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I love everything from Stacey Ballis so without a doubt, I put this in my 'To Read' shelf without even knowing what the premise is.
It started off quite promising, about a jilted bride. But then slowly but surely it has so many cliches, moments where everything falls into place conveniently and coincidentally. However, I still enjoy it immensely. I already saw the ending coming, though it's bad the author didn't give more elaborate explanation about it. 3 stars from me!
It started off quite promising, about a jilted bride. But then slowly but surely it has so many cliches, moments where everything falls into place conveniently and coincidentally. However, I still enjoy it immensely. I already saw the ending coming, though it's bad the author didn't give more elaborate explanation about it. 3 stars from me!
This is more of a 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 stars book. I liked this much better than I thought I would. I am usually not a fan of books themed around 'weddings' it's just too blech for me. Stacey Ballis continues to be one of my favorite Chicago writers. She is dependable for a strong story with lots of interesting characters set all over my city. I love reading about people and places I actually know. It was a little too much 'Shop Around the Corner/You've Got Mail' for my taste but it was a nice Chicago update on that story. I also like that she was able to weave in a few characters from past books.
My sister gave me this book to read and (after putting up a bit of a fight because I thought it would be too fluffy) I really enjoyed it! A foodie novel to be sure, it's also a page-turner.
Review:
After Sophie is left at the alter of the perfectly expensive wedding of her dreams, she moves in with her octogenarian grandmother Bubbles to figure out her next move. A random job offer from the owner of her favorite childhood bakery proves to be just what she needs but doesn't offer enough in the way of money to pay of the wedding debt. A new friend creates WeddingGirl.com, where Sophie gets paid for dispensing really great wedding advice anonymously. (From the back of the book): But with the arrival of unexpected personal and professional twists, Sophie wonders if she's really moving forward-or starting over from scratch.
Review:
After Sophie is left at the alter of the perfectly expensive wedding of her dreams, she moves in with her octogenarian grandmother Bubbles to figure out her next move. A random job offer from the owner of her favorite childhood bakery proves to be just what she needs but doesn't offer enough in the way of money to pay of the wedding debt. A new friend creates WeddingGirl.com, where Sophie gets paid for dispensing really great wedding advice anonymously. (From the back of the book): But with the arrival of unexpected personal and professional twists, Sophie wonders if she's really moving forward-or starting over from scratch.
This is a fun (if incredibly predictable) read that definitely lives up to the tagline’s promise of it being a variation on the classic Hollywood You’ve got mail storyline. This is actually a brilliant coup because each chapter is named after a classic movie and has a few choice lines from it to start things off.
The book is full of pleasant little details like that and it helps set it apart from the many other stories that use the same basic premise.
I will admit that I had a little trouble getting into the story in the beginning because I couldn’t believe someone would spend so much money on a lavish wedding. I’m anti lavish weddings in general, so I went into the first few chapters disliking Sophie on principle. It’s a testament to how engaging Ballis’ writing is and how well she crafts a character that I fell in love with Sophie just a short amount of pages later. That is what Ballis does best, she populates her story with characters that are just this side of being over-the-top but remain infinitely relatable. It makes being able to suss out pretty much every major plot revelation well in advance not seem like a bad thing; you’re so caught up in the characters that you’re just looking forward to how they’ll react not what they go thru.
Do be warned that it goes into excruciating detail every time any kind of food is mentioned, so if you’re not a person who enjoys reading 6 lines on how to get a perfect piece of fondant ready, it might seem like a chore to get thru some parts of the story. If, on the other hand, you’re a fan of foodie fiction, then this book is going to have you drooling.
Another excellent detail is that some of the recipes that were so carefully described and detailed in the story are included in the back. The chocolate babka in particular is something that I can’t wait to try out.
The book is full of pleasant little details like that and it helps set it apart from the many other stories that use the same basic premise.
I will admit that I had a little trouble getting into the story in the beginning because I couldn’t believe someone would spend so much money on a lavish wedding. I’m anti lavish weddings in general, so I went into the first few chapters disliking Sophie on principle. It’s a testament to how engaging Ballis’ writing is and how well she crafts a character that I fell in love with Sophie just a short amount of pages later. That is what Ballis does best, she populates her story with characters that are just this side of being over-the-top but remain infinitely relatable. It makes being able to suss out pretty much every major plot revelation well in advance not seem like a bad thing; you’re so caught up in the characters that you’re just looking forward to how they’ll react not what they go thru.
