The Wedding of the Year by Jill Mansell
Narrated by Rebecca Norfolk

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Headline Review and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Love, friendship and secrets revealed as the sun beats down on dazzling blue Cornish seas . . .

It's set to be the perfect wedding - till the chauffeur is asked to keep driving the bride round the church. This wedding is not going as planned.

Lottie is a guest at the wedding when she sees Max for the first time in fifteen years. No kiss since has matched their last kiss together. They were on the brink of a beautiful love story. Then something shocking happened that tore them apart. Now here he is, handsome as ever, teasing Lottie in the old way - and that tingling electric attraction is back. But Max is out of bounds.

Ruby has been the perfect vicar's wife. But when she finds out the truth about her husband Peter, outrage and disbelief drive her to act impulsively, without a thought for the consequences. And nothing will ever be the same again.

There will be a wedding of the year - but maybe not yet. When love is in the air, anything can happen . . .

My Opinion

Jill Mansell has always been a bit of hit or miss for me as an author, but this I enjoyed. There are quite a lot of characters in this, so it took some time for me to get into but overall it was a great book. This was a wonderful read and I can see it making for a great holiday read.

Rating 4/5

I truly enjoyed listening to The Wedding of the Year. Jill Mansell writes beautifully detailed worlds, explores the characters journeys in a wonderful way. I was drawn into the story immediately. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, and you'll feel complete by the end of the book. 10/10!

What could be better than starting off the year with a wedding?

Within the first couple of chapters of this book, Jill Mansell had me gasping out loud with surprise. Let’s just say that the wedding of the year turned out to be memorable in more ways than one and the outcome was most definitely unexpected! What happens at the wedding has repercussions for several women and we read about them as the book follows them in the year or so after the big day.

Max and Lottie were so very nearly a couple back in school but something happened which drove them and their families apart. So it was a shock, albeit a pleasant one, when they discover they are both at the wedding. There are clearly still feelings between them but the family situation could make it rather difficult. Freya and Cameron are the couple about to get married but Freya isn’t too disappointed with the delay. I think that Ruby was probably my favourite character. Her impulsive actions really did change her life in so many ways leaving her happier than she could have imagined. I also enjoyed reading about Ruby’s cleaner Iris and her unexpected romance too.

I liked that the chapters were told from the perspectives of many of the different characters. I felt that this made the book a real page turner as I was always wanting to find out what was happening next for each character and eager to read on.

The Wedding of the Year is an easy to read, enjoyable book with endearing characters. Jill Mansell writes in such a warm and engaging style. Just as the book starts at a wedding, so it ends at a wedding as she brings her story to a satisfying conclusion.

This is a lovely happy fun listen with lots of characters with great stories to tell. Set in Cornwall with blue skies and the sound of the waves lapping - heaven. Jill Mansell serves us another trusted and delightful story that never fails to disappoint. The story all begins around a wedding and is easy to follow, heartwarming and serves up lots of drama and fun and plenty of romance. Narrated by Rebecca Norfolk who does a fabulous job of bringing this audiobook into the world - this is a brilliant book to bring a splash of summer into your life even though we are only in January. Out on the 18th of January. Thank you Headline Audio and to Netgalley.

I expected this to be a lightheaded easy read and I wasn't disappointed in that. I needed something non challenging during a stressful time and this fit the bill.

It was a story of love and break ups and was fairly predictable. I didn't warm to the main characters as much as to Ruby. I thought Freya's behaviour was weird, Naomi plain wrong and Cameron not very believable.

I appreciated the book which arrived at the right time and was a good distraction with a good narrator.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book is written in true Jill Mansell style, we are introduced to various characters that make village life interesting and sometimes unique. The book is set in a lovely Cornish village and starts in the opening scene at Freya's wedding. Due to a bombshell discovery by the local Vicars wife Ruby, the wedding doesn't go ahead and lots of different plots and storylines develop. This possibly has to be my favourite part of the whole story, sadly the book went kind of downhill here for me.

There are a lot of characters to follow, and I have to say that Ruby quickly became my favourite. Personally there were so many sub plots that I found I was loosing interest quite quickly and it all became her soap opera like. None of the other characters managed to hold my interest for me to be invested in the book. It all seemed a little long winded.

