The Wedding Affair - Leigh Michaels

The Wedding Affair by Leigh Michaels
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE: Adult - Historical Romance
FORM: Book - ARC

REVIEW: In a book of new beginnings, rekindled love, new love and a lot of passion, Leigh Michaels gives you the ultimate romance novel topped with three cherries!

I enjoyed The Wedding Affair from beginning to end. The characters were very well developed and entertaining, each having individual personalities but are so great that you fall in love with them all.

I love books about weddings, and while many historical romance novels end in a wedding, most of the books that I have read are not based completely around a wedding. For this particular novel, the duchess being wed, Daphne, is a minor - however annoying - character in the book. She is spoiled, whines a lot, and is mean as fire, especially to her bridesmaids. I enjoyed her pre-wedding activities/outings though, and the fact that all of the bridesmaids behaved like twittering teenagers lusting after the next hot thing. In this case, the Duke, Simon.

There are many other supporting characters as well, some mean, some overbearing, and some are just outright hilarious. They play their roles in the story well, and really are one of the main things that made this book so entertaining.

All of this "background noise" of the novel just makes for many wonderful scenes and scenarios for the real stories taking place. Neither Simon nor Olivia, both relying on each other for their own reasons, are looking to fall into love or marriage, but as expected - they find it incredibly hard to live without each other. I loved them as a couple. I especially loved Simon. He was such a decent man, and his joy and eventual love for Charlotte, Olivia's daughter, won me over completely!

Kate and Andrew were a little bit harder for me. I liked them both well enough, and it was obvious they were meant for each other, but I think the attitude Kate held for most of the book, and Andrew making suggestions that don't really indicate whether he is serious or joking around, I found that when they finally came together as a couple the fire just wasn't there.

My favorite couple was Penelope and Charles. They are newlyweds who do not have a relationship at all. Penelope is completely innocent and has no idea what to do, which makes her seem scared and shy. Both are operating under false assumptions, but when they finally come together - it is just so sweet and just right! At first I was afraid that Charles was going to be played out to be this really hard menacing character, but in the end he was so sweet and loving. I actually felt sorry for him and the torment he was putting himself through.

WHAT I LOVED: This book was just a fun read. There is a lot of witty dialogue and passionate moments. The characters really are what made this book so good!

NOT SO MUCH: I already mentioned above how I felt about Kate and Andrew's relationship. Outside of that, I found it hard to believe how fast the girls were able to come out of their clothes. For a time when the women are dressed in layers, and as mentioned in the book, they required help getting dressed and lacing themselves up. Therefore it really bothered me every time one the girls (mainly Olivia) was surprised to find her top was hanging open. Silly, I know...but I just kept shaking my head every time I read it.
 
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While I was given an Advance Review Copy of this book by Sourcebooks, I have received no compensation for this review other than the joy of reading!