If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know that Jill Mansell is my OG when it comes to romance. Her stories never miss for me, heartwarming, hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking and filled with such relatable characters, she switfly became an insta pick author, and The Wedding of the Year might just be my favourite out of her most recent books.
I think one of the things I love about Mansell’s stories are all the interweaving story lines. Yes, she has her main characters, her main romances and stories to follow, but there are always plenty of smaller characters and storylines to keep us entertained and add to the drama and heart that fills these books. Lottie and Max are by far the stars of this book, star crossed lovers, doomed to never be together because of an event from their past, but when they run into each other at a mutual friends wedding the sparks they’ve tried so hard to push down ignite, their connection is still there all those years later, but they’re out of bounds for each other, something they might need to tell their hearts before they fall too deep.
And then there’s Ruby, famous author and vicar’s wife. She has a simple but happy life, until she finds out a truth about her husband she never saw coming. One that fills her with an understandable rage and causes her to act impulsively, an act that will change the rest of her life. But alongside these there’s also Isla and Cameron, the seemingly perfect couple, but both maybe not what they seem. These are just a few of the characters and relationships we meet throughout the story, and though these may get the most page time, it doesn’t mean we don’t get as invested in the others.
Jill always sets her stories in the most beautiful and tranquil of settings and I absolutely plan on travelling down to Cornwall one day and visiting all my favourite places from her books. The generally small town settings, in villages where everyone knows everyone, where there’s nowhere to hide, add a homely and sometimes humorous undertone to her books. And I especially love how she weaves in characters and places from her previous books into the stories, giving those of us that have poured over her backlog a lovely little surprise when characters and settings we remember turn up.
Her romances might not be steamy or spicy, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t filled with their own kind of tension. Lottie and Max spend the majority of their book in love, but so sure that they can never do anything about it. Ruby gets herself into a situation filled with misunderstandings and near misses and Isla, Isla for me was the most relatable of them all and I cackled out loud at some of the situations she gets herself into. All of her characters are so well written, they’re not necessarily the best of people, but that just makes them seem more real and relatable, and despite the lack of spice, Mansell makes sure we get invested on the journey these characters take.
I loved this one, it was so much fun and I especially loved the twists that were thrown in and how they were dealt with. It’s perfect for romance readers who love interweaving storylines, hilarious and real characters and romances that you can’t help but get invested in.