Book Review - Perfect Weddings by Lynda Renham

Amazon UK

Title: Perfect Weddings

Author: Lynda Renham

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Author supplied review copy

Publisher: Raucous Publishing

Publication Date: 12th April 2016

Rating: 5 Stars

Every bride wants a perfect wedding and that includes Georgina Winters. Amy Perfect is the crème de la crème of wedding planners so who best to plan Georgina s wedding... except the man Georgina plans to marry is the same man who jilted Amy three years ago. Will her plan to give Georgina the most imperfect wedding backfire on her? Is this the chance for Amy to win back the love of her life, or will insufferable Ben Garret put a spanner in the works? Arab princes, spoilt brides and wedding catastrophes make Perfect Weddings a page-turning romantic comedy that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

Three years earlier, Amy is jilted on her wedding day. Completely convinced that it was because of her weight, she undergoes a major health kick and then has an epiphany when someone says something to her. She realises that instead of being a mortician, she should become a wedding planner, as she did such a good job on her own wedding (just a shame about the groom). 

Coming into the present, Amy has reinvented herself as Amy Perfect, and is the top wedding planner in London, specialising in making perfect weddings. That is until the day she has a phone call from a potential new client, Georgina Winters, who is marrying Amy's ex-fiance. 

To say Amy has a bit of a minor breakdown for the majority of the book would be putting it mildly as she flits from one funny situation to another, all because she is willing to risk the reputation of the company and try to get her ex back, without anyone realising who she is. 

Perfect Weddings is a fantastic romantic comedy that I couldn't put down. I had to keep turning the pages to see what sticky situations Amy was going to end up in next. The scene with picking up the Sheikh from the airport is memorable, for all the wrong reasons. I could help but laugh as I pictured it. 

Then there is the bride's maid of honor, who is bonkers, Amy's best friend who thinks everything is unhealthy, Amy's continual needing of Rescue Life pills, a lot of mentions of dieting and food, another new client from Saff-end and a whole mix of other clients to make things wonderfully chaotic at times. 

I love Lynda Renham's writing style which is fast paced, laugh a minute and very chatty, as though Amy was talking to her best friend. The question of course that ran through my head the whole way through was whether Georgina would get her perfect wedding, and just who would Amy end up with. 

With all manner of crazy outings, and outlandish situations, Perfect Weddings really hit my funny bone and had me amused the entire time I was reading it.  

Thank you to Lynda Renham for this review copy. This was my honest opinion. 

Funday Friday - Truth or Lie? - Lynda Renham - Month 1 Week 2

Welcome to the second ever edition of Truth of Lie. My name is Rachel and I will be your host, for this exciting new game show. Each Friday, I will have one contestant, and they will be answering at least 14 questions. There is of course one small twist, 

For three of the answers, they have to lie. It is your task as the viewer to guess which three answers are lies. You are allowed 3 guesses and I want them posted into the comments field. 

Every 4 weeks, I will close the guessing, count up how many correct answers each of you has, and create a leaderboard. Anyone who is top of the leaderboard, will go into a draw for a paperback of the winners choice (open internationally). 

Please do include a way for me to contact you (email or twitter or similar), so that I can let you know if you have won. 

The weekend after a 4 week period closes, not only will I produce a leaderboard, and announce a winner, I will also let you know into the true answers, and which were the lies.  

Closing date for the first month is 11pm on 19th May 2016. 

So without further ado, let's meet today's contestant. 

Good morning contestant, please can you tell me your name and a little bit about yourself?

Hello, I’m  Lynda Renham. I write romantic comedy.  My new novel ‘Perfect Weddings’ is now available. I have a fun blog and you can find me at www.renham.co.uk

Please to meet you Lynda, I have read Perfect Weddings and loved it, and my review will be up tomorrow morning! 

Now onto the show, and remember everyone, Lynda hasn't been entirely truthful with three of these answers, so it is up to you to guess which ones they are (only 3 guesses per person though). 

 1) Who is your favourite author?

I have many but at present my favourite author is Tammy Cohen. I like a good gripping read

2) What book do you wish you had written?

The Godfather by Mario Puzo. What a brilliant read.

3) Tell me about any really memorable dream or nightmare you have had

A dream where my late father came to visit us. That was a memorable dream.

4) What was your most memorable holiday ever?

Two idyllic weeks in the Bahamas. Very relaxing and luxurious. 

5) If you could be an animal what would you be and why?

A cat. I could sleep a lot and let other people take care of me.

6) If you could be a fruit, what would you be and why?

A fig, because I would smell lovely, grown in a hot country and be around for Christmas.

7) What superpower would you love to have?

The power to make everyone peaceful, tolerant and considerate of each other, no matter what their religion, sexuality or beliefs.

8) What is the most annoying interview question you have ever been asked?

I don’t think there has ever been one.

9) Do you consider yourself to be an angel or a devil? 

Devil, I have no patience, I snap at the computer, snap at my husband when he can’t fix things on it. I’m totally intolerant of technology.  I’m an angel in every other way though.

10) What is your dream job, and have you tried to achieve it?

Writing for a living and I have achieved it.

11) Can you describe for me what your perfect day would involve?

A day out with my husband strolling around the villages near where we live and then lunch in a local pub, and home to a bottle of wine and a DVD.

12) Please name a cocktail that would describe you perfectly, and what’s in it?

Pink Lady. Because all my book covers tend to have shades of pink in them.  My blog has a pink background and I love the colour pink.

Main alcohol: Gin

Ingredients: 1.5 oz. Gin, 1 Egg White, 4 dashes Grenadine

Preparation: Shake ingredients very well with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Standard garnish: Cherry

Drinkware: Cocktail glass

13)If you could only read one author for the rest of your life (and I’m aware that’s a very scary world), who would you choose and why?

Iris Murdoch, because she writes perfectly and also philosophies at the same time.

13) If you could choose anybody famous to star in the story of your life, who would it be?

Michelle Williams

14) Besides reading, which I am guessing is a given, what other hobbies do you have?

Needlecraft and playing the piano, or at least learning to.

15) Who is your ideal Disney character?

Snow White

16) What is your best childhood memory?

My nan giving me a trinket box that I had stared at for weeks on her dressing table.

17) Did you have an invisible friend as a child? If so please tell me about them. 

Yes, his name was Fred and he went everywhere with me even to dancing school. My mum even laid a special place at the table for him at meal times

18) What would your ideal pet be?

Bendy my cat is my ideal pet. When he isn’t demented, of course.

19) What is your guilty pleasure when it comes to music? 

Lady Gaga nice and loud. And James Rhodes playing the piano (heaven)

20) If you could only look at one view for the rest of eternity, what or where would you like to be to see this view?

Cambodia, at Angkor Wat temples.

21) Who is the most important person in the world to you?

My husband Andrew

22) Can you let us in on an embarrassing secret?

My skirt fell down once when running for a bus in Oxford Street. I was left standing in my knickers and blouse

23) If you won the lottery, how would you spend the money?

I would give a lot to the children in Cambodia and other charities close to my heart. To my step children and family. I would then buy a farmhouse in Oxfordshire and invest the rest.

24) What are you most scared of?

Spiders and heights.

Thank you so much Lynda for taking part. I also love the colour pink, so think a pink lady could work for me too (shame I'm not a fan of Gin though!)

I hope you have enjoyed this edition of Truth or Lie? I will be back next week with another episode, and in the mean time...

Don't forget to guess the lies, to be in with a chance of a prize! 

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Please do pop back tomorrow to see my review of Perfect Weddings.