The Bridesmaid's Dilemma by Karen King

I was expecting to really enjoy this book but it was pretty terrible, if I'm being honest.  I think the main reason I didn't particularly like my second ever Karen King read was because none of the characters ever really clicked with me.  Jess in particular was really flat - the text tells us, quite explicitly, that she is friendly, fun and feisty but on paper I felt she actually came across as quite stroppy and fake friendly.  If you can't like the main character then you aren't going to like the book.  There is an exception to that where the main character is supposed to be completely heinous but you love the book because you hate them so.  What I suppose I am trying to say, in a very convoluted manner, is that if you feel no strong emotion to the main character then the book is never going to work for you.

Even worse than Jess is Eddie who comes across as a pure stereotype of the swoonworthy Frenchman.  This guy has no redeeming features that I could find because all I really got to know about him was he'd been jilted and was glorious to look at.  In fact the only character that really showed any spark of a real personality was Charlotte and we only see her in brief glimpses.

The plot was not particularly good either - honestly who didn't realise that Ross was Russell and Carly was Charlotte?  You would have thought that as Chief Bridesmaid Jess would have at least seen a photograph of her cousin's betrothed but apparently not - this is clearly set contemporaneously with WhatsApp and Skype getting regular mentions so how would she not have seen a picture on social media?  I'm all for a suspension of disbelief to get a good story but this just required too much of me.

The description of a Travel Rep's daily grind was pretty good (I have co-workers who have done this in a previous life and the book really gave Jess and Libby an easy ride compared to the reality).  Everything else just rang false for me - the drunken kiss was relatively plausible but the reaction to it when it was revealed was more that of a 16 year old than supposed adults.  The setting was well described but stayed away from being a travelogue, so I was grateful for that.

In short, the best thing about this book was those two words - THE END and the only dilemma was whether or not to persevere and finish it.