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The Bridesmaid Chronicles #1
First Date
In the first volume in a quartet of novels centered around the forthcoming nuptials of Julia Spinelli, a wealthy New Jersey girl, and Texas aristocrat Roman Sonntag, Sydney Spinelli is doing her best to prevent the forthcoming wedding of her younger sister and her Texas boyfriend, only to find herself falling for the groom's sexy best friend Alex. Original.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 7, 2005
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About the author
Karen Kendall
44 books36 followersKaren Kendall is the author of many disasters and nine romantic comedies. She grew up in Austin, Texas, and credits her early interest in writing to several teachers and her mother, a professor of comparative literature.
A graduate of Smith College, Karen studied the mysteries of modern and contemporary art before enrolling in a masters program in Museum Education, with the aim of teaching children about art. She worked for several museums and galleries before following her lifelong dream and completing a novel.
Karen is still a big fan of children's art, but she now writes full time and lives in Florida with her husband, Don, and attack-cat Boo, who turns up her nose at chicken and fish but adores asparagus and mint-chocolate-chip ice cream.
A graduate of Smith College, Karen studied the mysteries of modern and contemporary art before enrolling in a masters program in Museum Education, with the aim of teaching children about art. She worked for several museums and galleries before following her lifelong dream and completing a novel.
Karen is still a big fan of children's art, but she now writes full time and lives in Florida with her husband, Don, and attack-cat Boo, who turns up her nose at chicken and fish but adores asparagus and mint-chocolate-chip ice cream.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 26, 2008
This popped up on an ebook community I belong to just as I was desperately craving “culture clash”-type romantic comedies. It’s about a Texan and a Jersey girl not hitting it off and then getting it on, so I thought, why not? Well, to begin with, it’s just sort of…bland. The writing’s competent, I suppose, but the people and the situation are so very, very mainstream and ordinary that a plot that’s almost 100 percent about them getting together, with next to no external conflict, isn’t very interesting at all. I mean, I know plenty of couples who are perfectly adorable, but I don’t want to read 300 pages about how they met and fell in love, either.
The one thing that could have distinguished this book, I suppose, is that it has a subplot involving Alzheimer’s. This is an important topic, certainly (sadly) relevant to a lot of people’s lives; however, it’s pretty much the last thing I want to encounter in a fluffy romantic comedy.
Anyway, all that aside, this would have passed with a “bland but okay” from me, except that as it shuffled on to the end, the slight, subliminal sexism of the main couple’s relationship suddenly made itself all too clear:
He wanted to kiss away her competence and see her trusting smile again, the joy she'd taken in feeling sexually attractive to him.
And that’s how the male protagonist went from someone I’d probably smile at absently in line at Ralph’s to someone I want to kick in the nuts. He wants to kiss away her competence? What the fucking fuck? A woman wrote this! There is something very wrong with the world when a woman would write something like that to appeal to other women.
Romances like this make me want to stay single forever. Joy.
The one thing that could have distinguished this book, I suppose, is that it has a subplot involving Alzheimer’s. This is an important topic, certainly (sadly) relevant to a lot of people’s lives; however, it’s pretty much the last thing I want to encounter in a fluffy romantic comedy.
Anyway, all that aside, this would have passed with a “bland but okay” from me, except that as it shuffled on to the end, the slight, subliminal sexism of the main couple’s relationship suddenly made itself all too clear:
He wanted to kiss away her competence and see her trusting smile again, the joy she'd taken in feeling sexually attractive to him.
And that’s how the male protagonist went from someone I’d probably smile at absently in line at Ralph’s to someone I want to kick in the nuts. He wants to kiss away her competence? What the fucking fuck? A woman wrote this! There is something very wrong with the world when a woman would write something like that to appeal to other women.
Romances like this make me want to stay single forever. Joy.
July 30, 2014
This book was in my to-be-read pile for a while, nothing surprising there considering the volume waiting. But I had tried to read it 2 or 3 times already, once puffing and sighing until page 5 and stopping there, which is definitely not a good sign. Yesterday I decided to give it another chance.
