Lighthearted romance is an easy way - for me - to switch off, so when Booksneeze emailed me with the possibility of a free review copy of another novella in the 'A Year of Weddings' series, I was pleased to accept. What's not to like about a free book, anyway? I had already read A January Bride and A December Bride, too, which I enjoyed.
So, this was a girl-leaves-boy-meets-boy-again story. Marcus and Allie had been a couple for years and it was a foregone conclusion that they would, in time, marry. We begin reading at their wedding - only to find Allie leaving just as she is about to walk down the aisle: literally. Wearing the dress which has been worn for many family weddings - not least, by her mother through several marriages - Allie notices a tear in the fabric. That is enough to trigger an all out panic attack and she leaves, convinced that the dress is cursed and that it would only be a matter of time before her marriage, too, would be doomed. Because 'Andrews women break hearts before theirs get broken' she believes that wearing the dress will make her ruin her own marriage, too. She loves Marcus too much to let that happen, so she walks out...
Four months of avoiding Marcus and his family later, and Allie's best friend Hannah, who also 'happens' to be Marcus' sister, gets engaged - and Allie has to be bridesmaid. Thrown together again, the romance rekindles, even though Allie is convinced that Marcus is better off without her. She is still full of fears and 'what ifs'. Dare she risk it?
If this all sounds a bit ridiculously full of convenient relationships, meetings and coincidences, well, yes it is. It was almost impossible to believe that Allie would walk out of her own wedding and not see her fiance to explain - or even send him a letter. But Betsy St Amant weaves a convincing tale which drew me in and I eagerly read on to the predictably happy-ever-after ending.
Of course. And thoroughly enjoyable.
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