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I was surprisingly charmed by The Wedding Favor. An unusually large number of wedding stories have cropped up in my TBR pile of late, and so it was with resignation that I opened up yet another. Happily, this one turned out to be amusing and quite enjoyable.
Our story opens with Tyrell Brown awaiting the verdict on the court case he’s been involved in for the past few years. Ty’s wife died because of a drunk-driving accident years ago, and Ty is doing his best to make sure Jason Taylor, the drunk driver, faces the consequences of his actions. However, when we first meet him, Ty isn’t worried about the Taylor or the $9,000,000 that comes with his victory—all he cares about is that he was forced by Taylor’s lawyer to relive his wife’s final moments. Looking at her, Miss Victoria Westin, he decides the best way to describe her would be “bitch on wheels.”
This phrase is one you ought to be warned of, should you decide to read this book. Victoria (or “Vicky”) and Ty end up sitting next to each other on a plane to France, just hours after Ty wins his case. They then realize they’re both attending the same wedding in Amiens, France, where Vicky’s brother is marrying one of Ty’s best friends. In the course of their stay, they go from enemies to friends to lovers, all the while dealing with Vicky’s crazy mother and ex-fiancé.
In the midst of all this commotion, Ty often refers to Victoria using that phrase which he coined in the very first sentence of the book. “Look, it’s the bitch on wheels,” or “Here comes the bitch on wheels,” are things that pop up in Ty’s head fairly frequently. They disappear as Ty begins to actually like Vicky, naturally, and I know that had it been almost any other phrase or nickname, I wouldn’t have had a problem with what Ty called Vicky in the privacy of his own head.
As it was, however, I eventually began to picture Vicky as a sort of lawyer with wheels on the bottoms of her shoes, meant to be pushed around like a suitcase at the airport. I think it was the travel element to the story that had me picturing this. It’s possible other people won’t be bothered by this phrase at all, but I just kept getting ripped out of the story every time I heard it. What do wheels have to do with anything? I kept asking myself. Why can’t he just call her a bitch, or some other name?
My only other real problem with the story came toward the end. After the wedding is over, Ty and Vicky both head back to the States—Ty to Texas and his ranch, and Vicky to New York City and her job as a lawyer. Except there isn’t a job for her in New York anymore—after her involvement with Ty became known, the bosses at her firm worried she’d cast the entire group in an unethical light, so they fired her. This isn’t bad, though, because Vicky never wanted to be a lawyer. It means a fresh start…and the chance to finally pursue a different career.
There were hints throughout the book that the plot might take this turn. I was happy for Vicky that it did—she certainly didn’t seem to enjoy being a lawyer. However, I was surprised at her choice because I’d been under the impression that she didn’t really know what job she would want outside of the courtroom. I don’t object to Vicky’s ultimate decision, I just wish I’d felt that the desire to follow that path was a part of her character from the beginning.
Overall, however, The Wedding Favor was a good book. I loved seeing Vicky and Ty get up to all sorts of escapades in France, and it was wonderful to see them falling in love in the middle of it all. Connelly did a very good job taking two people who had legitimate reasons to truly hate each other and turning them into lovers. Not everyone can do this so well, or so subtly. I will definitely be checking out some other books by her.
Buy it at Amazon/Apple Books/Barnes and Noble/Kobo
Grade: B
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 11/02/14
Publication Date: 2014/01
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.