Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella
Releases: April 23, 2013
Contemporary Romance
Bantam

Reviewed by May 

This is the story of two sisters, told from their points of view about this one crazy month where they both ended up in Greece. Lottie is the younger sister, full of hopes and dreams and desperately in love with her boyfriend. Fliss, the elder sister is a recently divorced mother of one who can’t help but be a bit bitter. She is a travel editor and she’s amazing at her job, she loves her son, she adores her sister, but she is realistic about life and expectations. She also knows without a doubt that Lottie is up to trouble and must be helped.

The story is in the journey, not the destination and with this novel Sophie Kinsella reminds us why she remains one of the top authors of women’s fiction. Wedding night is hilarious, uplifting, charming, and everything I could ever ask for in a Kinsella novel. Her characters are so relatable and have such personality that you can truly envision them as they embark upon the series of hilarious incidents and memorable moments that fill the pages of this book.

Prone to “unfortunate choices” after breakups with her boyfriends, Lottie has gotten back together quite suddenly with her first love. Deciding it will be romantic and cure all their problems, the couple decides not only to wait until marriage for sex, but they head off to Greece where they first met in order to consummate their relationship.

“My love life has been a disaster. It’s followed the same old pattern, with man after man. Sex. Love. No marriage. Over and over. Well, now I have a chance to do it differently! I’m reversing the strategy! Love. Marriage. Sex!”

Are they right and this rekindled love is meant to be? Is it all a mistake? What will Fliss learn along the way as she takes off to follow them to the resort?

Fliss was easy for me to fall in love with.

“Our motto is: make love, not vows.”

She’s been burned, and her ex-husband really is a douche and she has a son to think of and has always been the responsible one. So as she tries so hard to protect her little sister it was nice to see her have some chemistry with Lorcan (who is divorced himself)…

Lorcan thinks for a moment, sipping his drink. “The more I think back over the last few years,” he says slowly, “the less I feel I know about marriage. Sex, on the other hand, I would hope I’ve nailed.”

The gin has gone straight to my head. I can feel it buzzing around, loosening my tongue.

“I’m sure you have,” I hear myself saying.

The air seems to thicken in the silence. A little too late, I realize I’ve just told a total stranger that I’m sure he’s good in bed. Do I backtrack? Qualify in some way?

Fliss needs to work past her divorce and the pain she is holding on to with it, she needs to find new hope and happiness in life, and most of all she needs to have a bit more faith in Lottie.

Oh and Lottie. The dreamer, the romantic. The ideas she comes up with that I’m sure many of us think of, she just doesn’t always think them all the way through before acting, and she doesn’t act on all of them thank goodness.

Maybe I should go to some hard-core boot camp. Everyone says running changes their life and gives them a new outlook I should go to some retreat where all you do is run and drink isotonic drinks. In the mountains. Or the desert. Something really tough and challenging.

Or do Iron Woman. Yes.

I loved Lottie for her spirit and sense of adventure, how she’d get an idea and go for it. More than that though, this is a woman who has a steady job that she is good at, who is smart and capable too. She’s not an idiot or an airhead, she just dreams big and I loved that about her.

I will not share my favorite funny moments because I believe doing so could spoil the book, as so much of it is not just a funny bit, but things that develop and happen because of previous events. I love this about Kinsella, that she can tuck details into her novels and later, maybe when you have forgotten, they come back to get a big laugh. If I have one complaint, it is that as a romance reader I’m always wishing Kinsella’s romances were a bit, well, more. Her books are always very female character focused, and while I love that about her it can also lead to a weaker romance because it is not a primary plot focus. Not that it should or needs to be, I’m just mentioning that as a primarily romance reader I sometimes feel unsatisfied by her style of big gestures and very few moments of the couple actually being together.

What was so incredible about this book, indeed what is so great about Kinsella’s best novels, is that I laughed the whole way through. The awkward situations and silly moments abounded throughout and I found myself giggling from start to finish. And yet, as I turned that last page despite all the humor and funny twists I also had fallen in love with Lottie and Fliss, the sisters who once upon a time had a series of events cause them both to have the adventure of a lifetime, and find love in the process. This book will be placed firmly on my Kinsella favorites shelf – it truly was delightful.

Grade: A

Recent Reviews:
Maji Bookshelf – 4/5
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