The cover hints at the story: a beautiful bride stands in her gown with a dog tugging urgently on the hem. No dog in the story, but you get the metaphor, don’t you? Yes, trouble is coming to this beautiful bride and it arrives in the form of our lovely bride’s husband from her first, unsuccessful, starter marriage.

I liked best the way Kendricks gradually reveals to our bride that her oh-so-perfectly-nice future in-laws secretly nip and peck at each other behind the others’ backs and behind closed doors. It’s a nice touch, a real touch.

It’s a bit of a romance, so you can pretty well anticipate the climax of the story. That’s okay, I think….you’ll enjoy the ride to the end anyway. ( )

The Week Before the Wedding by Beth Kendrick
Emily McEllis arrives in Valentine Vt to be married to her surgeon doctor and she finds her first husband.
She can't understand why he is there. He's a film producer now.
She thought she had everything all figured out ...Story goes back int ime to when she was first married and how things were going so well til ...
She has been able to get the wedding plans all together and ready to go within 2 months time. Problem is they each have doubts and many things are keeping them apart.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). ( )

This is a great book to read during the summer. The Week Before The Wedding is an endearing story about a girl, a boy, and a dog. Emily McKellips has always been a non-traditionalist. However something happened in her life that changed all that. Now she's getting ready to marry a neurosurgeon who is as straitlaced as they come. She's also getting married in the picturesque town of Valentine, Vermont. Emily is trying her hardest to keep everything and everyone in check as the biggest day of her life slowly approaches. However Emily is blindsided when her ex-husband shows up at the inn where she's staying. Now Emily isn't so sure she's marring the right man.
I loved this book from start to finish. The only flaw is that it's predictable. However the book is so much fun that you don't care. Emily is trying to so hard to be what she's not it's kind of comical. Her mom and best friend aren't quite conventional, and they remind Emily of who she really is. Eric is a guy who could star in most women's fantasies. He's not quite what Emily remembers him being. This book has humor, romance, and the theme of be true to yourself. It's a great, entertaining read that you will enjoy.
Read more at http://www.2readornot2read.com/2013/06/the-week-before-wedding.html#78rKp44xyrIK... ( )

The Week before the Wedding is a wonderful version of the classic romance theme of reuniting with a long ago love. Emily is planning her second wedding to Dr. Grant- the Ken doll of Doctors. He is perfect in so many ways; he’s nice, handsome, caring and most important to Emily, he’s the picture of stability. This is important because her first husband Ryan was the picture of irresponsibility. He was a horror film buff and slob and their marriage only lasted five months before Emily left him. Determined to never be in a situation like that again, Emily has gotten an MBA and turned her life into a model of doing the correct thing. She has never looked back and is shocked when Ryan turns up at the location where her wedding will be. He is now a successful Hollywood producer and still is somewhat of a free spirit.
Ryan is determined to win Emily back and he gets help from her family members. Her sister Summer has one of the best lines in the book when she talks about his having matured into a successful single man. She says “He’s like a unicorn. We may never see another one in our lifetime”
What I liked about this book was the idea that Emily was so focused on making everything perfect that she didn’t really see what her life had become. She cut her past out of her life and just moved on but never really dealt with her feelings or allowed herself to revisit her choices. Ryan has moved on but he has worked through what went wrong with the marriage and how he contributed to the problem. Their romance is the one that they weren’t ready to have when they were so young and idealistic.
The secondary characters are great in this book especially the mothers. Emily’s mother is a much married flamboyant woman and Grant’s mother is a buttoned up proper matron. Their road to friendship has a rocky start but is really humorous. A pair of evil sisters adds to the bonding between mother-in-laws.
The ending is not a surprise but it is also not a given throughout most of the book. Ms. Kendrick does a good job of keeping the reader wondering what will happen. The ending is satisfying on all levels. ( )