Thirteen Weddings - by Paige Toon

Original Cover

My own copy

The blurb:

Another scintillating tale from the bestselling author of The Longest Holiday and Lucy in the Sky.

Last year, Bronte left Sydney for a wedding in England, where she met newly single Alex. After a night of passion they parted ways, and Bronte returned to Australia.

Now working on a picture desk for a magazine in London, Bronte is about to meet her new colleague, who turns out to be all too familiar. Although awkward at first, as Alex is now engaged to the girl he was on a break from when they met, they soon become friends.

But as the two get closer, and the wedding day looms, it is clear that Alex and Bronte have unfinished business.

My Opinion:

Yay! I was screaming and dancing around when this book arrived one day before pub date. As soon as I finished the book I was reading I started with this one. Paige Toon is one of my favourite authors and I just love her writing, so I was really curious about it.

The story follows Bronte, if you already read Pictures of Lily by Paige Toon you might recognize her. It all starts at a hen night where Bronte meets gorgeous Alex and they share a night of passion, then she leaves for Australia again, where she lives.

One and a half years later she’s back in the UK, working there for a year. It turns out that Alex works at the same place and they meet again, their chemistry and connection is sparkling again, but Alex is engaged now.

That makes everything really weird and uncomfortable for both of them. Bronte is really confused.

Through a friend Bronte gets the possibility to be a photographer at weddings and she really likes it. At a wedding she meets Lachie, an Australian musician, and they become great friends, she is also very attracted to him, but there is still Alex.

Bronte has a great group of friends and I loved reading about Bridget again (remember her from The Longest Holiday?!). They meet regularly at the pub and have lots of fun. Sometimes they also accompany Bronte to weddings.

Alex is really weird sometimes; asking Bronte weird stuff and their night comes up several times. At a wedding of two of their friends they get closer and share a passionate kiss. That makes Alex ignore her for several weeks, but Bronte knows that she is in love with him. It only get weirder when she meets his fiancé.

There is Lachie as well and he’s flirting with her all the time. She likes him a lot, which only makes her feelings more confusing. She is torn between two man, not able to be with one and not wanting to hurt the other one. I really felt with her and just wanted her to find her true love. From time to time she suffered from bad dreams, connected to her childhood, we only find out towards the end, what it was all about. Lachie was there for her all the time and so caring. I really wasn’t sure whether to be on team Alex or Team Lachie, I liked them both, both definitely have book boyfriend potential. Eventually Lachie and Bronte get closer.

Wedding #13 is Alex’s wedding and Bronte has to be there and take pictures, is that really a good idea? Everything gets really interesting from this point forward, with a lot of drama, I couldn’t put the book down!!!

As a reader you really don’t know, who she’s going to pick in the end or whether Alex marries his fiancé. At a moment a got really angry with Alex, because he didn’t seem to realise the truth, only when it was too late. I have to say I was probably more on Team Alex. Bronte made her own choice and I really loved the ending. We also get to hear about older Paige Toon characters again. Not only in the end, but also in between. So Joe Strike and Lily fans, keep your eyes open. I was so happy with the news and it put a real big smile on my face.

The book also covers the topic of friendship and being there for friends and the topic of alcoholism. Covering difficult topics and still find a heart warming and cute style to write is just BRILLIANT!!! Bronte’s past is also present all the time and I loved the way Paige put this all into one story. Her writing is so gripping, dramatic, romantic, sweet, compelling…

The Thirteen Weddings were great to read about and all so different. Bronte is a warm and passionate character and her feelings really came through during the whole story.

This book actually calls for more of Bronte!! I say that after all the Paige Toon books, because she creates wonderful characters and still wanna be part of their story. It’s great that the books are all somehow connected. I also think that it’s time for Bridget to have her own story!!!

AMAZING!!! I was able to dive into the story and be a part of it. 

Rating:

My possible cast:

Bronte: Ashley Olsen

Alex: 2 male models

Lachie: Chace Crawford

Paige Toon on Twitter: @PaigeToonAuthor
Website: http://paigetoon.com