The Wedding Ringer
The Wedding Ringer by Kerry Rea is $1.99! The cover gives me major Audrey Hepburn vibes and that’s probably intentional. A woman, down on her luck, agrees to be a bridesmaid for a stranger, it sounds like. I don’t have any strong affinities for weddings, but I can’t imagine needing a bridesmaid so badly that I hire one?
A woman who wants nothing to do with love or friendship finds both in the unlikeliest ways in this hilarious and heartwarming debut by Kerry Rea.
Once upon a time, Willa Callister was a successful blogger with a good credit score, actual hobbies, and legs that she shaved more than once a month. But after finding her fiancé in bed with her best friend, she now spends her days performing at children’s birthday parties in a ball gown that makes her look like a walking bottle of Pepto Bismol. Willa dreams of starting fresh, where no one knows who she used to be, but first she needs to save up enough money to make it happen.
Maisie Mitchell needs something too: another bridesmaid for her wedding. After a chance encounter at a coffee shop, Maisie offers to pay Willa to be in her bridal party. Willa wants nothing to do with weddings—or Maisie—but the money will give her the freedom to start the new life she so badly desires.
Willa’s bridesmaid duties thrust her into Maisie’s high-energy world and into the path of hotshot doctor Liam Rafferty. But as Willa and Maisie form a real friendship, and Liam’s annoyingly irresistible smile makes her reconsider her mantra that all men are trash, Willa’s exit strategy becomes way more complicated. And when a secret from Maisie’s past threatens to derail the wedding, Willa must consider whether friendship—and romance—are worth sticking around for.
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Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala is $2.99! This is book one in the cozy foodie mystery A Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series. Sarah was rather disappointed by this one and gave it C-. Did you read it? What did you think?
The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes—one that might just be killer….
When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.
With the cops treating her like she’s the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block…
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Rescue Me by Sarra Manning is 99c! I mentioned this one on a previous Book Beat. One of my romance book club members mentioned this one. At the start of every meeting, we talk about books we’ve enjoyed recently, and they listed this one!
Margot and Will cross paths at the local dog rescue centre where – after a series of misunderstandings and a lot of consternation – they agree to foster Blossom (a staffy with a giant head, soft, floppy ears and kohl-rimmed brown eyes) together: one week on, one week off.
Margot and Will don’t get off to the best of starts: he thinks Margot is demanding and needy and Just So Much. And she thinks Will is emotionally unavailable, slightly brittle and very mistrustful. They’re both right.
But the more they bicker, the worse Blossom behaves, and they realise they have to form some sort of truce in order to dog-parent (or “pawrent” as Margot calls it, to which Will rolls his eyes) her together. It’s almost as if Blossom has plans of her own…
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Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple is $2.99! This book has been recommended by so many people and has shown up in the comments. Bernadette is a contemporary mystery with a lot of humor and a very, very strong sense of place (Seattle and Microsoft culture specifically) and what is sometimes called “competence porn:” Bernadette’s profession (she’s an architect) plays a huge role in her character.
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette’s intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.
To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.
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I really liked the Wedding Ringer, especially the developing relationship between Willa and Maisie. I pre-ordered Rea’s second book on the strength of this one!
I actually know someone who had a stranger in their wedding party! See, she sent someone to the station to pick up her cousin, a bridesmaid, and they came back with a stranger who resembled the cousin — turns out this person had also been expecting a ride to a nearby place. At the same time she got a call from the cousin saying she couldn’t make it! After the bride and the not-cousin got done exclaiming and commiserating over the situation, they realized they liked each other, and she asked would the not-cousin like to stay and be part of the party? The cousin’s dress fit almost perfectly and everyone had a great time.
@Vasha: that is adorable and that story totally made my day!
I read Where’d You Go Bernadette when it first came out about 10 years ago. I’m not sure I would call it truly great, but it did give me alot of food for thought–and unlike most of what I read 10 years ago, I still have a very clear memory of it. It doesn’t fall within any specific genre, really, though I guess calling it a mystery may come closest. Definitely worth a read at this price–I’m not sure I’ve seen it on sale like this before.
I recall really enjoying the Sarra Manning book, although it dragged on a bit too much at the end. One thing I particularly appreciated was the very realistic descriptions of taking care of a dog. As a dog owner, I could really relate.
I enjoyed Rescue Me, especially the regular, not-perfect people owners. There were points in the book where I wondered how the author was going to make everything work out, which added to my enjoyment.
Totally Audrey Hepburn, but I also see a hint of Rosalind Russell around the eyes.