Title: It Started With Paris
Author: Cathy Kelly
Published: August 4, 2015 by Grand Central
Pages: 464
Source: Grand Central Publishing
Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads
It all started with Paris. At the top of the Eiffel Tower, a young man proposes to his girlfriend. In that second, everything changes, not just for the happy couple, but for the family and friends awaiting their return in Ireland.
Leila's been nursing a broken heart since her husband suddenly left her, but she's determined to put on a brave face for the bride. Vonnie, a widow, has finally dared to let love back into her life, but a curveball arises that puts another's safety at risk. And Grace, a school principal, finds that her son's impending union brings her ex-husband back into her daily life, and starts to ponder past decisions and wonder if her divorce was in fact a mistake.
As these three women gather around the young couple to prepare for the wedding, they'll each have to address their own demons and find a way to move forward, whatever the cost.
My review:
This was a very clever concept for a book. The prologue has the engagement, then we follow people who are related in some way with the impending wedding, but who don't necessarily know each other. It takes a while to get into the swing of this book because there are a boatload of characters thrown out at the beginning. I think maybe because of the nature of the clever concept I spoke of, we end up having a lot of secondary characters that need sifting through. Once it settles down, there are 3 main storylines......the bride's best friend, the groom's mother, and the cake decorator. We then switch back and forth between their stories. I enjoyed all the stories, and went back and forth during the book about which person I liked the most at any given point. They were three diverse stories, so I think there is something for everyone to relate to. There was a nice flow to the story once we got over all the character introductions. It really came together with a nice ending, which of course was the wedding.
An enjoyable read with a different concept, do not be discouraged by all the characters thrown out at the beginning.
It can be difficult when there are a lot of characters, I usually end up with post it notes to keep track until I have them all clear in my head. Sounds good story, never read Cathy Kelly.
I like these books with the different stories leading them all together. It's like that movie Love, Actually.
It was kind of fun to see how they all meshed. Thanks for stopping by.