Amanda’s Wedding by Jenny Colgan
Melanie and Fran are two endearingly wisecracking young Londoners who find it impossible to believe that their former classmate Amanda, Satan’s own PR representative, was able to marry a laird (Scottish for lord). All the social-climbing queen of preen cares about is the title she’ll soon hold; she couldn’t care less that Fraser McConnel has been rocking the same worn-out Converse sneakers for years or that his castle is actually a pile of rubble. By the wedding, she had Fraser, and she had no plans to let go. Since Mel and Fran are still resentful of Amanda’s nefarious activities from their school days, they team together with Fraser’s lovely younger brother Angus to thwart the mismatch of the century. Gentle, nice Fraser is absolutely ignorant of Amanda’s tricks.
Mel will break some hearts and win over readers by the score as she deals with a love-crazed accountant, a ne’er-do-well rockstar who wants to be boyfriend, Fran’s deadly antics with the other sex, finding herself at the centre of a bachelor party controversy, drinking a lot of alcohol, and hurling out hilarious barbs that would make Oscar Wilde proud. All of the readers are sure to enjoy the mayhem.
Amanda's Wedding by Jenny Colgan
Amazon.com
It has a narrative, exciting suspense, laugh-out-loud humour, cutting social satire, a delightfully self-deprecating protagonist, and you’re not even sure what’s going to happen at the conclusion (and that is a major achievement in chick-lit).
Although the main character is clever and not entirely pathetic, she exhibits the same traits of poor self-esteem and apparent underachievement as other chick-lit heroines. In fact, she was brave enough to win my approval, which is a feat considering that I typically read chick-lit while anticipating the wretched suffering of the whiny, men-obsessed, shoe-loving bimbo who serves as the heroine.
Despite her somewhat inconsistent writing, Jenny Colgan is undoubtedly one of the top authors of chick-lit today. The best wedding is Amanda’s.
So far, one of the best books I’ve ever read is Amanda’s Wedding. Lighthearted, simple to read, eccentric, and hysterically humorous. Mel is divine and makes me think of so many of my friends and myself. A nice book to bring on vacation is this one.
