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Wedding Magic
A woman with a dream of romance-and some sparkling summer magic.
Incurably romantic dressmaker Sophie Bennet finds her attention divided between the handsome single father of a young bride-to-be, and the mystical appearance of a ghost-bride with a haunting message.
Incurably romantic dressmaker Sophie Bennet finds her attention divided between the handsome single father of a young bride-to-be, and the mystical appearance of a ghost-bride with a haunting message.
336 pages, Paperback
First published August 2, 2011
72 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Coughlin
47 books18 followersPatricia Coughlin won the 1999 RITA® in the Short Historical category for her novel Merely Married. She is also a Romantic Times Magazine "Career Achievement Award" winner. Coughlin, who also wrote under the name Liz Grady, graduated from Providence College. She began her writing career in 1982.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 16, 2012
Blue Ribbon Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Original Review Link
Sophia Bennett is fairly content to create wedding magic from behind the scenes at Seasons, the wedding and event-planning business her stepmother founded. But when an important client’s daughter decides she wants to have her wedding at the “Princess House,” a private estate in Newport, Sophie finds herself on a mission to convince the owner to open up his home for a dream wedding.
Scarred by tragedy and locked away from the world, Owen Winters doesn’t want anyone traipsing around his estate, never mind an entire wedding’s worth of people. Yet something about Sophie calls to him, and Owen can’t ignore the fact that she’s the only other person who seems to notice the ghost residing in his home. Agreeing to the wedding is the only way he can arrange to spend more time with Sophie, so he does. However, the wedding is the last thing the ghost in his house wants, and she’ll do anything to stop it. As Owen and Sophie work together to handle the ghost, their mutual attraction becomes too much to deny. But Sophie’s a hopeless romantic and Owen gave up dreams of happily-ever-after long ago. Is there any hope for such a pairing?
Patricia Coughlin dazzles with this bright and airy tale of love, hope and, yes, a little wedding magic. It’s impossible not to fall in love with Sophie and Owen. Sophie is an intelligent, hardworking woman who tends to fade into the background. She deserves the spotlight, and it’s easy to become invested in WEDDING MAGIC from the very first page because you want to see Sophie get her day in the sun. She’s a practical woman who is also a dreamer and a romantic, yet she’s never had the happily-ever-after she longs for. Owen gives her what she needs. She’s front and center in his mind, which charmed the heck out of me long before he himself did. Owen isn’t exactly a cuddly hero. He’s almost hostile to outsiders and wants nothing more than to be left alone to work. The why of it, I won’t reveal, save that it’s utterly heartbreaking. He has such a great capacity to love that my heart melted. As a pair, Sophie and Owen are phenomenal.
The plot of WEDDING MAGIC centers not only around the wedding that Sophie is planning, but also on the ghost of a bride who wants to call the celebration to a halt. To say much about the ghost would spoil the fun of WEDDING MAGIC, so I’ll leave it by saying that she is every bit as important to WEDDING MAGIC as Sophie and Owen are, and she’s also as fully fleshed out as her living counterparts.
WEDDING MAGIC is pure delight to read from beginning to end. Ms. Coughlin has delivered a fast-paced, engaging story that was impossible for me to put down. WEDDING MAGIC is the first book I’ve read by Ms. Coughlin but it definitely won’t be the last.
Note: My review was written for Romance Junkies and is cross-posted here courtesy of Romance Junkies.
Original Review Link
Sophia Bennett is fairly content to create wedding magic from behind the scenes at Seasons, the wedding and event-planning business her stepmother founded. But when an important client’s daughter decides she wants to have her wedding at the “Princess House,” a private estate in Newport, Sophie finds herself on a mission to convince the owner to open up his home for a dream wedding.
Scarred by tragedy and locked away from the world, Owen Winters doesn’t want anyone traipsing around his estate, never mind an entire wedding’s worth of people. Yet something about Sophie calls to him, and Owen can’t ignore the fact that she’s the only other person who seems to notice the ghost residing in his home. Agreeing to the wedding is the only way he can arrange to spend more time with Sophie, so he does. However, the wedding is the last thing the ghost in his house wants, and she’ll do anything to stop it. As Owen and Sophie work together to handle the ghost, their mutual attraction becomes too much to deny. But Sophie’s a hopeless romantic and Owen gave up dreams of happily-ever-after long ago. Is there any hope for such a pairing?
