2 out of 4 stars
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See Bride Run! by Charlotte Hughes is a contemporary romance novel with likable characters yet a predictable plot which earned it a two out of four stars rating.
Considering the author has won awards and accolades, I expected a much better story. Aside from the minor punctuation and spelling errors, the book summary really didn’t match the story. For instance, Annie, the bride, did leave her bridegroom standing at the altar and did hijack the limousine and drive to a little town called Pinckney, Georgia. But it wasn’t because she didn’t think she could live with a man she didn’t love. That epiphany came much later. There was no disputing that she detested her fiancé but there was more to the story which I found to be more compelling.
When she met Sam for the first time, she gave him a lot of attitude. He didn’t appreciate it and although he did help, he didn’t like her. I failed to see where or how they fell in love. On one page, he’s angry with her. On the next, he’s kissing her. Things just go bing-bang-boom and then it’s over. Nothing leads up to the first kiss. It just happens. Kindness or maybe compassion leads to him helping her but I never got the sense that it was love. It was more like he was just trying to help someone in need. There was no chemistry between Annie and Sam.
The book summary also led me to believe that Annie was going to have some real problems living without money and adjusting to a more mediocre lifestyle. I didn’t see that, either. She struggled, of course, but it wasn’t as dreadful as I thought it would be. Going from billions of dollars at your disposal to nothing but the clothes on your back in a three-hour time frame could be very dramatic and devastating. The author didn’t pursue that.
Annie did learn a lot about friendship and living life like the rest of us but these were not hard lessons for her. She didn’t seem to worry about anything. She knew everybody had her back and it seemed like she took that for granted.
There were some parts of the novel that were totally unrealistic and detracted from the story. I love fiction but I like to keep it believable. What was made abundantly clear was that when Annie had escaped the church, she’d left her purse and had nothing but the oversized, opulent wedding dress she was wearing. However, there was a part in the story where she miraculously produced an Appraisal and a Certificate of Insurance. Where did those come from?
I didn’t like the end. It seemed abrupt, rushed and went along with the predictability that was so prevalent throughout the story. So much could have been added that would have affirmed the love between Annie and Sam but I was left scratching my head, wondering what had just happened.
With the characters that made brief appearances at the beginning, so much more could have been done with the story. Bic had a small interest in Annie but we never saw him or the car again after he towed it to his garage. Marge, the town gossip, may have ruffled some feathers somewhere and even the Petrie Sisters could have gotten in on the action but nothing was done with these characters when there was so much potential. I see it as a missed opportunity for the author that left me, the reader, disappointed.
Overall, the book lacks the “wow factor” and is lacking details that would have made this a whirlwind of a story. It is an easy book to read but lacked depth.
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See Bride Run!
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