Originally Published on My Review Blog In "The Wedding Girl" by Madeleine Wickham, Milly Havill gets married at age 18 to help a gay friend be able to stay in the country. After they married, she never saw him again. Ten years later, she's engaged to Simon, a wealthy heir to a Smoothie Franchise and has all forgotten about her first marriage. But when someone that has witnessed her first wedding turns up right in time to ruin her second one, she has to face her past.This is the second novel of the author under her real name that I've read and I'm starting to realize why she decided to write under a pseudonym. Just like "The Gatecrasher", the novel is told from mutltiple point of views and is full of insanely naive or super unlikeable characters. I'm the first person that is all for adding a fresh breath of air and making your characters anti-heroes, but Wickham's protagonists are walking, unlikeable, unrealistic clichés. Milly reminds me a lot of the insanely naive and even childish protagonist of "Wedding Night" and Simon is basically the same character as Lambert from "The Gatecrasher". After you've read a fair selection of Wickham's novels, you will start to notice that she tends to recycle her characters and certain stoy elements. This is the gazillionth Kinsella/Wickham novel about weddings that I've read. Still, it couldn't quite fascinate me.Poor Execution of a Great IdeaI love the idea of a marriage solely for immigration purposes and I am even more delighted to have that novel feature a gay couple. While there's absolutely nothing wrong with the premise, Wickham lacks extremely in execution. There's pages and pages of dialogue between the Havill and Pinnacle families, the respective bride's and groom's relatives, that only serve the purpose of establishing character relations- well, that's unnecessary! It's very easy to get who likes whom and who hates which character from the first pages on. She established everything perfectly within the first three chapters or something, I don't understand why there's the need for so much exposition and boring dialogue.Highly Unrealistic & No Fun ReadIt's absolutely unrealistic how Milly's first marriage is discovered in the novel. You wouldn't remember someone you met 10 years ago for five seconds, would you? No matter what kind of eccentric hair cut that person had. It feels to me like Wickham just needed a reason and didn't really think about it- there are so many way easier and believable possibilites! She could have let the former groom waltz in; she could have made an official realize that she's already married on paper; or she could have drunkenly confessed it to a friend who in turn told the groom. In a Kinsella novel, either of those possibilites would have probably been used, but not in a Wickham novel. Everything that I love about Kinsella- the humor, the happy-go-luckiness and the relatable protagonists- is absolutely lacking in this one. In her early novels Wickham just wastes potential to no end. There are remarkable back stories, interesting characters, but everything is just told sooo slowly and boringly that you may risk falling asleep while reading this. This could have been so good, had there been more humor and more heart put into the story. There's no real protagonist that you can empathize with, Wickham just throws point-of-views around like they're confetti and gives every single character their five minutes to shine.As for the writing, mediocre is the most suitable word I'd use. This novel is a raw diamond, essentially a first draft. There's a lot of work that still has to be put into it to make it enjoyable and it's very frustrating to see that the editors didn't even bother. I couldn't finish it, because I was so bored.Rating:★☆☆☆☆Overall: Do I Recommend?I don't know if I ever want to read another Wickham novel. I love Kinsella's work, but if you've gone for "The Wedding Girl" because you like Kinsella- you've chosen the wrong book. It will always remain a mystery to me how she managed to reinvent herself so drastically and create a completely new style under her pseudonym.While I'm complaining a lot, I have to make a fair judgement: Wickham novels are still fairly okay written and light literature, but not just as fun as I am used to being a Kinsella junkie. They are the perfect example that taste varies, I can fairly acknowledge that it's an okay read, but just not my cup of tea.