Patricia Coughlin dazzles with this bright and airy tale of love, hope and, yes, a little wedding magic. It’s impossible not to fall in love with Sophie and Owen. Sophie is an intelligent, hardworking woman who tends to fade into the background. She deserves the spotlight, and it’s easy to become invested in WEDDING MAGIC from the very first page because you want to see Sophie get her day in the sun. She’s a practical woman who is also a dreamer and a romantic, yet she’s never had the happily-ever-after she longs for. Owen gives her what she needs. She’s front and center in his mind, which charmed the heck out of me long before he himself did. Owen isn’t exactly a cuddly hero. He’s almost hostile to outsiders and wants nothing more than to be left alone to work. The why of it, I won’t reveal, save that it’s utterly heartbreaking. He has such a great capacity to love that my heart melted. As a pair, Sophie and Owen are phenomenal.
The plot of WEDDING MAGIC centers not only around the wedding that Sophie is planning, but also on the ghost of a bride who wants to call the celebration to a halt. To say much about the ghost would spoil the fun of WEDDING MAGIC, so I’ll leave it by saying that she is every bit as important to WEDDING MAGIC as Sophie and Owen are, and she’s also as fully fleshed out as her living counterparts.
WEDDING MAGIC is pure delight to read from beginning to end. Ms. Coughlin has delivered a fast-paced, engaging story that was impossible for me to put down. WEDDING MAGIC is the first book I’ve read by Ms. Coughlin but it definitely won’t be the last.
Note: My review was written for Romance Junkies and is cross-posted here courtesy of Romance Junkies.
August 4, 2011
Wedding Magic by Patricia Coughlin
Contemporary Romance – Aug. 2nd, 2011
4 stars
Light and entertaining, this contemporary romance is a charming beach read.
Sophie Bennett works with her stepsister in their wedding planning business. She is the background girl who puts out all the fires and keeps thing together. Conservative and responsible Sophie secretly longs for excitement. When she is assigned to book a beautiful house for a wedding she must persuade the grumpy new owner, Owen Winters to agree.
When they first meet Owen wants nothing to do with a wedding planner, let alone have people over at his house. He wants to be alone! Embittered and divorced he doesn't believe in love. But the pretty wedding planner named Sophie somehow gets him to agree! Throw into the mix a strong willed ghost named Ivy who once owned the beautiful house. Ivy feels that Owen needs a woman's touch and wants to pair up Sophie with Owen but doesn't want a wedding at ‘her’house.
This was an easy and lighthearted read about two lonely people who find love unexpectedly. Both are at times in their lives when they are at crossroads. Owen is unwillingly attracted to Sophie and finds himself demanding to spend time with her or he will not let his house be used for the upcoming wedding. With Sophie he slowly looses his bitterness and starts to fall in love again. Meanwhile, Sophie becomes a bit of a Cinderella when a mentoring ghost gives her a make over and some good advice. And she discovers she isn't quite as conservative or boring as she thinks.
Sweet and cheerful this is a book to make you believe in the power of love
Contemporary Romance – Aug. 2nd, 2011
4 stars
Light and entertaining, this contemporary romance is a charming beach read.
Sophie Bennett works with her stepsister in their wedding planning business. She is the background girl who puts out all the fires and keeps thing together. Conservative and responsible Sophie secretly longs for excitement. When she is assigned to book a beautiful house for a wedding she must persuade the grumpy new owner, Owen Winters to agree.
When they first meet Owen wants nothing to do with a wedding planner, let alone have people over at his house. He wants to be alone! Embittered and divorced he doesn't believe in love. But the pretty wedding planner named Sophie somehow gets him to agree! Throw into the mix a strong willed ghost named Ivy who once owned the beautiful house. Ivy feels that Owen needs a woman's touch and wants to pair up Sophie with Owen but doesn't want a wedding at ‘her’house.
This was an easy and lighthearted read about two lonely people who find love unexpectedly. Both are at times in their lives when they are at crossroads. Owen is unwillingly attracted to Sophie and finds himself demanding to spend time with her or he will not let his house be used for the upcoming wedding. With Sophie he slowly looses his bitterness and starts to fall in love again. Meanwhile, Sophie becomes a bit of a Cinderella when a mentoring ghost gives her a make over and some good advice. And she discovers she isn't quite as conservative or boring as she thinks.
