Book Review

New York Times says ‘Women are addicted to her (Nora Roberts) novels as chocoholics are to Godiva’.

The Guardian described it as ‘sheer entertainment’.

The Washington Post claimed that Nora Roberts was ‘The greatest novelist on planet earth’.

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Will Parker and Mal ever get their Happy Ever After?

I couldn’t wait to find out.

This book is the last of four books based on a successful wedding planning business run by childhood friends Mackensie, Parker, Laurel and Emmeline. Although they helped couples to organise the biggest day of their lives it seems they had trouble finding their own partners. This book is devoted to Parker who was the brains behind the outfit and the last to remain single. That is until Mal came along.

It is a typical Nora Roberts love story. Don’t misunderstand me, I like a good love story but this one started to irritate almost from the beginning. Why? Because it came across as a bit too sugary.

I don’t know if weddings are organised differently in the US but I doubt anyone does it this way in the UK. Usually brides do things for themselves, by choice, but it seems that the wedding business took over all the decisions, choosing the dress, shoes, flowers, the guest list, the gift list, the who-should-sit-where list, and the settling of family feuds. She took phone calls from nervous brides at all hours of the day and night which made me wonder what mothers were for! On top of all that the reader was taken through many weddings and given prolonged insight into the decor, the cake making, dress selection etc. which changed with each wedding. My goodness, I felt breathless.

Enter Mal, a nice guy with a realistic manner, who falls in love with Parker. The sex scenes are a Nora Roberts speciality, she leaves little to the imagination and knows how to get the reader’s pulse racing, koff koff. It was only curiosity that kept me going with the book; I did at least want to know how the Mal and Parker relationship achieved Happy Ever After.

I hit on a problem with names. It took me about half the story to get used to the names Mac, Mal and Parker. Mac (short for Mackensie) and Parker seemed such masculine names and Mal (short for Malcolm) had a feminine ring to it. I had to keep going back to check out who was who.  

I like Nora Roberts but I think I have over-read her work. I have now started reading another Harlan Coben which was not only exciting from the first word but a more comfortable read.