Once Upon a Bride
A Novel
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Can love, romance, and marriage really be better the second time around? That’s what four best friends are about to find out in Jean Stone’s sexy, smart, and poignantly funny new novel about saying “I do” all over again.
It’s an idea just crazy enough to work–a wedding-planning business tailored for second weddings run by four single best friends who’ve loved, who’ve lost, and who are ready to start again. A successful Boston publicist, Jo Lyons has returned to West Hope after a devastating breakup left her career and her heart broken. Now she’ll try to pick up the pieces among the three women she knows best. Lily, the fun-loving, free-spirited eternal optimist. Sarah, the strong-willed unconventional artist. Elaine, the would-be domestic diva. It’s Elaine’s upcoming second marriage that will be the inspiration and test model for their new business, Second Chances. For Jo it just may be an unexpected second chance of a different, far more romantic kind, but only if she’s willing to give love–and life–another try.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Unconvincing plot twists and unnecessary deception sabotage what starts as a promising tale of romance. When they gather in the Berkshires to help plan their friend Elaine's wedding, old pals Jo, Sarah and Lily savvy middle-aged women all are inspired to start Second Chances, a wedding planning business specializing in second marriages. Meanwhile, writer and single dad Andrew Kennedy is having trouble finding material for his magazine column about women. He answers Second Chances' ad for a receptionist under an assumed name, passing himself off as gay to encourage the women to confide honestly in him. Not surprisingly, his deception has problematic consequences: he's attracted to Jo, and the business's media forays threaten to expose his real identity. Many of the women have secrets as well; when the business hits a snag and the stakes, both personal and professional, rise, each is forced to decide how and whether to come clean. Though Stone (Beach Roses) plays both to a national obsession and a baby-boomer audience, everyone in the book is either a blatant liar or a dupe or both. The lack of real development in Andrew and Jo's relationship is also likely to leave readers feeling unsatisfied.
