First Love is part of The Bridesmaid Chronicles series. It’s written in a fast and breezy style, but I often felt like a stranger at a family reunion – I simply didn’t know these people to begin with, and closed the book still feeling like they were strangers.
Julia Spinelli is about to marry Roman Sonntag, the man of her dreams. Weddings never come off without a few problems, but for Julia, whatever can go wrong does. She fires her wedding planner, there’s a problem with the flowers, and the boutique that had the dress of her dreams goes bankrupt. You name the problem – Julia is having it. But all these problems amount to nothing when Marv blows into town.
Marv Spinelli is Julia’s father – a loud, overbearing, obnoxious hotel magnate who, years ago, feuded with Roman’s father. Has Marv mellowed over the years? Hah! He is determined to break up the wedding since he just knows that Roman is after Julia’s money. Poor Julia – she really loves Roman, but she’s loyal to her father and he can be very persuasive. Will love and the truth prevail?
Julie Kenner’s writing style zips along at a brisk pace. Both Roman and Julia were very likable, but as for Marv – I could not stand him! I am not averse to over the top characters, but Marv was the pits. He didn’t have one likable feature, and I could not believe he was a hotel magnate. The way he was presented, I would have thought he was the night clerk at the local No Tell Motel – not a junior Donald Trump. Marv all but ruined the book for me.
I have not read any of the rest of the Bridesmaid Chronicles series and don’t plan to. To do so would mean I’d have to read a book by Kylie Adams, who is on my very short list of authors I will not read unless threatened. Anyway, it earned a grade of F when reviewed here earlier this year. I’m sure that readers who have followed this series (books one and three were written by Karen Kendall, whose grades at AAR include a B, a C+, a C-, and a D) will get more out of it than someone who comes to it not having read the others, but I have lots of books to read and not a lot of time, so this is one series I plan to skip.
Grade: C-
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Publication Date: 2005
Recent Comments …
Sounds intriguing!
My favourite one by Lucy Parker is Headliners. It would be in my top 10/20
A seditious affair and His at night are not in my top five, but they would be in my ten…
The Black Hawk was among my ten favourite romance novels, but alas! I had to choose only five. All the…
Yes. Although Bujold is more a science fiction novelist, I think that some of the books in the Vorkosigan saga…
Brockmann’s The Admiral’s Bride is also a 5-star book for me! Amazing how good some category romances can be.