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A Wedding in Provence. Good title for a book. Alluring and memorable. That was my first thought about this book. Then there was the cover. I see that cover and I want to read that story.

With that cover and title, I had high hopes for this book. I expected a romantic almost fairy tale like wedding story with lavish descriptions about the French countryside, food and culture. But sadly this story didn’t measure up to my expectations.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a lousy book. But I must be honest in saying that in my humble opinion, it is not the greatest story of all times, but an OK one to pass the time.

The premise and the setting is a good one. Sibling rivalry + infidelity + friendship + a fabulous setting = a good recipe for romance and drama. The author had everything to knock it off the romance novels ballparks but to me it just felt like a bad spin-off/imitation of Mamma Mia, without the singing and the picturesque humor.

My main problem with this story is that it had too many characters. Everyone had something going on, but nothing seemed like a major plot to me. I couldn’t quite bond with any of the characters. More about the characters on my blog

My other problem with the book was that I felt like Provence got ripped off, sort of. I pictured charming settings in my mind that were never described in the book. There were quite a bit of French phrases here and there but that was it. By the way, these French phrases, could be a turn off for non-francophone readers, as there is no way for them to figure out what they mean.

There is also an extended use of the f word. It didn’t add any drama to the story.

Gladly in the end, everything is resolved and they live happily ever after. Even though it’s quite predictable, it’s nice that the story ends on a positive non-conflicting way.

A Wedding in Provence by Ellen Sussman is not a bad book, it is a fast paced, quick read I would recommend reading in between heavy long reads. It’s cataloged as chick lit, but I don’t feel like the young audiences can engage with this story too much. I can see it as a good choice for older women book clubs, where the topics of marriage, parenting and infidelity can be discussed.

Check out the complete review on my blog