Leah
Written on Oct 17, 2014
From Notting Hill With Four Weddings... Actually is the third Scarlett O'Brien novel (and hopefully the last - more on that in a bit) and this time around it's all about weddings! Four weddings, to be exact which was a nice play on the title (and the movie - though thankfully there were no funerals, phew!). Scarlett's living a trans-Atlantic life (which is so bizarre to me, considering where she started...), her life is less movie-driven (I miss the playfulness of the movie bits from the first book) but she's got her happy-ever-after with Sean, but she's struggling to plan their wedding, and can't decide on a venue, a dress, anything. Her work life is exploding, though, and when Gabriella Romero asks Scarlett to be her life coach, she finds herself stuck between two worlds, and who knows if Scarlett and Sean will ever get their very own wedding...
After the fast-paced, frantic whirlwind that was From Notting Hill To New York... Actually, it felt for me that From Notting Hill With Four Weddings... Actually came back to Earth with a bit of a bump. It was still adorable, still vintage McNamara, but it all just felt too much - the Scarlett we first meet is much different to this Scarlett and I found it hard to align the two as the same person. We're supposed to believe Scarlett is running two major companies - one a charity, no less; with them both on opposite sides of the Atlantic and I think it would have made more sense if Scarlett just did the Dragonfly service, and the popcorn company was run by someone else, because while it's believable to run two companies, absolutely, it just felt too much for this novel (especially as Scarlett spends a great deal of the novel doing wedding stuff, or spending time with Gabi), and we don't really hear much about her working for either company.
The characters are all still really great - and it's always lovely to catch up with Oscar, Sean, Max and Jamie - even this new Scarlett who doesn't really do films much (I mean, it's mentioned that she does, but it doesn't come across that way; they're like token mentions). Even the addition of Gabi was quite a masterstroke, as I loved her. My issue was with this new version of Maddie - what kind of a best friend wouldn't tell her best friend her troubles? It didn't make sense, it didn't ring true, and I could have happily read the novel without Maddie in it. Also: Alex. He came across as a smarmy, pantomine villian and I just didn't buy it for a second. I knew where the plot was going with him, it was blindingly obvious and it was a bit of an uncessary addition, I would have preferred the novel just focused on the weddings, or the search for Gabi's Great Aunt.
It may sound as if I'm on a downer about the novel, and it wasn't actually that bad, there were just aspects that were a bit much - Alex, Scarlett running two companies, celeb appearances that had me cringing (I can take Bradley Cooper, okay, but more celebrities? Who would magically drop everything they're doing for Scarlett? It just was so frustrating to be real). This one was a bit of a let-down for me, after two cracking novels. I most certainly do not want a fourth novel ...With Nappies! Scarlett has far too much on her plate for that to be the next step, unless Bradley Cooper's going to step in as nanny. I didn't think Scarlett and Sean really needed a third book, the second one ended beautifully, and all that was really needed there was a simple Epilogue detailing their wedding. I actually thought I enjoyed the book more than I did, until I started writing my review, and although I will say this until my face is read: It wasn't a bad book, it just felt like one too many. Other fans will adore it, I'm sure, there will be plenty of gushing reviews, but I'd quite like Sean and Scarlett to have their happy ever after in peace now. They more than deserve it.This review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read