The Wedding Diaries by Sam Binnie

The Wedding Diaries by Sam Binnie
Buy The Wedding Diaries by Sam Binnie at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: From To Do to I Do, this is a funny and frivolous start to what promises to be an enjoyable new series for chick lit fans.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 380	Date: August 2012
Publisher: Avon
ISBN: 978-0007477128
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Kiki and Thom are getting married! The proposal might not have been quite as fabulous as Thom would have liked (bad Kiki!) but that’s all sorted now and with barely a year to plan the shindig, Kiki needs to get cracking. With dresses to try on, venues to find, wedding cakes to taste test, there’s lots to be done, and so the sensible option is to start a diary, to chronicle this magical time in her life but also for her to keep track off all those little To Dos which will lead up to I Do.

I was a little uncertain how this one would span out, not because it’s unpredictable (it’s called the Wedding Diaries…you kinda expect there to be a wedding) but because I was scared it might be somewhere on the pants radar from twee to In Your Face!!! As the first in an entertaining new series with book 2 coming soon, I knew the publishers had faith, but I wanted to check that faith was warranted. And I think it was.

This is an easy to read, funny book that works well in the diary format, allowing for short, snappy entries that move the plot along as well as more rambling ones that fill in the back story. Kiki does seem a bit like a screecher (in fitting with her parrot name, perhaps) but she is clearly a sweet girl with good intentions, and you do find yourself rooting for her as the story progresses.

You might think there’s only so much that can go wrong with a wedding, or so many things you need to remember (flowers, gift lists, the aforementioned cakes) but somehow this book still manages to add a unique spin to things. There’s nothing like a pregnant sister to mess up your seating arrangements or an unwell relative to demand your immediate focus, while the job insecurity coupled with the still staggering cost of wedding dresses fit well with the current economic climate. What adds an extra dimension to this one in particular is Kiki’s job in a publishing house, where she’s tasked with working on a celebrity wedding book, giving us an insight into 2 weddings at once, one swanky and over the top, and one that may just end up in a school field the way things are going.

This is not a serious book. It is not the sort where a turn of phrase will make you gasp appreciatively, or where you’ll be left thinking about the meaning of life for weeks afterwards. At the same time, it’s a well crafted and enjoyable, flitty read that will appeal to any fans of chick lit. It’s mostly light without any emotional drama, but it still has a decent plot to keep you reading, and I enjoyed it a bit more than I perhaps should have.

Thanks go to the publishers for supplying this book.

Reading this reminded me of The WAG's Diary by Alison Kervin or most of Sophie Kinsella's back catalogue. I prefer the latter slightly, but this new Diaries series is a decent runner up.

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