(41)Wedding Girl by Stacey Ballis

Monday, May 2, 2016


Sophie Bernstein never expected that her fiance would leave her at the altar, but he did.  She was humiliated in front of her family, friends, and colleagues in the culinary industry.  As one of the best pastry chef's in Chicago, Sophie's humiliation is very much public and her fall from grace is of epic proportions.  She finds herself holed up in her grandmother's house licking her wounds and laying low until the smoke clears.  To help pay-down the monstrous credit card debt she incurred while planning the wedding of her dreams she takes a part-time job at a small neighborhood bakery.   The gentle old man who owns the bakery is good for Sophie and it helps keep her mind off her fall from culinary grace.  Even though his son, Mark, is skeptical of Sophie's intentions, she wants nothing more than to help Herman. At the bakery she stumbles across a potential career path that puts her wedding planning skills to work for her and will help payoff those credit cards.  It is through "Wedding Girl" that Sophie meets "Jake" and through their emails Sophie starts to feel a fondness that she never expected to feel after being left at the altar.  But after a few missed encounters she isn't sure that Jake is the guy for her.

Wedding Girl was a fun and relaxing read.  Sophie is the kind of girl that I would love hang out with on a Saturday night watching old movies, drinking booze, and eating yummy food.   From the very first pages you know that Sophie is going to be a great character,  she handled being left at the altar with such grace, that you can't help but just want to be her best friend.  Sophie's grandmother, Bubbles, is such a kick in the pants that you wish you could hang out in her kitchen. Then she has two besties, Jean and Ruth, that are fun, too.  The scene of Jean's birthday was laugh out loud funny. And the boys - I don't want to give anything away, but there is a scene when Sophie goes to a wine tasting that I just knew what "twist" was coming. I was right, but I don't think it was meant to be a huge secret, given the character's penchant for old classic movies.   Obviously in a foodie book like Wedding Girl there are some yummy recipes, but they are all saved for the back of the book to not interfere with the flow of the story.

Bottom line, with elements that are reminiscent of old Nora Ephron movies you are guaranteed to fall in love with Sophie, her family, and her friends.  As expected with most Chick Lit novels, the heroine gets her "happy ever after" and you are giddy with excitement for her.

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