Olivia is a comedian who spends most of her time ghostwriting romantic comedy novels for ex Love Island and X Factor competitors who don’t quite have the skill to make it for themselves. She’s been dating Teddy for a while and on paper they’re not exactly perfect for each other, but in reality, he’s just proposed and she’s said yes.
Of course, the proposal isn’t exactly at the ideal time, right before they’re due to attend her brother’s engagement party to the demanding perfectionist Eden who has a phone permanently attached to her hand with the excuse that she’s an ‘Influencer’.
Though Eden is less than happy that her important 6-month in the planning engagement party has been somewhat eclipsed by the announcement that Teddy has proposed with a huge diamond, things go smoothly until the next day when the newly engaged couple announce that they want to get married quickly without any fuss, BUT they must follow Olivia’s family tradition of marrying in the barn on the Cornish coast that her grandfather built!
When the happy couples discover that not only is the barn soon to close as a venue for weddings, but there is just one date available, there’s a bit of a disagreement before both parties agree that they’ll (reluctantly) share the date and have a double wedding.
Both couples and their families head down to Cornwall to arrange the short notice ceremony – though it still has to have all the finery that Eden has been dreaming of since she was a little girl – but something about the way that Teddy popped the question and is now leaving Olivia to arrange everything is starting to grate, but she can’t quite put her finger on what’s wrong.
When help comes, it’s in the unexpected form of Hugo, who shows up like an unexpected knight in shining armour on her first night in the town and offers to help her find a photographer for a wedding – which initially he isn’t aware is actually her wedding too.
I really enjoyed this book. From the very start, I had the feeling that Teddy was too good to be true. Wealthy, handsome, seemed to really care for Olivia…but then he proposes and all of a sudden it’s as though he’s done all he needs to and Olivia gets a glimpse of her future, and it’s as far from what she has imagined as it’s possible to get.
Olivia was the perfect (imperfect) protagonist. She knew she had faults, she accepted them, she had those inner voices and she was human. I fell for Hugo from the outset. The fact that he was so casual but so willing to help a complete stranger without any apparent ulterior motives. He steps in, and even when he discovers that she’s getting married and is working to arrange things for her own wedding, he continues to help her.
The chemistry between Olivia and Hugo is palpable from the start and really had me hoping that Olivia would realise Teddy was all wrong for her. This desire in me continued to grow, especially when it became obvious that even her own family didn’t have that warm glow for him, while Hugo slotted in and seemed to have just melded in with everyone.
I found that, as with the previous book I read by MacIntosh, the characters are well formed, and you get the chance to get to know everyone, even those who have a smaller role to play have been created so that you can decide whether or not you like them.
Of course, there is always a twist that can turn everything on its head and Better Off Wed is no different. At the nth hour, something happens that seems to cause an event that changes the bubbling emotions…but this is a romantic comedy!
Pros
- Fun characters
- Exciting storyline
- Realistic if a little exaggerated situation
Cons
- Would have liked that plot twist to occur a tad before I guessed it