Sweet and cheerful this is a book to make you believe in the power of love
September 26, 2011
This is the first book I have read by this author, but I do not think it will be the last. Great characters. Who doesn't enjoy a good ghost story where it has a happy ever after ending. It is a miss of Cinderella and the family ghost all mixed into one.
November 8, 2011
Wedding Magic By Patricia Coughlin
Grade B+
“Owen, you have to listen to me. Something happened upstairs. I know this is going to sound crazy, but you have to listen because I swear every word is true. I think there’s a ghost in your house.”
Sophie Bennett has never been lucky in love herself but makes her living successfully planning weddings for people who are. When Sophie is picked over her two stepsisters to be in charge of the biggest wedding of the season, she knows this could be her time to step out of her stepsister’s shadows and shine. Her first task is to get the owner of Ange de la Mer, or “The Princess House” as it’s called, to agree to let the wedding take place there in eight short weeks. Sophie will do anything to get the house for her client, even if it means dealing with the unhappy owner and his even more unhappy house guest who will stop at nothing to make sure the wedding doesn’t take place at Ange de la Mer.
Owen Winters is a successful writer who can buy anything he wants which is what he did when he bought Ange de la Mer on a whim. He never expected to have a live in ghost who likes to move his beer bottles and leave wet towels in his bed. When Sophie Bennett shows up on his doorstep one day asking to use his house for a wedding his first response in to say no, that is until he realizes that Sophie can see the ghost too. He agrees to let them use the house hoping that Sophie will be able to help him with his ghost problem. As they spend more time together Owen soon discovers that Sophie might be able to help him not only get rid of his ghost but she might also be able to get rid of the ghosts from his past and help him start to live his life again.
This book was such a great surprise and I could not put it down because I just had to find out what was going to happen next. I find that there are few books out there like Wedding Magic and I wish there were more because it was so nice to have a paranormal romance without any characters being non humans. I find that in many paranormal romances the characters are vampires, witches, ect. and not humans living normal human lives. Granted there was a talking ghost in this book but I did find it a much more “normal” paranormal romance then I’m used to and I really enjoyed it because of this fact.
I loved both of the main characters and I found they way they were drawn together and how their relationship evolved to be written so beautifully. Sophie, I felt, hovered the line of being annoying but every time I felt she was going in that direction she did something to make me laugh or she stopped the “poor me” routine, put on her big girl panties and did what she needed to do. Owen is everything that an alpha male lead should be and I would like to add him to my list of book boyfriends. The only thing I had a problem with were that it took him so long to come to his senses about Sophie. I understood it took that long for the flow of the story but as a reader I got impatient and wanted them to get to the romance stuff sooner.
The ghost aspect of the book was the best part and it kept Wedding Magic from being just another love story and made it into something so new, exciting and wonderful all at the same time. I really loved how the ghost helped bring the two characters together and how the ghost went from being kind of scary and evil to almost being a fairy godmother in disguise. I really loved that all of the questions and mysteries in the book were tied up at the end and you knew exactly what happened to every character. Without the ghost and the mystery surrounding the ghost I can’t say that I would have liked Wedding Magic as much as I did.
This was the first book that I’ve read by Patricia Coughlin and I cannot wait to read books that she’s written. I thought this was one of the best books that I have read in a very long time and I can even see myself re-reading it. It was a very quick read and the story makes it hard for you to put it down. It’s the perfect book to get lost in on a nice sunny day by the pool or the beach. Again, I loved this book and if you enjoy a great paranormal romance this is a book that you have to read.
Grade B+
“Owen, you have to listen to me. Something happened upstairs. I know this is going to sound crazy, but you have to listen because I swear every word is true. I think there’s a ghost in your house.”
Sophie Bennett has never been lucky in love herself but makes her living successfully planning weddings for people who are. When Sophie is picked over her two stepsisters to be in charge of the biggest wedding of the season, she knows this could be her time to step out of her stepsister’s shadows and shine. Her first task is to get the owner of Ange de la Mer, or “The Princess House” as it’s called, to agree to let the wedding take place there in eight short weeks. Sophie will do anything to get the house for her client, even if it means dealing with the unhappy owner and his even more unhappy house guest who will stop at nothing to make sure the wedding doesn’t take place at Ange de la Mer.