And oh surprise, I was well taken in by the story. The first meeting between Sydney and Alex, the best friend of her sister's intended, was hilarious; his bringing her to his friend after a small errand in an emu ranch was also funny; their third outing still made me smile. Those were really the good parts of the book with a funny banter.
What I liked however way less was the fact that the heroine was not consistent: she tried to fix everyone around, gave them all unsolicited though wise advice on anything, but did not do the same to fix her own life and situation with her Dad, which she complained to herself until the end of the book. Characterization in general was very limited: I'm not sure any of the characters' age being mentioned; their previous life, success and difficulties do not really exist. It was more like they appeared out of thin air, just like that. And some of the secondary characters were just loathsome, the girls' parents for instance, the intended's sister, maybe the hero's brother.
Last thing lacking big way, the ending. This was a rather short book, with 300 pages using an average to big font. The whole story takes place under one week, I believe. Less than 10 pages before the end, nothing was solved and then someone got involved and solved everything almost magically, , and the poor reader is left with no clue regarding how and where those two were headed to. I do not necessarily need an epilogue but I need a minimum of closure and there were none offered.
I would have gone to 3 stars with no problem if the ending had been more developed.
And oh surprise, I was well taken in by the story. The first meeting between Sydney and Alex, the best friend of her sister's intended, was hilarious; his bringing her to his friend after a small errand in an emu ranch was also funny; their third outing still made me smile. Those were really the good parts of the book with a funny banter.
What I liked however way less was the fact that the heroine was not consistent: she tried to fix everyone around, gave them all unsolicited though wise advice on anything, but did not do the same to fix her own life and situation with her Dad, which she complained to herself until the end of the book. Characterization in general was very limited: I'm not sure any of the characters' age being mentioned; their previous life, success and difficulties do not really exist. It was more like they appeared out of thin air, just like that. And some of the secondary characters were just loathsome, the girls' parents for instance, the intended's sister, maybe the hero's brother.
Last thing lacking big way, the ending. This was a rather short book, with 300 pages using an average to big font. The whole story takes place under one week, I believe. Less than 10 pages before the end, nothing was solved and then someone got involved and solved everything almost magically, , and the poor reader is left with no clue regarding how and where those two were headed to. I do not necessarily need an epilogue but I need a minimum of closure and there were none offered.
I would have gone to 3 stars with no problem if the ending had been more developed.
November 14, 2012
The first of a four book series entitled THE BRIDESMAID CHRONICLES, Karen Kendall's FIRST DATE starts it off with a bang! To be followed by Kylie Adams with FIRST KISS, continued by Ms. Kendall with FIRST DANCE, and finished up with Julie Kenner and FIRST LOVE, this series is sure to be a hit.
Harried and overworked Sydney "Syd" Spinelli isn't at her best when her father demands her to leave Princeton, New Jersey, and come home to South River to evaluate his accounting books. Already angry at having to jump at her father's demands, and worried about the absence of her father's bookkeeper, Betty Lou-not to mention the money that disappeared right along with her-it's no wonder she doesn't take her younger sister's email very well. It seems that Julia, whose always seemed to be the incompetent one, regardless of her job as manager of the smallest hotel in the Marv's Motor Inns motel chain, is in an even greater bind this time-she's getting married to Roman Sonntag, a man she's dated for-gulp!-one entire month.
Hightailing it to Fredericksburg, Texas, is the last thing Syd wants to do, but when Julia fails to take her sister's worry seriously via email and telephone, she knows that she's the only one who can make her sister see reason. Being irresponsible is one thing, but ruining your life by marrying a virtual stranger is, most definitely, something else entirely.
There's only one problem with Syd's plans-one best man by the name of Alex Kimball. After all, the best man's job is to make sure the wedding goes off without a hitch, right? So there's a redheaded sister-of-the-bride who wants to string him up by his boot heels on his case-Alex is sure he can handle whatever she throws his way. What neither of them bargained for was a red-hot dose of passion that makes Julia and Roman's month-long courtship look like a ten-year engagement.
