Set in London and Italy and involving two powerhouses in the fashion industry, The Bridesmaid’s Secret seemed like a surefire winner. I’ve liked the author’s books in the past, and the prologue captured my interest. Unfortunately, the remainder of the book wasn’t as gripping as the prologue. I didn’t dislike it; I just found it easy to put down.

The book opens with a major mistake made by two young cousins. One of the girls was charged with taking a secret letter written by her older sister Jackie to Jackie’s boyfriend, Romano. Instead, the girl shares the letter with her cousin, and they manage to destroy it. We know the letter was never delivered, but don’t know its contents, although it’s soon easy to guess.

Flash forward a number of years, and Jackie Patterson is on her way to her sister’s wedding in Italy. But Jackie’s going to do more than attend a wedding. She intends to tell her mother and sisters about the daughter she gave up at birth 16 years earlier. Her daughter has forced her hand, as she recently located Jackie, despite having very mixed feelings.

Jackie was 15 when she was pregnant and she refused to tell anyone who the father was. She believed that the father – Romano – rejected her. Jackie went to London to live with her British father while she was pregnant, and has come a long way since then. She’s now editor-in-chief of a top London fashion magazine. Coincidentally, Romano Puccini is a top fashion designer, and a real player, with a never-ending string of girlfriends, according to the tabloids. Jackie has avoided Romano for years, sending subordinates to cover his fashion shows.

Soon after she arrives in Italy, Jackie is thrown together with Romano since he designed the bridesmaids’ dresses for the wedding. Just at the point where the book could have turned into a love story, the focus shifts to Jackie and Romano’s relationships with their daughter. While I found this interesting, as their daughter definitely didn’t accept Jackie with open arms, I didn’t see the love story.

There isn’t anything specifically wrong with the book. Both Jackie and Romano have good intentions – although Jackie is definitely a tightly-wound woman, with many rather serious issues. It just didn’t engage me as much as I’d hoped.

I felt distanced from the book and the characters, although I knew Jackie better than Romano, as most of the book is told from her point of view. They had an interesting back-story, and felt I should have been gripped by their reunion, but wasn’t.

I’ve read a number of books by Fiona Harper, and expected to like this more than I did. While I didn’t dislike it, I ended up having rather lukewarm feelings about the book. Despite a rather sweet ending, I just can’t recommend it.