Mother of the Bride

by Kate Lawson

[Leah]

Molly Foster’s daughter Jess is getting married… To Molly’s delight – and surprise. And with Molly’s show featuring a wedding countdown, the whole town of Wells-next-the Sea is ecstatic – even as Molly worries that groom-to-be Max’s commitment may not be all it seems… Meanwhile, Jess’s control freak step-mother Marnie is determined to turn the event into a chi-chi society bash – a world away from the day that Jess envisaged. But does Jess really know what she wants? Especially when she meets the gorgeous Oliver… Though there’s no going back now – is there? Can Jess take back control of her wedding – or will the mothers of the bride run the show?

With our Royal Wedding Week on the horizon, I was looking for some wedding-themed books I could read and review during the week. I didn’t want to review books we’ve already reviewed on Chick Lit Reviews – it would defeat the purpose. So one novel I knew I’d be reading was Mother of the Bride by Kate Lawson. Kate Lawson is the pen-name of Sue Welfare and she’s also published books under the name of Gemma Fox – I’m not entirely sure why she’s published books under all three names, because it’s obviously not a secret pseudonym. Very peculiar! I’ve never read any of Kate’s/Sue’s/Gemma’s novels particularly since I did rather assume her books were possibly not to my taste, perhaps a bit too old for me. However, with not that many new wedding-themed books to choose from, I picked up Mother of the Bride, and I was pleasantly surprised with the novel!

I must admit, I do seem to steer clear of weddings in novels. I don’t entirely know why, because I do love a good wedding, but too many weddings can be a bad thing, so it’s only once in a blue moon that I do read a novel about a wedding. (So you can imagine my horror that for our Royal Wedding Week I’ve had to read four wedding-themed novels). Mother of the Bride was much different to what I was expecting. I expected it, quite frankly, to mainly focus on Molly as she was the mother of the bride. But that’s totally wrong. The book actually focuses on the whole thing. On Jess and her planning of the wedding, on Molly, on Marnie, Jess’s step-mother and it’s like one big revolving world as we get all aspects that it takes to make a wedding a wedding. I could never plan a wedding, I get exhausted just reading about it. I’m actually starting to feel sorry for Will and Kate, frankly. I liked how Lawson gave a complete picture about Jess and Max’s wedding, instead of just focusing on one part of it.

For the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of the characters, they were all so lovely. I thought Molly was one of the coolest mothers ever, being a radio presenter and just making sure Jess was happy with her wedding preparations. I also loved her partner Nick, he was so cool and calm, and very soothing. I thought Jess was possibly a bit naive over Max – he radiated iciness! – but I can understand that when you love someone you will forgive them a lot. But I also liked that when Max was particularly annoying – missing vital wedding appointments – she did take him to task over it. It’s fair to say that I didn’t like Max. In fact, that’s not a strong enough word. I hated Max. With a passion. He was just so cold and unyielding, rabbiting on about his work, work, work, work, work and leaving Jess to make all the decisions before he then comes in and changes his mind. I wanted to punch him. And Marnie, Jess’s step-mother, who could give any (Step)Mother-of-the-Bridezilla a run for their money. Overbearing, she was! I also found the secondary characters to be charming, I’d have liked to have seen more of Jess’s brother Jack as well as her best friend Helen and dishy neighbour Oliver!

Mother of the Bride was a really warm and comforting read. Like I said, I wasn’t expecting it, and sometimes that’s just great. Sometimes it’s just wonderful to read a book that surprises you. To read a book that’s warm and cozy. Kate’s writing style is superb, so easy to get into and so pleasurable to read that the pages do just fly by. Kate definitely knows how to tell a story, and I was hooked. I feel bad for judging the book before I’d even read it, it’s a terrible trait of mine, and I was very happy to have been proven wrong. The third-person narrative worked brilliantly, allowing us to see the wedding from everybody’s eyes. I loved the end of the book, it kind of brought the book full circle – in a surprising way, in fact! I’ll definitely be reading Kate’s new book (released under her real name of Sue Welfare) The Surprise Party and I would definitely recommend Mother of the Bride, it was thoroughly enjoyable!