BOOK REVIEW: Daughter of the Bride by Francesca Segre

Just managed to sneak another NaNovember author review in! Francesca Segre's Daughter of the Bride features Daniella, a financial reporter on Wall Street who, unlike many chick lit heroines, is actually good at her job. She's intelligent and articulate - no Bridget Jones style snafus for Daniella. But. She's single and she really doesn't want to be, so when her mother announces she's getting married, Daniella's not sure how she feels about it. Basically, she doesn't think it's right that her mother should be getting married before her.

Daniella's family lives in San Francisco and so she finds herself flying back and forth to help her mother choose a dress and a caterer and a florist, etc. Back in New York, Daniella dates various men, always looking for her idealistic IB (Imaginary Boyfriend). At one point, one of her boyfriends tells her that she's holding back in the relationship and that he's not sure she's ready to get settle down and get serious, that she doesn't really want it, she's too busy being herself and "chasing dreams of perfection." I would have preferred to see more of this insight from Daniella instead of her immediately thinking every man she meets could be "the one" and then constantly being disappointed. I was actually quite disappointed that, although Daniella states she doesn't need a man to validate her in her work, in her personal life she definitely seems to feel like she's less valuable because she's single.

The book doesn't really have much in the way of plot and I'm afraid I was bored by all the marriage plans. (I found planning my own wedding tedious, so I was bound to lose interest in planning a fictional wedding.) There are some lovely characters though. I particularly liked Daniella's brothers, Max and Enrico, and would have liked to see more of them. In fact, I enjoyed the book more whenever Daniella was in San Francisco. There was something I found almost claustrophobic about the New York scenes.

The main problem I think I had with Daughter of the Bride was that it was strangely humourless. Searching for a man may not be a comedy topic in reality, but reading about it without the relief of laughter is actually quite hard work and I found myself scanning quite often.

That said, Francesca Segre writes beautifully so I'll definitely check out her next book and if you're planning a wedding - either for yourself or your mother! - you'll probably enjoy Daughter of the Bride more than I did.

Rating 3 out of 5

Like this? Try Why Girls Are Weird by Pamela Ribon

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