The Wedding Machine

Book:  The Wedding Machine

Author:  Beth Webb Hart

285 pages

Welcome to Jasper, South Carolina.  A place where Southern hospitality thrives.  Where social occasions are done right. And where, for generations, the four most upstanding ladies of the community ensure that the daughters of Jasper are married in the proper manner.

Friends from school days, "the gals" have longed pooled their silver, china & know-how to pull off beautiful events.  They're a force of a nature, a well-oiled machine.  But the wedding machine's gears start to stick during the summer their own daughters line up to tie the knot.  In the lowcountry heat & humidity, tempers flare, old secrets leak out ... & both love & gardenias bloom in unlikely places.

This is a celebration of life-long friendship - the kind that endures death & divorce, accidents & alligators, hot flashes & hurricans.  Even the drama of a small-town Southern weddings done exactly right.
________________

I was looking forward to this book with it being a Women of Faith Fiction.  And I did enjoy the story of the friendships - especially of Southern women - who love their sweet tea & everything "Southern Hospitatility"...

The story of Ray, Kitty B, Hilda & Sis - 4 women who have stayed friends from the 60's into today - where some of their own children are getting married.  They each had their own personalities & stories...

I'm glad I kept my "cheat card" though because with the four women & all their children & their fiances & spouses - WOW - lots of names getting thrown around here!

The story - well, it was a cute story - but just odd.  To me, there were wasnt so much an "ending" - so many open stories that didnt have closure.  That was a weird thing for me...One of the husbands is ill - what happened to him?  One of the daughters went against her mother & married someone else - what happened to them?  One of the friends is still locked inside of her home for goodness sakes... what becomes of her?  I guess I can just take the "They lived happily ever after" approach - but that did disappoint me about the book.

I did laugh at scenes in the book & could totally appreciate the Southern Weddings these ladies pulled together.  Laughing at the idea that "Video taping" a wedding is just horrid!  I wonder if real southern belles still exist like these ladies?  Hope so!

If you like a nice, easy read (dont forget the cheat card though) on friendships, you'd have a good time with this story - but I personally could take it or leave it...Its definitely not horrible though...

My Rating:  3 skeins