I'm continuously surprised at how much I enjoy these books. For one, they're chick-lit, which I don't read much of and generally find insipid and insulting. They're about a woman who is obsessed with shopping, something we really don't have in common. Whenever she buys something (which is often, and usually something she really doesn't need), I cringe. Her debts make me anxious. Her silly lies and cover-ups give me acid burn. The situations she gets herself into, the many times she lets people steamroll her, frustrate me. And yet, and yet...
Becky Bloomwood is an engaging character, perhaps because of her flaws. She's oddly vulnerable, and genuinely nice. She's way more polite than I am, the way she always finds something nice to say to people so as not to hurt their feelings instead of being brutally honest - I admire her for that, since it's a skill I've never been good at. The downside is that it puts her in situations she can't politely get out of. In this case, it's two weddings. Now engaged to Luke, both her mother and Luke's mother are planning weddings - for the same day, in different countries. Becky can't seem to say no to either woman; one because it would break her heart, the other because she'd just be ignored.
The wedding Luke's mother, Elinor, is planning is a huge, hugely expensive and over-the-top affair at the Plaza in New York. Everyone's talking about it. The wedding planner, Robyn, is an unstoppable force, and even though Elinor is paying, Becky learns that to pull out she'd have to pay Robyn $100,000.
On top of that, when she finally summons the courage to tell Luke her problem, he has a mid-life crisis over his mother and career and Becky is left to figure out a miracle. How to make Luke better, and go through two weddings without anyone realising another wedding ever existed?
I didn't think Becky would be able to solve this one, I really didn't. Well, I learnt to have more faith in her. She does that, you know. Makes things an even bigger mess than they ever needed to be, and then at the last minute, finds a way to fix it all.
These books power along with barely a moment to catch your breath; along the way there's laughter and some subtle digs - in this case, at the wedding industry. It also pokes fun at the daggy home wedding, and it's this irreverent British humour that appeals to me. I'm much more comfortable with it than the American kind, to be honest. I understood it. The Becky Bloomwood novels are similar to Bridget Jones' Diary, which I loved - book and movie. They both have the same flaw though: the male love interest is too much a side-dish. I believe Becky and Luke love each other, and in this book especially we get to understand Luke better. But it seems sometimes like he doesn't really know Becky. At times he clearly knows her very well and reads behind her silly assertions, and I like that he gets more amused than pissed off by her frivolous spending habits. But it bothered me that he was so absent. I don't care for men who leave the planning of their own wedding entirely in the hands of the bride - it's inconsiderate, and a man who takes no interest in the wedding, no matter how small, seems like a man disinterested in being married. BUT, I believe Luke wanted to marry Becky, and I understood that he has issues with his mother that took over. So I'm willing to forgive. I just don't like that Becky couldn't talk to him, didn't want to burden him with her own problems, and had no one to turn to. Communication is so important in a relationship, and I hated all her cover-ups and denials. Sometimes I just want to shake her!