Digital Reads Reviews

My review

Being down with the flu, I wanted to read an extremely light feel good book, but I had a condition, the main character should not a dumb, simpering teenagery character. And I am glad to say that this book ticks all my boxes.

Alice and Emily, BFF, share a home, when Alice’s wicked stepmother invites Emily to Alice’s sister’s wedding. Since her break up and her mother’s death, Emily has had some knocks in life. Not believing in HEA (happily ever after), she is single by choice. So Alice considers it her moral duty as a friend, to hook Emily up with a series of unwanted dates. And this wedding too continues to be a venue for matchmaking…

This is my first book by Jennifer Joyce, and I was happy to read about Emily, a teacher and quite a sensible woman, happy with her choices. I liked that she is portrayed as a strong woman, hates being a damsel in distress, and does not need a man to feel complete. Though quite cynical about love, there is a story to back that up. I found her quite amusingly sarky in some of her comments, and I couldn’t help but smile at quite a few scenarios written in the book.

The wedding held in a Castle has a week long pre-wedding events, and some of them were quite new to me and they were cutely quirky. Being a feel good book, there is a hint of romance with either Tom and Archie. But that is not the main theme of the story. It was fun to see Emily hiding from Alice to avoid matchmaking, getting lost in the woods once or twice, landing behind the rose bushes, battlling the bee, finding herself in unbelievably funny twists.

I still don’t like books which talk about bodily sounds, I don’t find such stuff funny. So that put me off in a couple of areas. Also I found Emily vacillating unnecessarily instead of bring upfront, as she is portrayed. But leaving that aside, it was a pleasant fast 3 hour read from start to finish.

A book like this, lifts up the weary heart, brings a smile, and is easy to read and love.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher HQ Digital, and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating : 4 stars

About the Author

Jennifer Joyce is a writer of romantic comedies. She’s been scribbling down bits of stories for as long as she can remember, graduating from a pen to a typewriter and then an electronic typewriter. She now writes her books on a laptop (which has a proper delete button and everything). Jennifer lives in Oldham, Greater Manchester with her husband Chris and their two daughters, Rianne and Isobel, plus their bunnies Cinnamon and Leah and Jack Russell Luna. When she isn’t writing, Jennifer likes to make things – she’ll use any excuse to get her craft box out!

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Book blurb

Emily Atkinson stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago! She’s fed up of dating frogs in order to find her very own Prince Charming and is giving up on men entirely…

But then she’s invited to the wedding of the year at the enchanting Durban Castle and realises that perhaps bumping into a real-life knight in shining armour isn’t quite as far away as she thought!

Will Emily survive the wedding and walk away an unscathed singleton – or finally find her own happily-ever-after?

Product Details

Publication date : 7th February, 2018

Publisher : HQ Digital

Language : English

Available on Amazon

A cute feel-good book