Do be warned that it goes into excruciating detail every time any kind of food is mentioned, so if you’re not a person who enjoys reading 6 lines on how to get a perfect piece of fondant ready, it might seem like a chore to get thru some parts of the story. If, on the other hand, you’re a fan of foodie fiction, then this book is going to have you drooling.
Another excellent detail is that some of the recipes that were so carefully described and detailed in the story are included in the back. The chocolate babka in particular is something that I can’t wait to try out.
Absolutely adored this book! I received a copy through Penguin's First to Read. Part You've Got Mail, part Janet Evanovich, part Joanne Fluke. Such a fun, light read, I could not put it down!
This is ideal chick lit. Sophie is left at the altar, moves in with her grandmother, and starts working at a local neighborhood bakery. On the side, to help pay for her wedding debt, she starts giving wedding advice on the Internet.
The characters are well rounded, the various businesses are handled realistically (though I continue to wonder whether she paid taxes on that Wedding Girl income), there are multiple storylines that are given depth. Various plot points aren't a surprise, but it's still done well enough to be enjoyable. In particular, Sophie's choices about what she wanted to do with her career weren't telegraphed.
Other than Ballis's odd relationship with contractions--I frequently stumbled over her using "it is" instead of "it's"--this was fantastic. Was it a bit contrived? Of course it was, but in a completely charming way. I didn't want to put this book down, and am almost reluctant to try another Ballis book because I enjoyed this one so much.
The characters are well rounded, the various businesses are handled realistically (though I continue to wonder whether she paid taxes on that Wedding Girl income), there are multiple storylines that are given depth. Various plot points aren't a surprise, but it's still done well enough to be enjoyable.
Spoiler
I was glad that Sophie started to wonder whether Jake and Mark were the same person; readers will call it pretty immediately, but I feel that it's rare for the actual characters to have these thoughts.Spoiler
The offers of taking over Herman's shop and working for MarySue (or whatever her name was) both looked like plausible options. The offer of the hotel position did make the most sense, and the groundwork had been laid for it, but it was good to see Sophie having multiple, realistic opportunities to choose from.Other than Ballis's odd relationship with contractions--I frequently stumbled over her using "it is" instead of "it's"--this was fantastic. Was it a bit contrived? Of course it was, but in a completely charming way. I didn't want to put this book down, and am almost reluctant to try another Ballis book because I enjoyed this one so much.
Fun chick lit. I loved that the main character was overweight and fine with it - and so were the men in her life. I was bracing myself for the "then she gets thin and finds true happiness" b.s., but it didn't happen - such a relief!
Please note that I gave this book 4.5 stars, but rounded up to 5 stars on Goodreads.
Don't read this book if you are even a little bit hungry. I know that previous Ballis books often incorporate cooking/baking into the plot, but this is the first one that actually made me hungry while reading. I am going to give Ballis a little bit grief though, everyone of her books except for one I think stars a women who is a certain size, with brown hair, and is usually Jewish. All of these books I think except for two that I can think of take place in Chicago too. I know a writer writes what they know, but it be nice to see her change it up in future books.
The main character in "Wedding Girl" is Sophie Bernstein. Sophie is a top pastry chef at a hot Chicago restaurant. Excited that she is about to be married to her long-time boyfriend Dexter (never trust a man named Dexter) and open a restaurant together, she thinks that her life is turning out perfect.
Though Sophie has spent thousands of dollars she can't afford on their special day, she knows that when Dexter gets access to his trust fund everything will be a-okay. Until Dexter runs off with another woman, and Sophie finds out minutes before her ceremony is about to start. Cue 9 months later when Sophie is at her lowest and is forced to move back in with her grandmother Bubbles.
I felt for Sophie. She looks back on her relationship with Dexter and realizes that he wasn't right for her. But man oh man I wanted something shitty to happen to him while I was reading this book. I am all about the vengeance. I have to give it to Ballis though, it would have been easy to write Dexter as coming crawling back to Sophie, but instead his life is great and he doesn't seem to give a crap about her (he sucks).
Though I did feel for Sophie, I also could see why her two best friends Jean and Ruth gave her a firm kick in the pants about moving on. Sophie wallowed and it cost her everything.
Though Sophie wants to run and hide, she decides to take a job at the local bakery near her grandmother's house and does what she can to help out the owner when it becomes clear a new bakery is coming to the neighborhood. And after a customer comes in looking for Sophie to bake her a wedding cake, Sophie befriends the woman and ends up getting into another business that she hopes can help pay down her debt (anonymous advice giver concerning weddings). Due to this, Sophie ends up "meeting" someone named Jake online and starts to write emails back and forth to him through the book, culminating with them finally meeting in the end.
