The Wedding Fling by Meg Maguire
December 18, 2012
Contemporary Romance
Harlequin

Reviewed by Mandi

Leigh Bailey is an actress who has had a few hit movies but really could care less about the Hollywood spotlight. While she used to deeply love her boyfriend and now fiancé, things have become strained between them. She chalks it up to wedding planning jitters and hopes to reconnect with Will on their honeymoon. But when they are done on a phone conversation and he clicks over to his ‘brother’ which happens to be his “girlfriend on the side” and Leigh hears the conversation, she is hurt and saddened. She runs away the morning of her wedding and heads to Barbados alone for her honeymoon. All she wants is seclusion and her jar of peanut butter. She has lived her entire life pleasing her mother, and cuts off all connections back to the states for her two week stay.

Her pilot to take her to the very small island is Will. Will has an ailing father and some property he really wants to invest in, but he has no money. He loves the island and he loves flying his little plane, and at first he sees Leigh and dollar signs. He knows the tabloids would pay big bucks to get a juicy scoop on the runaway bride and it would solve all his money woes. But he quickly realizes she is not a snob, or a rich brat and a warm friendship that leads to a romance develops.

I’ve read a few cute runaway bride stories this year (others being Down for the Count by Christine Bell and Mr. Rebound by Michael Cain). I like Leigh in this and her struggle with fame. How she understands it’s like the third person in her relationships and how tired she is from all of it. Her escape to the island is for her to reboot her life. Maybe make a decision not involving her mother. At first Will rubbed me the wrong way but that is the point. He is tactless and you know from the start he has thoughts of selling Leigh out to the tabloids. But his feelings for her quickly changed as my feelings for him changed as well. He is a good guy. A beach bum of sorts, who is very close with his father and wants to buy property so his father can retire and live with him.

While I think Leigh and Will have a nice relationship, and a sexy one at times, I wasn’t convinced that they really knew each other all that well to fall in love. I’m always cynical with love at first sight, or just love in a matter of one week. Especially when actions occur that could make you distrust the other person. As it turns out, someone does sell out Leigh to the gossip magazines, but it wasn’t Will. But she blames him and then he feels guilty because of his original thoughts of selling her out. It all seemed so forced. I mean, when Will wanted to sell her information ,he didn’t know her at all. Once he met her and hung out with her for a day, he did a 180 and realized it was the wrong thing to do. So what’s the big deal? Leigh freaks out and Will feels guilt and the predictable fight occurs. Just wasn’t’ a fan of how that all turned out.

I really enjoyed the setting and otherwise it’s a nice runaway bride story. Just needed more time for the actual love to develop and less forced conflict.

Rating: C+

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