Not Quite a Bride [Paperback]

Kirsten Sawyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2006

This is a hilarious and heart warming debut novel of big dreams, big days, and even bigger lies...Molly Harrigan has always dreamed of the perfect wedding, she just never thought she'd be in scores of them as the bridesmaid. Now, on her thirtieth birthday - after her younger, married sister announces that she's pregnant - Molly's old dream takes on an all-new urgency. It doesn't help matters that her best friend Brad drops the bomb that he's engaged to his spoiled brat of a girlfriend. Devastated, Molly does what almost no one in the same situation would do. With a giant wedding fund burning a hole in her pocket (courtesy of her late, beloved grandmother), Molly hires a fiance. Now armed with the perfect boyfriend, Molly stages a whirlwind courtship, engagement, and grand-ballroom-style wedding. Lying to her friends and family is a small price to pay for cake-tastings, gift registries, and dress fittings. But lying to herself could cost Molly her one chance at true love - with a man whose feet are turning as cold as her own...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sawyer's heroine is a character familiar to most chick-lit readers--the perpetual bridesmaid. This particular singleton decides she is not going to miss out on planning her dream wedding, even if it means buying a groom. Molly hires Justin, a male escort, to play her boyfriend for a year and stage an engagement. She plans an extravagant wedding--Plaza Hotel, Vera Wang gown, and all the other accoutrements, deceiving family and friends. And on the day of her fake wedding, she realizes that she has known "the one" all along. Though the plot is a retread (Sawyer even references the movie Can't Buy Me Love), readers will stick with it just to see how far Molly will take the charade. Molly remains a sympathetic character even though her choices seem implausible. Weddings are a popular subject for romance readers so this book is sure to be popular. Aleksandra Kostovski
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 307 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Books (December 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758216637
• ISBN-13: 978-0758216632
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,203,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be on the Best Sellers lists, February 28, 2008

By 

L. Mills (Jacksonville, Fl) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Not Quite a Bride (Paperback)

I absolutely loved this book! It was so funny that I laughed out loud MANY times while reading it. I really love Sophie Kinsella books and since I've read them all I haven't found anything that tickled me as much as this book. I am SO excited to have a new author to read! I can't wait to read, Not Quite A Mom.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, funny book!, May 16, 2008

By 

Holly (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not Quite a Bride (Paperback)

Molly is tired of being a bridesmaid. With an inheritance burning a hole in her pocket from her grandmother, she decides not to be a bridesmaid anymore, and be the bride. Good plan. Now, if only she had a groom. She opens the paper and finds an escort. Justin is just what she needs to pull off the scam of the century, as long as no one finds out that he's actually gay. With her family loving Justin, there's only one more person to impress, her best friend Brad. But Brad has problems of his own. He's engaged to the devil herself and she will do anything in her power to keep Brad and Molly apart. With no one to lean on, Molly goes through with all the wedding plans, including purchasing a hot Vera Wang dress. The tough part? Planning on how Justin will "leave her at the alter heartbroken". She gets so far into planning this, that she realizes that there are more feelings involved than she had planned. Then, to top it all off, she meets "the one".

Molly is a very compassionate character with whom you will be able to relate. Her constant chatter about weddings might get you a little bored, but keep reading, because you can see a deeper story laying within it. Her family is always watching and waiting for her to find someone, and when she does, they act like the world revolves around it. Also, Molly's run-ins with Claire (the devil) are very amusing. With Brad sauntering along, you root for him to get out of the relationship with Claire. While not a book that will get you thinking, this book is a good read, especially if you're looking for a beach book. Personally, it had me drawn in and I couldn't wait to see how the fake wedding was going to turn out for Molly. I was rooting for her the whole time.

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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Funny but predictable, July 23, 2007

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Not Quite a Bride (Paperback)

Molly has always been the dependable bridesmaid. Even her younger sister Jamie made it to the altar before her. To make matters worse, Jamie's about to have a baby and her best friend Brad has just proposed to his shrewish debutante girlfriend Claire. Tired of always being on the outside and with no opportunity on the horizon, Molly answers a personal ad from Justin, a male escort and hires him to be her date for the year, including a whirlwind fake romance and engagement, culminating in a wedding where he'll leave her at the altar (but she'll get the party and keep the gifts). Justin, a gay out of work actor thinks she's crazy one second but wants the hoopla of an engagement too. He ends up being a little too convincing - her family and friends fall head over heels for Justin. Only Brad has reservations about the union. Her new "romance" brings out a bit of rivalry between Molly and Claire who's convinced that given the chance, Molly and Brad would be a couple. As Molly schemes to make her wedding a reality, the strain on her friendship with Brad starts to show, while Justin is quickly replacing him in the best friend department. When her brother Logan comes out of the closet, they let him in on the secret and it's Justin who's there to help him adapt.

Sawyer's novel is at times very funny, but also pretty predictable (and the so-called "twist" at the end can be seen coming within the first 100 pages). I would have like to have seen further development of the relationship between Molly and Brad - it's not fully realized. Molly is a hard protagonist to like and her own worst enemy; while many of us would rather just buy the whisk from Williams Sonoma ourselves, she goes the extra mile to pull the wool over everyone's eyes at quite a cost (a wedding at the Plaza at $250 a head).