This summer was really busy and stressful. I quit my job, moved twice, and went back to school. School was CRAZY intense for the 6 weeks I was in it, I blew through my savings by not working for over 2 months, which meant more stress because, well, I’m broke. It was pretty fricking nuts. That’s basically a perfect recipe for a book slump. So I figured I would try rereading a favorite series and see where it got me (I also needed to forget that Blood Magick exsisted because it was awful). It didn’t really work as a slump buster, but I was reminded of why I love Nora Roberts and The Bride Quartet in particular.
I originally read these in high school, if not right when they came out, only shortly after. It was probably my first experience reading a Nora Roberts book that wasn’t five-ten years old already. I have to say, it was kind of great (at the time) to not get weirded out by weird clothing descriptions (those early 90s, man, it was rough) or come across any super outdated worldviews, etc. These felt way more modern than any of her other books I had read at the time.
So the series is about four best friends who start a wedding business called Vows. It’s really perfect for them. Mac’s a photographer, Laurel went to pastry school, and Emma’s dream is to open her own floral shop. Parker is the glue of the operation and they run it out of her family estate (where they also all live).
Part of the reason I love this series so much is their friendship. The dynamics of the four of them, since they’ve known each other so long and so well, are so wonderful to read. They’re really more of a family than friends, sometimes annoying each other but always able to listen and then tell them what they need to hear. I love that they run a business together and do it SO WELL. It’s a well oiled machine and I think how well they work together reflects how strong the relationship between the four of them is.
Obviously, each book focuses on a different friend falling in love, so I’m going to do a mini review for each one, all in this master post.
Mac Elliot is the wedding photographer of the bunch and Carter’s sister is now getting married at Vows. Carter is handsdown my favorite of all the heroes in this series. He is so adorable, to the point where maybe adorable doesn’t cut it anymore. He’s super sweet, nerdy and a little clumsy. He’s returned to Greenwich after being away to get his Ph.D. and is now teaching at one of the local high schools. Him and Mac have the BEST meet cute when he actually goes to Mac’s studio instead of the main house when he’s helping his sister with her wedding plans. Their relationship is of the slow build variety, until Mac’s feelings sneak up on her. She has quite a few issues because her mother is kind of a terrible person who emotionally manipulated Mac for most of her life. Carter, however, is much readier to fall in love and while Mac’s reluctance to let their relationship take a turn for the serious hurt, he’s so patient and I love his combination of patient but firm. He wants to give what they have a real chance. I’m fairly certain this is my favorite of the four, but only beats out the last one, Happy Ever After, out by a small margin.
Next up is Emma, the florist. She’s the romantic of the bunch and has had her dream life planned out FOREVER. Her parents had a beautiful love story and seeing their relationship as she meant she knew what she wanted was possible: not just a beautiful love story, but one that leads to a marriage that can be the foundation for a family and life that withstands the test of time. Very different from Mac. Jack has been a part of their lives ever since he befriended Del, Parker’s older brother, while they were at Yale together. In fact, when they started the business, he used his architecture knowledge to help renovate the spaces they would need to pull it off. I like Emma and her chemistry with Jack is off the charts. He’s great and even pulls off the commit-phobe guy without feeling like a terrible cliche. This one might not be my favorite in the series, but I liked how Emma and Jack dealt with their issues. [SPOILERS] Emma refuses to hide her feelings and she doesn’t want to be with someone who refuses to let her in, so she straight-up breaks up with him. And Jack grovels appropriately after everyone makes him suffer a while. [OK YOU CAN LOOK NOW] I also loved that everyone closed ranks around Emma when she needed it, but didn’t hate Jack forever or anything like that. They balanced the fact that they were friends with both of them really well.
Laurel’s book! She does all their desserts and makes beautiful cakes. I have somewhat mixed feelings on this book,because it has a lot of stuff I like: the friendship, funny wedding moments, a lot of Mal and Parker set-up for the next book. However, it’s a best friend’s older brother book. This is usually my FAVORITE trope, but this one didn’t do it well. Not to say it wasn’t a good book, it’s better than a lot of others I’ve read and it definitely wins best proposal of the series. But it’s just not a good “best friend’s brother” book and that’s what I wanted it to be.
Parker is saved for last, since she’s the glue that holds the whole thing together. She’s kind of crazy and super anal-retentive but those are actually really good things when you’re a wedding planner. Mal throws a bit of a wrench in her carefully laid out plans. He’s become a part of the group over the course of the series and finally seeing him and Parker get together was so much fun. He is the exact opposite of her, in terms of background. They’re from opposite sites o the spectrum and it definitely could have become an issue, but I loved that it didn’t. So, yea, she came from money and he didn’t. He’s not a millionaire, but he does own his own business and rather than Mal getting pissy about it like so many romance heroes would (Russell, I’m looking at you), Mal is able to recognize his accomplishments like an adult. So Mal is already getting major points from me. That’s on top of his leather jacket and motorcycle aloof bad boy thing he has going on. On top of being a great example of opposites attracting, the rest of the series comes together so nicely. We get to see Mac’s wedding, which is awesome and there are so many emotional moments connected to that. I teared up a few times, not gonna lie. This book just worked so well for me as a satisfying ending for all four of these characters that I had grown to love over the course of the four books. I definitely happy sighed at the end.
Grade: A. Nora Roberts at her best. She’s always good for solid emotional contemporaries with fleshed out relationships of all kinds, from family to friends to lovers, and this series has it all.
Some Books & Other Stuff 