I thought all of the other characters in this book were hilarious and funny. Sophie's grandmother has a dog named Snatch and does not seem to understand why naming the dog and screaming where's my Snatch out loud may be a problem.
Also Sophie's two hippie parents finally decide to settle down after coming into money which turns her mother into a slightly insane person and her father trying to do his best to hide out.
There are also really hilarious scenes in this book. One of my favorites shows Sophie's friend Jean with her new girlfriend and Sophie and Ruth attending a surprise party and I died. I mean seriously. I re-read that whole scene about 10 times because it was so well done that I cracked up. I don't think that I laughed through a Ballis book this much before and I laughed almost the whole way through this one.
I thought the writing was really great in this one. And I love that Ballis incorporated famous lines said in romantic black and white movies. I love, love, love, old movies and it was nice to see how they played into the overall theme of the book.
I do think that the flow could have been just a bit better. There were just a few times that the book slowed down for me and I felt like I was just trudging along.
The setting of Chicago is once again excellently captured in this book. Ballis lives there and it shows based on the way neighborhoods and buildings are described.
I did think the ending was a bit abrupt, but it ended like a very old black and white movie. I could actually picture end credits with the hero and heroine in each other's arms kissing.
Don't read this book if you are even a little bit hungry. I know that previous Ballis books often incorporate cooking/baking into the plot, but this is the first one that actually made me hungry while reading. I am going to give Ballis a little bit grief though, everyone of her books except for one I think stars a women who is a certain size, with brown hair, and is usually Jewish. All of these books I think except for two that I can think of take place in Chicago too. I know a writer writes what they know, but it be nice to see her change it up in future books.
The main character in "Wedding Girl" is Sophie Bernstein. Sophie is a top pastry chef at a hot Chicago restaurant. Excited that she is about to be married to her long-time boyfriend Dexter (never trust a man named Dexter) and open a restaurant together, she thinks that her life is turning out perfect.
Though Sophie has spent thousands of dollars she can't afford on their special day, she knows that when Dexter gets access to his trust fund everything will be a-okay. Until Dexter runs off with another woman, and Sophie finds out minutes before her ceremony is about to start. Cue 9 months later when Sophie is at her lowest and is forced to move back in with her grandmother Bubbles.
I felt for Sophie. She looks back on her relationship with Dexter and realizes that he wasn't right for her. But man oh man I wanted something shitty to happen to him while I was reading this book. I am all about the vengeance. I have to give it to Ballis though, it would have been easy to write Dexter as coming crawling back to Sophie, but instead his life is great and he doesn't seem to give a crap about her (he sucks).
Though I did feel for Sophie, I also could see why her two best friends Jean and Ruth gave her a firm kick in the pants about moving on. Sophie wallowed and it cost her everything.
Though Sophie wants to run and hide, she decides to take a job at the local bakery near her grandmother's house and does what she can to help out the owner when it becomes clear a new bakery is coming to the neighborhood. And after a customer comes in looking for Sophie to bake her a wedding cake, Sophie befriends the woman and ends up getting into another business that she hopes can help pay down her debt (anonymous advice giver concerning weddings). Due to this, Sophie ends up "meeting" someone named Jake online and starts to write emails back and forth to him through the book, culminating with them finally meeting in the end.
I thought all of the other characters in this book were hilarious and funny. Sophie's grandmother has a dog named Snatch and does not seem to understand why naming the dog and screaming where's my Snatch out loud may be a problem.
Also Sophie's two hippie parents finally decide to settle down after coming into money which turns her mother into a slightly insane person and her father trying to do his best to hide out.
There are also really hilarious scenes in this book. One of my favorites shows Sophie's friend Jean with her new girlfriend and Sophie and Ruth attending a surprise party and I died. I mean seriously. I re-read that whole scene about 10 times because it was so well done that I cracked up. I don't think that I laughed through a Ballis book this much before and I laughed almost the whole way through this one.
I thought the writing was really great in this one. And I love that Ballis incorporated famous lines said in romantic black and white movies. I love, love, love, old movies and it was nice to see how they played into the overall theme of the book.
I do think that the flow could have been just a bit better. There were just a few times that the book slowed down for me and I felt like I was just trudging along.
The setting of Chicago is once again excellently captured in this book. Ballis lives there and it shows based on the way neighborhoods and buildings are described.
I did think the ending was a bit abrupt, but it ended like a very old black and white movie. I could actually picture end credits with the hero and heroine in each other's arms kissing.
A fun re-telling of You've Got Mail/The Shop Around the Corner with food. Lots and lots and lots of food.