The Bridesmaid Blues

by Tracey Sinclair

• ISBN10: 1502714051
• ISBN13: 9781502714053
• Publish Date: 4 October 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 232
• Language: English

Reviews

[zooloo1983]

I want to start off and say I loved Luce! She is so real and down to earth and in her lowest moments just reminded me of…well me! Yes I know I am married, but even being married with a child, when the boy is away on tour, you feel lonely, Saturday nights by yourself as all your friends are with their loved ones and family. Living so far away from friends and family unable to go out and enjoy yourself it’s tough and again it’s lonely. Which is how Luce explodes one drunken night, making her just so relatable and loveable. She is not single and loving it, she is single trying to get by and dreams of a happy future with the man of her dreams.

Butttttttttt moving on! Luce is a scream, she is the type of girl I would love to hit the town with, and you know you would hit it hard! I also relate to her because deep down she is a good old-fashioned romantic, same as me! Who does not love a story where the boy gets the girl and they live happily ever after…..me me me!! I adore it and so Luce loving that and wanting that well she had me sold.

So she has not one but two best friends getting married and wanting her to be bridesmaids. She’s still pining for a douche Jamie, who had a girlfriend and also happens to be the best man at one of the weddings. She never got over him, so throw in Eliot and Handsome American Man you know it’s going to be a fun story.

I do love books about weddings and so to get two I was over the moon! Plus it’s another book I have found where the wedding is set in Scotland, love this! Real life vs book life overlapping again!

Tracey’s writing was easy to read and flowed so well, I struggled to get into the book at first but that’s mainly because my little one kept wanting to have a conversation about Horrid Henry and by no means, a reflection of the authors writing I would like to add.

I felt like I was welcoming old friends into my life, living the moments with them and it was a treat from the start. A few times I would have liked to give Luce a stern talking to and a few shakes of the shoulders but she acted in the best way she could with all the information she had, basically how I or anyone else would act in my opinion.

I really did adore this story as this time it was from the point of view of the bridesmaid just to add a different layer to it all. This book made me feel all warm and fuzzy, (its real it happens), I laughed, cried (happy tears) and mainly just sat there grinning from ear to ear.

[Lynn]

A romantic comedy set in North East England, I was chuckling to myself right from the off, as I dived into The Bridesmaid Blues.

Luce is a Geordie, a Bridget Jones kind of lass. She's single, carrying a few extra pounds thanks to her lack of exercise and bad diet. When her friend Jenna announces her wedding to Michael, she's happy until she finds out his brother Jamie will be his best man...her ex. Still, she has six months to win him back or find a new man...no problem. Until, Hali, a long lost friend from her time in London asks her to be a bridesmaid too!

Some of the references to years gone by had me laughing out loud and cringing simultaneously...after all, I was partying during the Eighties!

...a man in a jumper so hideous Noel Edmonds would have burnt it, a spiky mullet hairdo (with the white-blonde highlights which were known at the time as 'tips'...)

Coming from a northern English city, I related easily to the settings and the pace of daily life as long-hidden memories to my own past exploits suddenly re-emerge from a dark corner of my memory. Ms Sinclair's writing flows, injected her heart-felt descriptions of Newcastle and topped off with humorous dialogue kept me flipping the pages as fast as I could read.

“I thought they had a northerner ration going on in here, one per office or we'd gang up and nick the stationary supplies! Go on then, pull up a chair, stick a stapler in your handbag and make yourself at home.”

Luce is a heroine you easily empathise with. A young woman, not as confident as you think who is single and suddenly surrounded by friends pursuing their Happy Ever After, when she has no significant other. It's the beginning of the end of life as she knows it when talking weddings and preparations take priority. With no airs and graces, what you see is what you get with Luce and it's refreshing if a little sad sometimes.

Set in the present time, the narrative manages to inspire nostalgia. I don't usually choose to read books set in and around my own neck of the woods; where I lived and grew up. However, I'll definitely seek out more such titles as their familiarity adds an unexpected sentimentality I heartily enjoyed and didn't know I missed. However, this novel has broad appeal and it is a must-have holiday read wherever you choose to relax...you won't regret it!

***arc generously received courtesy of the publisher***