Dinca’s review of Best Man for the Wedding (Marrying a Millionaire, Book 1) by Donna Alward
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin 1 Dec 18
The mystery of why Adele left Dan, I feel, comes out a little too soon in this story. Also, when they’re on the ski slopes, there’s too much narration and not enough dialogue between the characters that makes it feel like you’re getting a tutorial in downhill skiing instead of character connection. There’s very little character building going on for nearly the entire book.
I wanted to like this story. Although Ms. Alward wrote about their turmoil, I did not feel it in the characters. I kept being told they were filled with emotion, but I never felt it from the characters themselves.
The setting for this book is in Banff, Alberta, Canada. I love that area and was hoping to connect with it once again through the story. That never happened because the beautiful area is never described. I didn’t feel like I was walking through the town with Dan and Adele as they strolled along. Then there’s the previously mentioned ski slope scenes. Not nearly enough interaction between them on the lifts. I don’t want to know what they did. I want to feel what they did, and none of that is in sight.
With no emotion between the characters, Ms. Alward missed some golden opportunities to connect with the reader. The scenes where Adele shares with Harper and Harper has her say has more feeling than we ever get from the main characters.
I was so looking forward to this story. It sounded cute and interesting. Not once did anyone smile for no reason at all until the last chapter. It’s kind of depressing. I just don’t get it. Donna Alward is capable of so much more. I can see and I can feel that reader/character connection is almost there, but it doesn’t quite make it. It has the makings of a very good story. I read an unpublished version, so I hope the author took a bit of time to develop the characters a little more before it went to publishing.
In that last chapter where Dan and Adele come together and decide to give it all they have, all the emotion is in the telling. This is the only chapter where they eventually give a spontaneous smile and laugh. Before that, there’s no feeling of longing that is created anywhere along the line.
I really dislike giving an author a bad review. I am all for the happy, charming, cute, spontaneous moments in life. Sure, I read about the devastation and pitfalls that create the bumpy road to happily ever after, but it doesn’t have to leave a depressed feeling while reading the story. This one reminded me of some people, you know the ones, who you find yourself in a room with and suck the life out of you.
This book did not live up to my expectations and I barely finished it.
Grade: F
Summary:
The first rule of wedding planning…
Be prepared for anything!
Wedding planner Adele Hawthorne is prepared for wedding hitches…but not for the best man to be Dan — her ex! Thrown together at every turn, Adele can’t escape their chemistry or the fact that her heart-breaking reason for leaving him all those years ago hasn’t changed. With just days before Dan leaves their winter wonderland, can he convince Adele they still have something worth fighting for?
No excerpt available.
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