Funny, witty, and sizzling, FIRST DATE is a book sure to tickle your funny bone and zap your romance button. If the following three books in THE BRIDESMAID CHRONICLES are all like this one, you'll need to make room for more books on your keeper shelf.
Harried and overworked Sydney "Syd" Spinelli isn't at her best when her father demands her to leave Princeton, New Jersey, and come home to South River to evaluate his accounting books. Already angry at having to jump at her father's demands, and worried about the absence of her father's bookkeeper, Betty Lou-not to mention the money that disappeared right along with her-it's no wonder she doesn't take her younger sister's email very well. It seems that Julia, whose always seemed to be the incompetent one, regardless of her job as manager of the smallest hotel in the Marv's Motor Inns motel chain, is in an even greater bind this time-she's getting married to Roman Sonntag, a man she's dated for-gulp!-one entire month.
Hightailing it to Fredericksburg, Texas, is the last thing Syd wants to do, but when Julia fails to take her sister's worry seriously via email and telephone, she knows that she's the only one who can make her sister see reason. Being irresponsible is one thing, but ruining your life by marrying a virtual stranger is, most definitely, something else entirely.
There's only one problem with Syd's plans-one best man by the name of Alex Kimball. After all, the best man's job is to make sure the wedding goes off without a hitch, right? So there's a redheaded sister-of-the-bride who wants to string him up by his boot heels on his case-Alex is sure he can handle whatever she throws his way. What neither of them bargained for was a red-hot dose of passion that makes Julia and Roman's month-long courtship look like a ten-year engagement.
Funny, witty, and sizzling, FIRST DATE is a book sure to tickle your funny bone and zap your romance button. If the following three books in THE BRIDESMAID CHRONICLES are all like this one, you'll need to make room for more books on your keeper shelf.
May 25, 2020
A surprising amount of emu farming happened in this book!
June 28, 2020
Nice afternoon read. This was cute with likable characters.
October 5, 2021
Very enjoyable light reading with laugh out loud scenes! Looking forward to immersing myself in book two with Kiki.
July 23, 2022
Fun, but predictable.
Read
August 17, 2022A very fast reading and cute book.
July 28, 2011
In this first book we’re actually introduced to the bride, Julia Spinelli, though it’s her sister’s book, and we don’t get Julia’s story until the fourth book in the series. It’s Julia wedding that is the connection among these four heroines. Sydney leaves her work and overbearing father behind to check out Julia’s fiance and why they’re getting married after knowing each other for only a month.
This guy has to be up to something, maybe lusting Julia’s money. Their dad, as classless as he is, has made the bucks opening his cheap inns all over the country, including the one in Texas that Julia is now managing. A prenup is in order, even if her sister doesn’t want it.
Alex is the groom’s best friend and he’s been coerced into keeping Sydney busy so she can’t interfere any more in Roman and Julia’s relationship. But that favor soon turns into something Alex doesn’t mind doing at all. Sydney may see herself as the brainy sister compared to Julia’s beauty, but he sees her in a whole different light. She’s witty, intelligent, and beautiful to him. She even knows how to handle his mother, who is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s, but Sydney needs to learn when to help and when to let go.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Alex is a true Texan cowboy with a great sense of humor to play off the normally low-key Sydney. She does at times go overboard on the interfering — and her sister lets her but Alex doesn’t — so her heart is in the right place even when it’s the wrong time. This is my first book by Karen Kendall and I liked her writing a lot. I would definitely read more of her books.
See my complete review at http://www.goodbadandunread.com
This guy has to be up to something, maybe lusting Julia’s money. Their dad, as classless as he is, has made the bucks opening his cheap inns all over the country, including the one in Texas that Julia is now managing. A prenup is in order, even if her sister doesn’t want it.
