean, I'll keep reading her novels because I always end up loving (or at least liking) the character. It can just get a little frustrating when they act so silly and flighty.

As much as I enjoyed the two perspectives (Lottie and Fliss), I think I needed a bit more...something...from both sisters. I was chatting with someone about this book over a month ago now and she mentioned that it seemed like Kinsella didn't always know when she planned on switching perspectives. I can kind of see that. There didn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason to when it was Lottie or when it was Fliss. Overall though, that was a minor detail and I appreciated getting to see things from two points of view.

The story itself was amusing. I liked that it took place in an exotic location and there was a travel element involved. I am also SO glad that Fliss' son was part of this story (don't have my copy in front of me and his name is escaping me!) because he was so hilariously adorable and clever. He was around seven years old and some of my favourite scenes involved Fliss and Lorcan talking in code around him. I won't get into detail but let's just say the words "sausage" and "cupcake" were used, to my great amusement. I liked seeing Fliss and Lottie evolve, shall we say. They both had some major issues and they worked their way through them with minimal collateral damage.

All in all, I enjoyed reading Wedding Night. Sophie Kinsella had me laughing throughout the novel, as is typical with her books. I wondered if this might be the one to overtake Can You Keep a Secret? as my favourite Kinsella novel, but it just wasn't meant to be (hm, should really reread that one...). Maybe Kinsella's next novel will become my new favourite! Wedding Night is released this upcoming Tuesday, April 23rd, and if you're a chick lit fan you should definitely check it out!

Happy reading :)

*I received a copy of this novel from Random House of Canada in exchange for an honest review*