Book Review : The Wedding Diaries by Sam Binnie

Title : The Wedding Diaries

Author : Sam Binnie

Publication date : 16th August 2012

Publisher : Avon

Source : Sent by publisher, thank you!

Kiki Carlow is shocked but delighted when boyfriend Thom proposes. Planning a wedding is easy, right? That’s as long as you ignore:

1. The utterly bankrupting price of the only dress you’ll ever truly love.

2. Your suddenly pregnant sister – surprise!

3. The celebrity wedding you’re covering for work which is devouring your every waking thought.

4. The Mother of the Bride. Entirely.

Kiki soon discovers that planning the perfect wedding might just bring total chaos to the rest of her life. Can she stop being a Bridezilla in time to marry the man she loves?

I was over the moon when I received an email from Avon to review The Wedding Diaries. Instantly, the thought of beautiful white dresses and wedding bells registered in my mind. I agreed to do it, as I am a sucker for a fabulous wedding lit. Shhh, I love weddings. The book was supposed to arrive about a month ago, but due to some unfortunate incident - which was too bitter to forget (involving doggie piss), Avon kindly sent me another copy.

Unlike the books in the market now, The Wedding Diaries is written in a journal/diary entry format.

I've never read anything like this before and I was really happy Sam decided to spice things up with writing this book in that particular format. For me, I found it wonderfully refreshing and everyone likes something new, right?

The Wedding Diaries follows Kiki Carlow, a twenty-something who is larger-than-life, downright humorous and has an enormous heart. Since the book is Kiki's "wedding diary", readers are given more insight from Kiki's take on everything, from daily events to planning her BIG wedding. Honest to truth, I liked Kiki. She was really funny with an edge, feisty and fun to be with, but sometimes a little bit too hilarious. The other characters played some roles in the book, but hardly a lot of depth in them as the book mainly revolves around Kiki only.

As the book is in the form of diary entries, the dates were recorded in the book, so the plot of the book flowed very smoothly albeit upbeat. From the proposal to the happy ending, the book was very well balanced with the right amount of plot twist and I was a bit let down with the conflict of the book though, as it was pretty clichéd. But at the end, the ending was very well written and the characters deserved a happily ever after. I really enjoyed Sam's writing style because it was easy to read and light, straight-to-the-point, but some parts of her writing remain a mystery to me, some of which were supposed to be sarcastic remarks, but sadly, were hard to get.

The Wedding Diaries will provide a lovely story of bridezilla and exquisite weddings and it DID make me want to search for Bridesmaids and watch it again! It was an absolutely entertaining book with a well-written plot and right amount of humour. Stay tuned for the sequel, The Baby Diaries, which will be out in spring 2012. Follow the lovely Sam on Twitter (@pantherbinn).

Rating : 4/5