Abandoned by Booklikes

So I decided to re-read the Bride Quartet books over Christmas. I needed something to do and just figured I could bring the four books home along with finishing other books on my Kindle. I kind of forgot how downhill these books get from books #1 through #4. First of, I have read some really funny and sexy wedding planning books. This one ends up missing the mark, though the first part turned out to be pretty good.

Book #1 is about Mackensie "Mac" Elliot. She is a photographer getting to work alongside her three other best friends, Emma (does flower arrangements) Laurel (does the cooking/baking) and Parker (organizer galore and typical Type A). The four friends end up starting their own wedding business when Parker realizes she needs to do something to pay for the family home/estate after her parents are killed. Parker is an updated version of Laura Templeton from Finding the Dream (Dream Trilogy) series. I ended up realizing that Mac is a mixture of Margo and Kate from the Dream Trilogy.

Though Margo and Kate's parents loved them, and Mac's mother is a pain in the butt.

Mac's love interest is Carter. They went to school together and Mac didn't notice him much. But now of course there are feelings and sex and all that. Honestly I was just bored by Carter. I swear Roberts writes these archetype heroes all the time. Carter is an academic (he's a teacher) which of course means that Mac is all well we totally have nothing in common. Of course Carter surprises her by being passionate. I just wish that I cared about either of them. I remember first reading this years ago, and Mac was my favorite out of the best friends. But now I ended up just feeling meh about her. There is nothing really going on besides Mac trying to ruin her relationship with Carter cause she's scared of it turning into something more cause of what happened with her parents messed up marriage.

I also really think this first book ended up drowning way too much in wedding details. I almost fell asleep. Plus the acronyms drove me up the wall. I didn't care about the MOB (Mother of the Bride) or anyone else that they kept short hand talking about. It made the text hard to read. I recall the first time I read this book I was totally in the dark about who they were all talking about.

I did have the nice paperback version of this book with the fancy paper and all, so I did get a kick out of it (the book) being made special for readers.

The best thing about these books is the four friends. I wish we had gotten more time with them as a group later in the series, but honestly, book #4 could seriously just be "Finding the Dream" with different names for people which was a disappointment.

The ending of course is a HEA, but that is to be expected and appreciated in romances.