Owen Winters is a successful writer who can buy anything he wants which is what he did when he bought Ange de la Mer on a whim. He never expected to have a live in ghost who likes to move his beer bottles and leave wet towels in his bed. When Sophie Bennett shows up on his doorstep one day asking to use his house for a wedding his first response in to say no, that is until he realizes that Sophie can see the ghost too. He agrees to let them use the house hoping that Sophie will be able to help him with his ghost problem. As they spend more time together Owen soon discovers that Sophie might be able to help him not only get rid of his ghost but she might also be able to get rid of the ghosts from his past and help him start to live his life again.
This book was such a great surprise and I could not put it down because I just had to find out what was going to happen next. I find that there are few books out there like Wedding Magic and I wish there were more because it was so nice to have a paranormal romance without any characters being non humans. I find that in many paranormal romances the characters are vampires, witches, ect. and not humans living normal human lives. Granted there was a talking ghost in this book but I did find it a much more “normal” paranormal romance then I’m used to and I really enjoyed it because of this fact.
I loved both of the main characters and I found they way they were drawn together and how their relationship evolved to be written so beautifully. Sophie, I felt, hovered the line of being annoying but every time I felt she was going in that direction she did something to make me laugh or she stopped the “poor me” routine, put on her big girl panties and did what she needed to do. Owen is everything that an alpha male lead should be and I would like to add him to my list of book boyfriends. The only thing I had a problem with were that it took him so long to come to his senses about Sophie. I understood it took that long for the flow of the story but as a reader I got impatient and wanted them to get to the romance stuff sooner.
The ghost aspect of the book was the best part and it kept Wedding Magic from being just another love story and made it into something so new, exciting and wonderful all at the same time. I really loved how the ghost helped bring the two characters together and how the ghost went from being kind of scary and evil to almost being a fairy godmother in disguise. I really loved that all of the questions and mysteries in the book were tied up at the end and you knew exactly what happened to every character. Without the ghost and the mystery surrounding the ghost I can’t say that I would have liked Wedding Magic as much as I did.
This was the first book that I’ve read by Patricia Coughlin and I cannot wait to read books that she’s written. I thought this was one of the best books that I have read in a very long time and I can even see myself re-reading it. It was a very quick read and the story makes it hard for you to put it down. It’s the perfect book to get lost in on a nice sunny day by the pool or the beach. Again, I loved this book and if you enjoy a great paranormal romance this is a book that you have to read.
November 17, 2011
Another boring book with people I didn't care for. I didn't really like, or feel like I got to know anyone. This is a first time I've read this author is it will be the last. You shouldn't be thinking to yourself as your reading "please kill me now" With some many books I still need to read in life I'm just moving on.
November 18, 2011
I wanted to like this book but just couldn't. I felt that the characters were developed poorly and that some of key/more important plot points were not explained well. The concept and idea were fresh and had potenial but I just thought the execution fell flat. : (
June 16, 2012
Magical and delightful. Owen comes from an interesting background. I could not help but fall in love with Sophie's optimism. Ivy was an interesting additional. I was pulled into the story and kept in the story as Ivy tries to keep a wedding from happening in her home. A good June read.
December 29, 2012
First of all I think there should be more communication between characters & less "mental talking". Don't get me wrong when you get rid of the "mental talking" the book was great. I really enjoyed the individual characters.
June 10, 2013
A funny riff on "Blythe Spirit." Sophie Bennett charms her way into Ange de la mer a local historical mansion, and meets its grumpy new owner, Owen Winter.
Add a ghost set on stoping the wedding and you have an entertaining summer read.
Add a ghost set on stoping the wedding and you have an entertaining summer read.
June 10, 2011
review to come
August 12, 2016
A charming, upbeat, quick read. The storyline is a little bit silly, but you feel good reading it and close it happy.
February 24, 2012
A Cinderella tale with an annoyed bitch of a ghost as the Fairy Godmother. Sweet, breezy, and well-written.
July 13, 2020
I didn't read this book jacket very carefully, so I wasn't aware that it was a paranormal romance. It wasn't too bad, despite the ghost who can apparently sort through a closet and carry clothing.
December 27, 2015
A happy ending, just what a romantic like me loves!
August 3, 2017
The concept and premise sounded delightful and entertaining, but the execution was poor. I was waiting for magic to happen, but I was left disappointed.
Rating: dry as dust.
Rating: dry as dust.
June 16, 2015
Lame.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews