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The Bridesmaid Chronicles #4
First Love
Just as bride-to-be Julia Spinelli is about to throw the swankiest wedding Fredericksburg, Texas, has ever seen, in roll her Jersey parents in all their tacky glory-and out rolls her hope for happily-ever-after. If she can't convince her father that her fiancé is head-over-heels for her and not her trust fund, the wedding is off.
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 6, 2005
1 person is currently reading
184 people want to read
About the author
Julie Kenner
161 books1,241 followersJ. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and International bestselling author of over seventy novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres.
Though known primarily for her award-winning and international bestselling erotic romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of genres including paranormal and contemporary romance, “chicklit” suspense, urban fantasy, Victorian-era thrillers (coming soon), and paranormal mommy lit.
Her foray into the latter, Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner, has been consistently in development in Hollywood since prior to publication. Most recently, it has been optioned by Warner Brothers Television for development as series on the CW Network with Alloy Entertainment producing.
JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swopn for him.” A three time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award, JK took home the first RITA trophy awarded in the category of erotic romance in 2014 for her novel, Claim Me (book 2 of her Stark Trilogy).
Her books have sold well over a million copies and are published in over over twenty countries.
In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.
Though known primarily for her award-winning and international bestselling erotic romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of genres including paranormal and contemporary romance, “chicklit” suspense, urban fantasy, Victorian-era thrillers (coming soon), and paranormal mommy lit.
Her foray into the latter, Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner, has been consistently in development in Hollywood since prior to publication. Most recently, it has been optioned by Warner Brothers Television for development as series on the CW Network with Alloy Entertainment producing.
JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swopn for him.” A three time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award, JK took home the first RITA trophy awarded in the category of erotic romance in 2014 for her novel, Claim Me (book 2 of her Stark Trilogy).
Her books have sold well over a million copies and are published in over over twenty countries.
In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 28, 2011
Finally we come to the wedding couple who have been prominent figures throughout each book up to this point. Well, maybe not in the disaster of Book 2, but close enough. Julia and Roman fell in love very quickly, which is what brought her sister to Texas to begin with. He’s nearly broke, sinking all of his money into the family winery while hoping everything works out. That’s exactly why Sydney thought he was after Julia for her money.
But after falling in love so quickly herself and getting to know Roman more, Sydney now realizes he’s a good man and her sister is lucky to have him. It’s Julia herself who is now having doubts. She thought they knew enough about one another to get married, even though she’s never told Roman more about her parents. He does a little about them, considering their fathers have a shaky past. Though she loves her mom and dad, they are quite classless and tacky, and the scenes that get this point across are actually pretty hilarious and priceless.
On top of this, Roman doesn’t seem to listen to Julia when she tells him what she wants and likes when it comes to the important things between them. The next she knows the entire wedding is on a downhill slide and it’s five days until the big day. They both have secrets they’ve never shared, feeling those secrets would be the deal breaker in their relationship. but when they finally come clean, only more doubt settles in. Choosing to postpone the wedding, Julia feels it’s better to wait, to really get to know each other, but will their love survive a longer engagement?
While I did enjoy this book, I was a little surprised at the direction it took after Julia being so stalwart in the first three books on how much she loves Roman and knows him plenty enough to get married. I kind of felt I’d wasted my time in all the previous reading. But I ended up being okay with it all because of the way Roman took care of things and gave me a fairly good ending. The other characters are still present a good part of the book, excluding Kiki - thank goodness! - so I’m pretty happy overall with this last book in the series.
See my complete review at http://www.goodbadandunread.com
But after falling in love so quickly herself and getting to know Roman more, Sydney now realizes he’s a good man and her sister is lucky to have him. It’s Julia herself who is now having doubts. She thought they knew enough about one another to get married, even though she’s never told Roman more about her parents. He does a little about them, considering their fathers have a shaky past. Though she loves her mom and dad, they are quite classless and tacky, and the scenes that get this point across are actually pretty hilarious and priceless.
On top of this, Roman doesn’t seem to listen to Julia when she tells him what she wants and likes when it comes to the important things between them. The next she knows the entire wedding is on a downhill slide and it’s five days until the big day. They both have secrets they’ve never shared, feeling those secrets would be the deal breaker in their relationship. but when they finally come clean, only more doubt settles in. Choosing to postpone the wedding, Julia feels it’s better to wait, to really get to know each other, but will their love survive a longer engagement?
While I did enjoy this book, I was a little surprised at the direction it took after Julia being so stalwart in the first three books on how much she loves Roman and knows him plenty enough to get married. I kind of felt I’d wasted my time in all the previous reading. But I ended up being okay with it all because of the way Roman took care of things and gave me a fairly good ending. The other characters are still present a good part of the book, excluding Kiki - thank goodness! - so I’m pretty happy overall with this last book in the series.
See my complete review at http://www.goodbadandunread.com
December 7, 2013
Hmm… So we finally get to meet the happy couple whose upcoming nuptials are behind the previous 3 books. Roman and Julia met, had a whirlwind courtship, and are attempting to put on a huge wedding about as quickly as they got engaged. Only, due to Kiki's constant distracting of the wedding planner, not much has been actually done. The wedding is in 5 days. It gets better. The dress shop the h is getting her dress from files for bankruptcy, forcing her to find another dress. And the H's winery is in a financial bind. The h's parents come and manage to stir up all sorts of issues, leaving her with no place to host the wedding either.
So the h is understandably frustrated. I might have run screaming into the night (or committed murder, not sure).
The H, for reasons of pride, is reluctant to tell her of his financial woes. Apparently it never occurred to him that by his withholding that bit of info, he might come across as marrying her for her money (well, actually her sister and friend DID wonder about that). And then, rather than accepting her help, he decides to go into a deal He also replaces the heirloom ring with fake stone with a huge real diamond he can't afford.
Much to his surprise, she postpones the wedding during the rehearsal dinner. Yeah; he groveled. And yes; the wedding did happen. Still…
I dunno… I think her worries about a perfect wedding, coupled with a huge lack of time (I got the feeling this series just took a few weeks) maybe were too ambitious, and maybe a bit of forethought going into this was needed. Granted, even with great planning, things slip up on you BUT… no way would I have left it to the last minute to PICK UP MY DRESS. As for other things… well, a lot of that was due to them rushing into it.
So the h is understandably frustrated. I might have run screaming into the night (or committed murder, not sure).
The H, for reasons of pride, is reluctant to tell her of his financial woes. Apparently it never occurred to him that by his withholding that bit of info, he might come across as marrying her for her money (well, actually her sister and friend DID wonder about that). And then, rather than accepting her help, he decides to go into a deal He also replaces the heirloom ring with fake stone with a huge real diamond he can't afford.
Much to his surprise, she postpones the wedding during the rehearsal dinner. Yeah; he groveled. And yes; the wedding did happen. Still…
I dunno… I think her worries about a perfect wedding, coupled with a huge lack of time (I got the feeling this series just took a few weeks) maybe were too ambitious, and maybe a bit of forethought going into this was needed. Granted, even with great planning, things slip up on you BUT… no way would I have left it to the last minute to PICK UP MY DRESS. As for other things… well, a lot of that was due to them rushing into it.
June 5, 2011
I really like Julie Kenner's writing - especially the eclectic superhero's series so I didn't hesitate to pick this book up. It was cute. Just kind of cute. Julia is going to marry her Texas boyfriend she hasn't known very long. Turns out he is the son of a man her father has been feuding with for years. Marv, her dad, was the one character that kept me reading. He was hilarious. Other than Marv, this was a typical girl fights for her right to marry who she wants book.
October 30, 2014
I don't know if it is because Roman and Julia are already together and I've known it for three books now, but this was my least favorite of the series.
All the mystery and passion was gone because these two were already in love and trusted each other enough that misunderstandings didn't last and that it just didn't seem like an interesting read.
The other three were great, but this one fell a little flat.
All the mystery and passion was gone because these two were already in love and trusted each other enough that misunderstandings didn't last and that it just didn't seem like an interesting read.
The other three were great, but this one fell a little flat.
March 7, 2008
3/7/2008 - Oh my goodness...the best book of the series! It was a culmination of all 3 previous books plus the fabulous wedding! I liked how at the end of the book, there were letters from the 3 main characters from the other 3 books!
June 12, 2015
The final book in the Bridesmaids Chronicles and I am glad the series is over. I only kept reading them because I bought them all and wanted to get my money’s worth. Lesson Learned: Never buy an entire series before you’ve read at least the first book.
December 8, 2013
page 118 :
"I think love is supposed to be a little scary. Sometimes it hits you in the gut and knocks the wind out of you. Sometimes it's a slow burn. We got hit. No," he corrected, "we got slammed. And now we've got each other to hold on to through the storm."
November 9, 2007
read 09.13.07
July 19, 2014
This is probably the worst of the bridesmaid chronicles. Sorry to say it just fell flat on its face. Karen wrote two of them four and it was great but this one was terrible.
November 27, 2014
pretty good
June 20, 2015
This book in the series just wasn't as good as the two written by Karen Kendall.
November 13, 2010
Didn't get very far into this book before I decided to put it down...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews