Title: The Wedding War
Author: Liz Talley
Publication Date: 21 April 2020
Genre: Women’s Fiction/Romance/Contemporary
Number of Pages: 332
Summary: From Goodreads: “Once upon a time, Melanie Layton and Tennyson O’Rourke were inseparable—but their friends-4ever promises were shattered when an explosive secret was revealed at Mel’s wedding, a secret that destroyed her family. The two haven’t spoken for the past twenty some odd years, and they’d be happy if they never crossed paths again.
But now Mel’s daughter and Teeny’s son have fallen in love—and announced their engagement.
Which means the two women must tolerate one another and play nice long enough to plan their children’s dream wedding. From the beginning, they clash. Melanie imagines a classy, elegant event, in keeping with tradition. Teeny’s vision is a bit more extravagant, and thanks to her habit of marrying well, she’s got the cash to plan the flashiest wedding of the season.
Complicating matters are the men in their lives: Tennyson is falling for the wrong guy, and Melanie is trying to hold on to a flailing marriage. Amid the flurry of cake tastings, dress fittings, seating charts, and bridal showers, Mel and Teeny confront their past mistakes—with twenty years of pent-up drama.
When the day of the wedding finally arrives, their friendship might just be something old and something new.”
Review: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher (Montlake Romance) through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
The Wedding War starts out in 1985 when pre-teen Melanie and Tennyson are meeting in their emergency rendezvous spot. The reason for the meeting is because Melanie found a box with something in it, and the two girls don’t know what to do with the secret they uncovered. The book then jumps forward to the present day, and Melanie and Tennyson hate each other because Tennyson revealed the secret at Melanie’s wedding. Unfortunately for Melanie and Tennyson, their children have fallen in love and are getting married, and they’re going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on.
My favourite thing about this book is how fun it was to read. There was so much drama in this book, and I was tempted to make some popcorn to snack on while it all played out. Weddings, in general, tend to be a bit dramatic, especially when there are competing opinions, but the wedding in this book took drama to a whole new level. This book threw some drama into every aspect of the wedding, and I loved it.
The other thing I liked about this book was the character development. Modern-day Tennyson is incredibly wealthy and very self-centred. She wants people to pay attention to her, and she likes to be over the top. Modern-day Melanie has turned into the person that everyone relies upon, and she never does anything for herself anymore. As these two characters are forced into each other’s life again, Tennyson is brought more down the earth, and Melanie starts to break out of her shell. The two characters balance each other out, and I loved reading about it.
I want to take a minute to talk about the romantic relationships in this book. I loved Tennyson’s relationship with “Hot Cop” aka Joseph. I was thoroughly amused by their relationship at the beginning, and I thought they made a great pair. I felt bad for Melanie as she dealt with the realization that her husband, Kit, was more interested in someone younger than her. Every time Charlotte made an appearance, I wanted to scream at Kit for making a poor decision.
The other thing I liked about this book is that there was a bit of a mystery going on. In the beginning, we know that Melanie and Tennyson found a box and inside of this box was a secret that ended up destroying Melanie and Tennyson’s relationship. Throughout the book, glimpses are given as to what was inside of the box and what Tennyson did, but the full story isn’t revealed until closer to the end. These little glimpses made me want to keep reading because I desperately wanted to know what happened.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was full of drama and laughs, and it was a lot of fun to read. I liked that this book was about friendship and healing the past and that the romance was just a subplot. I do want to throw in a few content warnings though for people who are thinking of picking up this book. There is a side character who has an eating disorder, there is also mention of someone committing suicide in the past, and someone having an abortion in the past.
Rating: 4 Stars!
I love a book that’s fun to read – Great review.
Thanks! 💜