Four Bridesmaids and a White Wedding by Fiona Collins

I just can’t seem to get away from my British Chick Lit obsession and Fiona Collins is the recipient of today’s installment. Friendship, family, futures and finding yourself in your near forties is the theme of today’s title

Four Bridesmaids and a White Wedding

Rose, JoJo, Sal and Wendy have been friends for decades: meeting their freshman year at University, while the calls and visits may have slowed as they pursued their own adult lives, their connection has always been strong. Now, the colorful and boisterous bestie Wendy is due to wed in a rather whirlwind romance, and the girls are coming together for the hen weekend to end all, away at a resort for pampering, posh surroundings and a real catch up.

The only woman in the group of four we don’t hear about in her own voice is Wendy: see at university she was all in a relationship with Steven, and when he toddled off to Australia without a thought to her, she fell apart. And now, years later she’s found a posh solicitor (Frederick)who thinks her colorful and clashing clothes, loud personality and dancing on tables freedom is just what he wants. But she’s scared. And worried that she isn’t what he wants. And the girls are there to cheer her on, support her in her questions, and reassure her that she is making the right choice. Even when their own visions of happy ever after didn’t quite turn out how they expected.

From Sal who has a knack for finding a man, and ditching him as soon as she finds a fault to JoJo who spends her time creating bridal fantasies for everyone else, using the need to work and a failed relationship with her daughter’s father to keep her single, these two need some changes. Then there’s Rose with her 3 daughters, a husband who spends more time in Hong Kong then home, and even calls her “mate”, the bloom is off her rose as well. So everyone is in need of a supportive shoulder to lean on, a push in the right direction toward claiming something more, and a touch of silliness to reaffirm their own sense of selves. When you add in workaholic Tamsin, sister of Frederick is joining the party – her first EVER hen party – and while the girls are welcoming, there’s a sense that she and JoJo really need to prioritize themselves in their lives.

A PERFECT story for fans of chick-lit reads: each character has a story and issue to work through, and each moment comes to them differently: from learning to just enjoy the “health and fitness” schedule that was mistakenly booked instead of the pamper they expected, to getting giggly over a poorly led meditation session and horribly inappropriate yet required ‘uniforms’ the women grumble and giggle their way through the moments, reaffirming their own connections and banding together to keep the bride on track. Deceptively deep as the issues and concerns are real with all of them, the pure honeyed tones of humor, love and acceptance, bolstered by the desire to change and have lives more in line with their younger and idealistic selves, you can’t help but worry, smile, and laugh out loud.

Four Bridesmaids and a White Wedding by Fiona Collins

Title: Four Bridesmaids and a White Wedding
Author: Fiona Collins
Genre: British, Contemporary Woman's Fiction
Published by: Carina UK
ISBN: 9780008211660
Published on: 28 April, 2017
Format:eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Pages: 384
Rated: five-stars

Heat:

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The hilariously uplifting new story from Fiona Collins, bestselling author of A Year of Being Single.

Don’t tell the bride!

Rose, Sal and JoJo have been looking forward to their best friend Wendy’s hen party for ages. A relaxing spa break is the perfect way to escape their crazy careers, grumpy husbands and stroppy children – even if the groom’s straight-laced sister, Tamsin, is coming too.

Until they realise that there’s been a mistake in the booking and instead of sipping prosecco in fluffy white dressing gowns they’re off to bridesmaid bootcamp!
Squeezing themselves reluctantly into tiny shorts and sliding through the mud, it’s only a matter of time before secrets emerge that could change everything…

Forget about saving the date, these four bridesmaids need to save the day – otherwise will there even be a white wedding at all?

Perfect for fans of Jane Costello, Helen Fielding and Fiona Gibson

A copy of this title was provided via Publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

About Fiona Collins

Fiona Jane Collins lives in a draughty farmhouse in the English countryside but is more high heels and handbags than wet dog and wellies.

Fiona was once a TV presenter in Hong Kong. She met George Clooney. He was really nice. She has also been an 'extra' on telly commercials and soaps (special skill: pretending to laugh uproariously in bars) a radio broadcaster (Weather and Traffic. Fiona is au fait with several junctions of the M25), a scriptwriter, a potato harvester, a waitress in a Japanese restaurant (full kimono - she looked ridiculous) and a seller of vacuum cleaners.

She currently writes at the kitchen table in six layers of jumpers and a hot chocolate-induced stupor, and enjoys evenings in front of the telly under a blanket with a bucket of chocolate and kissing her children on the cheek, especially in front of their friends.

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