I have to say the narrator Rebecca Norfolk did an excellent job.

I sometimes give in to my cravings for a bit of escapism and Jill Mansell is a good bet when I do. I enjoyed the book, a light hearted romance with enough comedic action for a bitter cynic like me. However I didn't enjoy the narration. A lot of words were pronounced in a really strange manner and I found myself getting sidetracked by these.

I enjoyed this book but it wasn’t my favourite by Jill mansell. For me it did kind of drag a bit & that’s not normally the case with her books.

It’s been a while since I read a Jill Mansell book but this didn’t disappoint, I enjoyed the way the characters interweave and there is no filling it’s all story and leaves you wanting more

I really enjoy Jill Mansell’s warm hearted novels and January is the perfect time to be transported to the Cornish setting of The Wedding of the Year. The novel opens at the wedding of Freya and Cameron where we are introduced to the other main female characters. There’s Lottie, who meets Max who she hasn’t seen for 13 years, Ruby, a children’s writer married to Peter the local vicar and Iris who discovers the secret that will change the lives of the women.
It took me a while to get into the novel as I found it difficult initially to differentiate between all the characters and there seemed to be too much going on. However I persevered and the characters and their stories fell into place. I enjoyed some storylines more than others and was particularly drawn to Ruby and when the narrative moved away from her I was keen for it to return. I was intrigued by her marriage to a vicar and its breakdown and I feel that this would have been a more satisfying novel if it focussed solely on Ruby. I wasn’t invested in Lottie and Max’s relationship and found myself irritated with their annoying behaviour towards each other.
Rebecca Norfolk does an excellent job of narrating. Her tone is warm and chatty and she really brought the characters alive for me.
I loved the setting and really felt transported to a small community in Cornwall.
A mixed listen for me but this still had the author’s characteristic warmth and well drawn characters with excellent narration.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to and review this digital audiobook.
3.5 stars.

Quite a lot of characters to get to know so it took a little while for me to connect with them and sink into the story. However, after a few chapters I was transported to a village full of interesting people harbouring secrets, lies and heartache, but ultimately, it ends with love. Yes, it’s predictable but sometimes you need the outcome to be just that - you may know how it will end but it’s the journey there that counts. Nicely narrated by Rebecca Norfolk.

This is everything you’d expect from Jill Mansell, light, funny, feel good coziness with a heap of drama on the side for good measure.

A full cast of adorable characters, well written and perfectly crafted. The narration was lovely.

Sheer unadulterated escapism wrapped in a pretty bow with a beautiful ending. You can’t ask for more than that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review.

🎧Audio Book Review🎧

The Wedding Of The Year
Jill Mansell

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

As expected, this was a lovely, light-hearted and feel-good read that I was completely immersed in right from the start!

The story focusses on the lives of our three main characters, Freya, Ruby and Lottie and their respective families and love interests.

We begin our journey at the start of Freya and Cam's wedding, but before the bride can set foot into the church, the vicar gets a bit of a surprise and the guests are gossipping....

Overall, there is quite a cast of characters to get to grips with - but they all play their parts within the main storylines beautifully and it became quite simple to keep track of who is who as the stories progressed.

Being based in a small Cornish village, we soon see how each of the stories and all the characters interconnect and although the storylines are separate, they weave around each other perfectly, coming in and out of contact with each other seamlessly.

I actually loved all of the characters - even those who (given their actions) I would normally have not gelled with.
I think the strong personalities, bonds within the community and dynamics in the relationships all endeared them to me.

I loved the combination of the three different storylines - each with their own history and issues - I was totally invested in them all and willing things to all turn out for the best.

I did find it a little odd that some of the relationships started so abruptly - there was no beating around the bush let's say!
But I was just so invested in the whole thing that I let these slide!
Don't go overthinking it - just dive in and enjoy the whirlwind!

I think that this could be the first Jill Mansell book I've read (😬 I know....how is that possible!?) - but I absolutely adored it and will definitely be adding a few more to my TBR now.




💕Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my ARC copy - this is my honest review 💕