« Solo | Main | A Very Shiny Birthday »

November 28, 2005 1:37 PM

Asking For Trouble / The Wedding Date

Elizabeth 'Liz' Young's feel-good modern romance is the perfect easy read. It's the tale of Sophy, a woman who hires a male escort to pose as her boyfriend at her sister's wedding, just to keep her mother happy. The ensuing chaos fills 350 pages with great jokes, witty prose, loveable characters and loads of love and laughter...

You may recognise the plot of this book as being similar to the Debra Messing film 'The Wedding Date'. That's no surprise, since the film is based on the novel, and the book was recently re-released under the new title 'The Wedding Date'. However, the name is really where the similarities end. In my humble opinion, the book far outshines the film and the plot is so far removed you'd be excused for thinking the shared 'girl hires escort for wedding' theme is down to pure coincidence.

Sophy is a typically average Brit (fabulously described 'size 13 and three quarters') and  she's perfectly happy with her singleton lifestyle (sort of). But her pushy mom is desperate to see her settled down (if only to keep her end up with the neighbours) so Sophy invents Dominic - the ideal boyfriend - to keep mum happy. It's all going fine until the invitation to her baby sister Belinda's wedding arrives...addresses to Sophy and Dominic. Desperate to keep her mother happy, Sophy hires male escort Josh to play Dominic for the day, and from there the lies spiral completely out of control...

Liz Young writes with great wit, and both Sophy and Josh are well-described and believable characters who you quickly grow to love. Great support from a Bridget Jones-esque pushy mother, fab flatmates Alex and Ace and Tamara, the slightly crazy old schoolfriend, keep everything ticking over nicely. Obviously, this isn't a groundbreaking piece of literature, but it is great unassuming chick lit that exceeds your expectations. You'll love so much you'll read it twice (I did)!

Asking For Trouble - Liz Young £6.99 (also sold as 'The Wedding Date')

If you liked this, you might like The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne

Came straight to this page? Visit www.trashionista.com for more female fiction news, reviews and interviews.

Posted by Gemma on November 28, 2005 in British Authors, Girly Stuff, Rating: 5/5, Romance | Permalink

Comments