Alex is the groom’s best friend and he’s been coerced into keeping Sydney busy so she can’t interfere any more in Roman and Julia’s relationship. But that favor soon turns into something Alex doesn’t mind doing at all. Sydney may see herself as the brainy sister compared to Julia’s beauty, but he sees her in a whole different light. She’s witty, intelligent, and beautiful to him. She even knows how to handle his mother, who is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s, but Sydney needs to learn when to help and when to let go.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Alex is a true Texan cowboy with a great sense of humor to play off the normally low-key Sydney. She does at times go overboard on the interfering — and her sister lets her but Alex doesn’t — so her heart is in the right place even when it’s the wrong time. This is my first book by Karen Kendall and I liked her writing a lot. I would definitely read more of her books.
See my complete review at http://www.goodbadandunread.com
February 20, 2011
I really enjoyed reading this book. It didn't take me long at all to finish it. It was pretty light and very fun! It's a story about a snap engagement that provokes the protective sister to come in and try to stop the wedding. Of course there are misunderstandings and scheming plans and personality conflicts. That only makes the book more fun entertaining to read. The main character did get on my nerves a little bit due to the fact that she is very controlling and extremely nosy and worst of all, self-loathing. Enter sexy hero. He convinces her that she is sexy and desirable and they fall in love and she stops hating herself. Everyone lives happily ever after... at least until the next in the series, First Kiss
-recommended
-recommended
February 19, 2008
2/16/2008 - FINALLY, I get to read this series of 4 books, The Bridesmaid Chronicles. Since I am so anal about reading all of the book in a series in order, it took me a little longer to get these 4 books. BUT...I have them now and that's what I'll be reading!!
2/19/2008 - This book is HYSTERICAL! One of my favorite series is Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Her style of writing make me laugh-out-loud while reading her bokos and Stephanie is easy to relate to. I felt the same way while reading this book! So...I am off to read the next one in the series, First Kiss.
2/19/2008 - This book is HYSTERICAL! One of my favorite series is Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. Her style of writing make me laugh-out-loud while reading her bokos and Stephanie is easy to relate to. I felt the same way while reading this book! So...I am off to read the next one in the series, First Kiss.
October 30, 2014
This book first introduces you to the love between Roman Sonntag and Julia Spinelli. Good old Texas boy marrying New Jersey girl. It is great.
However, this story is about Julia's sister, Sydney, and Roman's best friend, Alex.
Sydney is trying to talk some sense into her sister, insisting that she has jumped into this engagement way too fast. In walks Alex to show Sydney otherwise.
From the moment he saw her, Alex was interested in Sydney. He tried to fight it, but he just couldn't do it.
This is such a sweet story, and a nice quick read. I love it.
However, this story is about Julia's sister, Sydney, and Roman's best friend, Alex.
Sydney is trying to talk some sense into her sister, insisting that she has jumped into this engagement way too fast. In walks Alex to show Sydney otherwise.
From the moment he saw her, Alex was interested in Sydney. He tried to fight it, but he just couldn't do it.
This is such a sweet story, and a nice quick read. I love it.
December 6, 2013
More of a 3.25.
The h was…difficult to relate to - a meddler who seemed compelled to clean up her little sister's messes. The H was… well, how do you go from juvenile games at the h's expense to ah… Yeah. Within a few days no less.
And then she overhears her sister's fiancé on the phone THANKing him for keeping her busy so she'd leave her sister alone.
With all this, I dunno…
The h was…difficult to relate to - a meddler who seemed compelled to clean up her little sister's messes. The H was… well, how do you go from juvenile games at the h's expense to ah… Yeah. Within a few days no less.
And then she overhears her sister's fiancé on the phone THANKing him for keeping her busy so she'd leave her sister alone.
With all this, I dunno…
June 10, 2015
Really a good story chocked full of humor, shenanigans, outrageous antics by the heroine. Karen Kendall books are great stories that can cause insomnia if one tends to want to know how things end even if it means being sleep deprived.
August 11, 2009
worth reading the other three in the series.
September 20, 2009
Love this! Fun and flirty!
May 28, 2010
Cute. Kind of predictable and dry and boring in other parts. I had a tough time finishing this book. 2/5 stars.
June 22, 2010
Loved this book. So Cute!
September 29, 2011
Also loved these! They were fun and cute...anything about weddings make me happy :-)
August 26, 2013
A quick, fun read!
July 7, 2014
loved it :D
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews