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A BAD BRIDE’S TALE by Polly Williams

A BAD BRIDE’S TALE

by Polly Williams

Pub Date: June 10th, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4013-0232-0
Publisher: Hyperion

Batch of 30-something Brits wrestle with the question of marriage.

Stevie Jonson has done what seems to be impossible for many of her peers: get a commitment from her boyfriend, Jez. At 34, Stevie had begun to wonder if she’d ever walk down the aisle or start a family. Now it looks like all her dreams are about to come true. As the wedding day nears, niggling doubts begin to pop into Stevie’s head. To exacerbate matters, an old flame wanders back into her life and Stevie starts to think that maybe Jez isn’t her perfect match. She doesn’t listen to her intuition; instead Stevie plods along with the wedding. Her fears prove valid when she and Jez have a horrific honeymoon. Her groom can’t keep his eyes off Katy, an old rival of Stevie’s, who happens to be on holiday at the same Thai resort that Jez picked for the honeymoon. Katy appreciates Jez’s attention as her own boyfriend, Seb, has started to lose interest in their long-term relationship. And of course, Katy wants what Stevie has—the ring. Couples are drawn together and ripped apart as these privileged Brits try to find happiness. This engaging second effort from Williams (The Yummy Mummy, 2007) is packed with juicy twists of fate and karmic encounters. It seems everyone in Stevie’s circle has questions about their partners—they universally suffer from “the grass is always greener syndrome.” Shunning the traditional boy meets girl and lives happily ever after formula, Williams treats readers to second chances and hard-won successes on the battlefields of love. Yet while the author’s writing has become more confident and her plotting richer, Williams still needs to polish her stereotypical characters.

Lively look at commitment and love, in need of a luminous set of heroines.