Das Buch hat mir meine Mutter ans Herz gelegt und ich war nicht entt��uscht.Zur Schriftstellerin : Sie hat einen sch��ne Schreibart, fl��ssig und es wurde nichts ausgeschm��ckt. Die Seiten waren Ruckzuck gelesen . Sie geh��rt f��r mich zu den Autorinnen die eben nicht irgendwas dazu dichten muss um das Buch spannend zu halten.zu den Charakteren: Milly war mich sehr sympathisch mit ihrer Art, Sie war zwar ziemlich Sch��chtern, hat sich eigentlich alles gefallen lassen, hat sich aber in dem Buch Bombastisch entwickeltSimon, Millys verlobt. Er stand immer im Schatten des Ber��hmten Vaters und hasst ihn von ganzen Herzen, auch im Buch finden die Beiden, trotz ihrer Sturheit langsam zusammen.Olivia und James, die Mutter und Vater von Milly hat nur noch den Kopf f��r die Hochzeit und vergisst alles drum herum auch ihren Mann James und irgendwann merkt auch sie das was nicht stimmt.Isobel, die Schwester von Milly und vorzeige Tochter , eben eine Karrierefrau, nur f��hlt sie sich total Fehl am Platz und tr��gt ein Geheimnis mit sich herum.Die Geschichte. Milly will Heiraten, ihren Traummann Simon, alles l��uft, die Vorbereitungen sind auf Hochtouren und dann passiert es, es kommt raus das Sie noch Verheiratet ist eine Geschichte als sie 18 Jahre war. Alle sind entsetzt wie konnte sie nur und in den Augen ihrer Mutter ein Fiasko, aber Milly findet das gar nicht den Sie hat doch damals einen Grund gehabt.Sie half einem Schwulen P��rchen Allen und Rupert damit Allen in England bleiben durfte haben er und Milly geheiratet. Dann sind die beiden M��nner aus Milly leben verschwunden, das ganze kommt erst nach 10 Jahren heraus.Rupert ist verheiratet mit einer Frau, hat sein Schwulen da sein verdr��ngt und Allen aus den Kopf gestrichen.F��r mich ein tolles Buch. Sophia Kinsella hat alles im Buch rein gebracht, eine sch��ne Liebesgeschichte, Familiendramen usw, aber was mir sehr nage ging im Buch waren Allen und Rupert.Rupert hat eine streng gl��ubige Frau geheiratet und als sie von seiner Vergangenheit erf��hrt will sie es 'wegbeten' und zum Arzt schicken vielleicht gibt es dagegen eine Pille. O.oRupert lernt nach 10 Jahren erst sich seiner Selbst zu ��ffnen und mal klar zu sehen.Was erschreckend war das die Autorin das Homosexuelle Thema doch von der Tabu Seite zeigte wo ich selber dachte 'Das gibt es SO sicher noch' und ich hatte eine G��nsehaut.Einfach das Buch lesen es ist toll, in jeder Hinsicht !!!!
What do You think about The Wedding Girl (2004)?
Sophie Kinsella is my favorite author. Her stories are always funny, fast and light. While I enjoyed this book, I didn't find it wither funny or light! Milly is engaged to Simon and their wedding is in just a few days. The problem is, Milly has a big secret...10 years ago, she married a gay, illegal immigrant (Allan), so that he could have the chance to stay and be with his lover (Rupert). Worse, she never completed her divorce proceedings and days before her real wedding, she is still legally married! In the end, it all works out and Milly and Simon do get married. But it doesn't work out for everyone...Milly finds out that she did all of this for Allan and Rupert to stay together for only 2 months! Rupert became very ashamed of being gay, left Allan and married a woman. Here's what troubled me...the woman Rupert married was a born-again Christian who, when she found out that Rupert had been with a man before her, was literally repulsed by Rupert. She wanted to take him to the doctor so that he could get a pill to cure his gayness! I just made me feel so sad because there are really people who feel this way today. Overall though, it was an enjoyable book!
—Marieanne Fabiano
In The Wedding Girl, Milly Havill is set to marry Simon Pinnacle. Just days before the wedding an event from Milly's past comes back to haunt her. A chance encounter leads to the revelation of secrets from Milly's past. As Milly deals with the repercussions, her friends and family are each forced to confront their own secrets and lives to discover the truth of who they are.I first read Madeleine Wickham a few years ago. I like Brit Chick Lit, and came across one of her books that I enjoyed. I was surprised to learn Madeleine Wickham is actually Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic series of books.Frankly, I much prefer the books written under the Wickham nom de plume to the books she writes as Kinsella. I find myself more easily able to identify with the heroines and their situations. The plot lines are more complex, the situations more relatable.There were a lot of surprises in The Wedding Girl. I love that most characters are not quite who they seem to be. Everyone has some kind of secret, wears some kind of mask, plays a role. Everyone has to consider who they really are, what will really make them happy. And that is a risk, because sometimes the people we care about the most can't see past our facade to really know the truth of who we are.The Wedding Girl was a quick, fun read that I enjoyed the whole way through.
—Ashley
When I think of reading a Sophie Kinsella book, I normally imagine something light-hearted, funny and definitely entertaining. Now I completely understand the concept of branching out and writing different types of books under a pseudonym so I wasn't expecting something like her other books. In that respect, this book definitely met those expectations. Unfortunately however, I was also expecting something good (for lack of a better term) which this definitely was not.I think it's safe to say tha
—Cakes174
