Tuesday 17 October 2017

Blog Tour Review: Three Weddings and a Scandel by Wendy Holden


Three Weddings and a Scandal by Wendy Holden
Published: 7th September 2017
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Pages: 382
Available in Paperback and on Kindle
Rating: 5/5

Blurb
She'll need a triple-barrelled name for the castle one.
She'll need a gallon of glitter for the woodland one.
She'll need a lobster-shaped hat for the Shoreditch one.

Laura Lake longs to be a journalist. Instead she's an unpaid intern at a glossy magazine – sleeping in the fashion cupboard and living on canapés. But she's just got her first big break: infiltrate three society weddings and write a juicy exposé.
Security will be tighter than a bodycon dress, but how hard can it be? Cue disappearing brides, demanding socialites – and a jealous office enemy who will do anything to bring her down...

Review

I’ve been a huge fan of Wendy Holden’s writing for many years I love her comical writing style and her books have never failed to cheer me up, I’m yet to pick one up that I haven’t laughed all the way though. In her latest novel Three Weddings and a Scandal we are introduced to Laura Lake the unlikely heroine of Ms. Holden’s new series.

Laura Lake longs to be a journalist just like her dead father, instead she spends her days and nights running around after clients for the Passion for Paris letting agency. For extra money Laura is currently spending her days sat in a pile of rubbish as part of an art installation for up and coming artist Amy Bender. One night Laura meets glossy magazine editor Carinthia Gold, who just happens to offer Laura an internship at her magazine Society. The internship is in London and Laura is reluctant to leave her aging grandmother Mimi alone in Paris but persuaded by wannabe actor and fellow rubbish sitter Casper, Laura heads to London.

London is where Laura’s life is turned upside down, after a string of misfortunate events Laura is left with no money, no phone and nowhere to stay. To make things even worse Laura’s old school enemy Clemency Makepeace just happens to be the Features Editor of Society magazine, leaving Laura in a very awkward position, even more so because she’s started using the fashion cupboard as a place to sleep.

In order to secure a job Laura has to go undercover and write an exposé on the state of society weddings. Laura enters the world of celebrity weddings and endures a missing bride, a celebrity brawl, a royal kiss and a ceremony held in the most bizarre location you could imagine. Can she avoid the disasters all around her and write the story to bag herself a proper job.

This is a fast-paced read with a plotline which at times borders on the surreal. I’d advise don’t take it too seriously and just enjoy the journey like Laura seems to do. Among the madcap celebrities, flaky fashion designers and sneaky work colleagues, Laura is a character who seems to remain relatively sane. She is resilient, resourceful and never seems to be phased by the people around her, determined only to write her story.  I loved how she would call on grandmother Mimi’s pearls of Parisienne  wisdom when in need of inspiration, my particular favourite being “be wary of labels……You are not a billboard. Letters are for the optician’s chart”.

Alongside the characters with quirky names, Irina Pushamoff, Spartacus Tripp and Hudson Grater to name a few, there is a more serious element in the mystery of what happened to Laura’s reporter father Paul Lake. This mystery is not resolved in this book, hopefully we’ll learn more in the next book which I’m really looking forward to reading.

Three Weddings and a Scandal is a book I have thoroughly enjoyed and it has reminded me how I enjoy escaping into her novels. If you are a fan of her unique writing voice then this latest book will not disappoint.

Thank you so much to Head of Zeus for the copy to review and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour. I look forward to reading more about Laura lake in the future.





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