Review - The Guest List by Melissa Hill

Published April 25th 2013 by Hodder & Stoughton

Paperback

370 pages

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Cara and Shane both have a vision of what should be, their perfect wedding. Too bad nobody else shares that particular vision...

I loved this book! For some reason I'm drawn to books about weddings. It's like witnessing beings on an alien planet even though it's something I personally have no interest in participating in.  

Melissa did a great job capturing the various ups and downs of an Irish wedding. Weddings are big business in Ireland. Even with the recession I've seen people blow 20 - 30 thousand Euros for their "one" day. The thing is, in Ireland weddings last for about 3 days. There's a party before, the wedding itself and then sometimes another party before the couple go on honeymoon. Mental.

Betty is the typical Irish mother of the bride. She assumes Cara will want the whole shabang. Church, huge white dress, 100's of guests and is willing to re-mortgage the house to get it. 

Shane's mother, on the other hand is insisting on a posh, high society K club affair. For those who don't know, the K club is probably the countries most famous golf course/club. 

Little do either of the families know there idea's are a world away from where Shane and Cara want to be.... literately. They want a family orientated wedding on a sandy beach the far side of the world.

This is where the shit hits the fan and we see the other breed of Irish mother of the bride. The bat shit crazy one who resorts to blackmail to try and get her way. 

As the wedding looms ever closer and emotions run high and secrets from the past are dragged up an threaten to ruin everything. The twist certainly took me by surprise.

There are numerous other witty and endearing characters in the novel who all come together to make the guest list a great read for this summer.

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