Blurb: Lottie just knows that her boyfriend is going to propose, but then his big question involves a trip abroad — not a trip down the aisle. Completely crushed, Lottie reconnects with an old flame, and they decide to take drastic action. No dates, no moving in together, they’ll just get married . . . right now. Her sister, Fliss, thinks Lottie is making a terrible mistake, and will do anything to stop her. But Lottie is determined to say “I do,” for better, or for worse.
When I pre-ordered the book back in April, I was having high hopes for another round of Kinsella’s frolicsome adventures. I mean, when I read her previous standalone, I’ve Got Your Number, which was released on Valentine’s Day last year, I consumed all 448 pages within less than 48 hours. I was hooked – as I’ve always been to her novels after Madeleine Wickham decided to get herself a pseudonym. Wedding Night was nothing short of a fun ride, but the plot was unexpectedly weak.
It all began when 33-year-old Lottie mistakenly thought that Richard, her boyfriend of three years, was about to propose during their fancy lunch at the Savoy. She even bought him an engagement ring. After having long-term boyfriends in the past who are downright commitment-phobic (the very mention of “marriage” scares them away), Lottie just knew Richard was The One. Of course, miss Daisy-doo was utterly crushed when she found that Richard’s ‘big question’ was not about getting engaged, but whether she’d agree to have a trip abroad together, which, by itself, is already a major milestone to any serious relationship.
So she dumped him.
Suddenly single again, Lottie got in touch with her one-time summer love, Ben, who reminded her of their pact to get married if they’re still single at thirty. Memories of teenage love and endless sex flooded both minds. Without giving the absurd idea much thought, Lottie and Ben jumped straight to the altar and jet off to Ikonos for their much-anticipated honeymoon. The Greek island was where they first met, and to make up for the lost fifteen years since they last crossed paths, they waited till they’ve landed on the island to have the most incredible sex of their lives, or, in their words, “to consummate our marriage” through one steamy wedding night. Little did they know each of them are at a terrible place in their individual lives, and their closest peeps know better than to let them run along in such a hasty marriage.
Two self-proclaimed control freaks are determined to go very, very far for their loved ones: Lottie’s elder sister, Fliss, who always manage to talk Lottie out of her crazy post-breakup Unfortunate Choices (including tattoos and joining a cult), and Ben’s longtime friend and business colleague, Lorcan, who has spent the last four years helping Ben stay out of trouble in his career.
How will the wedding night unfold? And what happens to Richard? Guess you have to find out for yourselves. I’m not spoiling.
I trail away into silence. I’ve just shared details of my condom use with my son’s teacher. I’m not sure how that happened. Fliss
I thought that switching first-person narratives of Lottie and Fliss in alternate chapters was fun. It was a fresh element to Kinsella’s novels. I got to put myself into the sisters’ heads during the same situation, even though they’re very much alike and both resonate with the bubbly-clumsy female protagonists of Sophie Kinsella. However, I also felt that there’s a slight disadvantage to this narrative structure: The main characters, i.e. the sisters, did not turn out as memorable as those in her other books. I sympathize with Lottie’s mishaps as much as Fliss’s hellish divorce, but by the end of the book, it dawned on me that the whole plot, though comical as ever, is less believable than the ones I’ve enjoyed on her other books. Though characters didn’t fall flat, I thought they can be developed further to advance the story in a steadier, more natural pace.
I also felt that the conclusion was a bit rushed. By the end of the book, some of the characters are left hanging even though I still care whatever happen to them in the end. The main characters, however, have grown so much from where they began, but I felt that the pacing from Chapter 30 onward was like a sprint: They pick up on their new epiphanies very quickly, and change the major courses of their lives in what felt like an instant.
Despite the rushed ending, I flipped more than half of the book last night without pause, and that’s what I love about Kinsella: Her writing style is so easy to follow that you can’t help but tag along with these characters. Man, her characters. They’re always so relatable, like the dumb women we become when we are in love. Taking aside the abrupt ending, I’d recommend Wedding Night as a light beach read and for its hilarious condom jokes ;)
Love, Stace
