Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella
To fully escape from everyday life and feel the heat of this Greek honeymoon novel took me a while I have to admit. Though, this could have been due to the fact that I have read A LOT of books during the summer and nothing to do with the obviously brilliant writing style of Sophie Kinsella.
The novel divides itself by covering the lives of two sisters, Lottie and Fliss. Lottie being the thirty-something-year old woman who is desperate to get hitched to her partner Richard. When Richard doesn't match Lottie's passion for marriage, their relationship comes to a sudden end and she is quick to resume a fling she once had as a teen. However, so that Lottie doesn't repeat her usual pattern of relationships, she lays down a 'no sex before marriage' law with Ben (the man she suddenly gets engaged to after a 15 year separation). Her wedding night (clichéd), hence the title of the book, seems the best way to bring her longly awaited romantic fantasies to life, not to her sister's liking.
Fliss, on the other hand, is in the process of getting divorced with the difficulty of keeping things civil in order to protect her son from emotional damage, but due to the phrases he comes out with, he clearly already is. Fliss obviously isn't impressed with her sister's impulse antics and takes on the lovely task of stalling the wedding. When this fails, she embarks on a journey of stopping Ben and Lottie from consummating their marriage so that an annulment is possible. Who really knows this stuff?? But of course, Fliss does. I do feel the way this is gone about is somewhat unrealistic, who really poisons their own sister potentially killing her just so they don't have sex?! I certainly wouldn't even dream of spiking my own sister's drink with whiskey let alone giving her something she is allergic to! I do find myself getting slightly pissed off with the many members of staff at the Greek hotel, where Ben and Lottie are having their nightmare-moon, who are constantly offering their drink pouring skills who are also trying to stall their wedding night under the control of Fliss. Although, some restaurants could learn a thing or two about customer service from this novel!
It does seem that I am criticising this book a lot which I guess I am in a way but this is because I was somewhat disappointed with this novel as Kinsella's Shopaholic books are simply genius and are by far my favourite books of all time. However, there are many extremely entertaining scenarios in Wedding Night such as a hilarious yet kind of disgusting incident of trying to consummate marriage in an airport toilet. Hmmm... can really see the appeal there Lottie... not. I am a sucker for a happy ending though and this book doesn't fail to bring this. Lottie is greeted by ex Richard on the sexless island of Greece and it is hinted that Fliss ends up dating Ben's best friend Lorcan who joined Fliss on her travels (he also doesn't approve of the 'wedding in a dash').
This story did capture my heart (after allowing myself the time to read several chapters one after another) with the reality of emotions (not the plot) the characters went through. Every girl dreams of their wedding day and curiously wonders whether their current partner/boyfriend will ever be The One, which made character Lottie seem like an extension of myself. After this discovery, I was completely hooked (even though the plot at times is downright silly). With that I could practically taste the Moussaka which I have to admit was a welcoming surprise.
I'm not sure that this would win but this has made it as a post on Britain's Next Top Novel.
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