Publication Date: 05/06/2014
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Jove
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 304
ISBN-10: 0425251276
ISBN-13: 978-0425251270
(Received for an honest review from Berkley Jove)
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Indiebound
Julie James on the WEB: website, blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads
Books in the series:
FBI/US Attorney
1. Something About You
2. A Lot Like Love
3. About That Night
4. Love Irresistibly
5. It Happened One Wedding
Coverart: Click the Image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.
Excerpt from, It Happened One Wedding, courtesy of the author's website.
Synopsis:
~"A contemporary romance superstar" --Kirkus
SHE KNOWS BETTER THAN TO SAY “I DO”
After a humiliating end to her engagement, investment banker Sidney Sinclair is done with commitment-phobic men. But when her sister winds up engaged after a whirlwind courtship, Sidney is thrown into close contact with exactly the kind of sexy playboy she wants to avoid—the gorgeous best man. She’s stuck with him, for better or worse, until her sister walks down the aisle, but that doesn’t mean she has to give in to his smooth advances, no matter how tempting they are…
BUT HE MAKES IT HARD TO SAY “I DON’T”
Special agent Vaughn Roberts always gets his man on the job and his woman in bed. So Sidney’s refusal to fall for his charms only makes him more determined to win over the cool and confident redhead. Only what starts out as a battle of wills ends up as a serious play for her heart. Because the one woman who refuses to be caught may be the only one Vaughn can’t live without…
Thoughts:
Julie James thrills readers with the fifth book in her FBI/US Attorney series, It Happened One Wedding. James has a knack for writing books about the concrete jungle, urban professionals and smart, sexy characters. Readers who are looking for an action packed series, with sensuality and plenty of sizzle will love this one. Witty banter and casual come-backs between the characters give the book a sense of humor and will make the reader smile more than once. James knows how to write good contemporary romance that will leave readers breathless.
What I liked:
I will be the first to tell you that I love a good small town romance with everyday down home men and women who find love in unexpected places. But Julie James takes a different route with her romances. She uses an urban setting with high end professionals, that will appeal to those who love a more sophisticated kind of love story.Her characters are often twenty or thirty somethings that have careers and big dreams and often finding someone to share them with is the real challenge. I found myself completely invested in the romance that James has created for Sidney and Vaughn. It was a change of pace and very refreshing. I will definitely be reading more books with these kinds of characters and setting.
James also uses a lot of pop culture references and ways of speaking in this book. Her characters are sharp and smart and the way they talk to each other has an edginess to it that really appealed to me. The banter between the lead couple was at times very amusing and James used humor to her advantage with great style. I literally laughed out loud a time or two and had a smile on my face just about every time Sidney and Vaughn had a scene together. It was a great read, just for the fun that these two characters had with each other, even when they didn't mean to.
I am always happy when a book has a wedding theme. I love weddings and James must love them too, because all of the situations and details about the wedding of Sidney's sister and Vaughn's brother were spot on. It also added a lot of side structure to the book and gave the reader something else to concentrate on along with the love story blooming between the main couple. I liked all of the situations the wedding created for Sidney and Vaughn to be around each other and how they went about keeping the the lid on the big secret. Weddings always add that bit of elegance to a story that you can't get any other way and James did a great job with it in this book.
Sidney and Vaughn's romance did not start off on the right foot and it took these two a while to realize how great they were together, but once it took off, it took off hard and the reader is in for a whirlwind ride. I loved the action, the romance and just about everything about these two characters. She was smart and tough as nails and he was confident and full of swagger. She knew she was worth his time and he couldn't help but know it too. It wasn't some drastic situation that made them see it either, they just started to feel it, to know it for themselves. Isn't that how it is in real life? That's what made it good!
What I didn't like:
Sidney had a list and she was checking it way more than twice. She knew exactly what she wanted in a man and he had to meet the criteria. I thought she went a bit too far with that, but in the end it all worked out. She threw the list out the window and he started to want to be the guy who could top the list. So, in theory I guess I liked that part too!
Bottom Line:
This is a great series and this is a great book. Julie James knows how to write sexy urban characters who are sophisticated and ambitious. Her skills with dialogue will have readers smiling non-stop as they read this book and there just isn't a bad point about it. You'll be sorry if you miss this one. I liked it that much!
It Happened One Wedding will be available May 6th from your favorite bookseller. It is available for pre-order NOW!
I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!
About the Author:
Julie's books have been listed on the American Library Association's Reading List for Top Genre Novels, Booklist's Top 10 Romances of the Year, and have been featured as one of Cosmopolitan magazine's Red Hot Reads. Julie's novels also were chosen as the Best Contemporary Romances of 2010, 2011, and 2012 in the All About Romance Readers' Polls. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages and Julie's sixth novel, Love Irresistibly, is now available.
Julie James lives with her husband and two children in Chicago, where she is currently working on her next book.
Giveaway Details:
The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of It Happened One Wedding by Julie James.
~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, May 19th.
1. Please leave a comment with your funniest wedding story.
2. Please fill out the FORM.
16 comments:
A wedding which I attended had invited many acquaintances whose rudeness was unbearable and who took off with the centrepieces. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
The only funny things that I've seen happen are the crazy hookups. One of our roommates ended up hooking up with the bride's brother and she locked us out of our hotel room.
Something unusual at a summer wedding we attended was that the bride and bridesmaids were barefoot!
During the reception of this wedding I went to as a child there was a couple making out on the dance floor, one of my cousins got really close to them and stood there staring them in their faces for a really long time.
The funniest wedding I ever attended was my own. Funny in the way that things kept going wrong all day but it is still one of the best days of my life. :) First my sister/maid-of-honor woke at my house and went to take a shower and slipped in the tub and pulled the showerhead off the wall! we had to go to the neighbors to shower. At the church My friend who was bringing the bridesmaids dresses didn't show up with them until 10 minutes after the wedding was to start because the store missplaced them! One of our limos broke down so only one arrived to take us from church, the cake was raw and at the end of the night we went to the hotel and they gave away our room so we had to go back to my apt. and kick my sister out of my bed! It was a great and memorable day! haha
The funniest thing that happened at our wedding is our best man crossed his arms in front of him instead in the back and on the video it looks like he is adjusting/scratching himself the whole time because he kept fidgeting. Not real funny at the time but pretty funny looking back.
I don't have any funniest wedding moments.
Thanks for the chance to win!
I don't know if it was funny but my mom laughed through my first wedding. Maybe she knew something I didn't know. As I aid, it was my first wedding. It didn't last.
oh gosh, I don't know. It wasn't funny when it happened, but it's pretty funny now.
During our wedding, my husband really wanted the pug to carry the rings around his collar, he thought it be cute. Well I saw another wedding do it, and it was flawless and cute and I was like..oh alright fine, you can have this one thing.
We got him the little pillow for the rings and everything. Well, his brother attached the rings to the pillow and his friends girlfriend was in charge of the dog.
I ended up in the car waiting to be taken down to the river for the ceremony when we are all the sudden stalled. I am like...why? and all the sudden I see my caterers, my priests and guests running around this huge open space, with their heads down and towards the house and I'm like..
No kidding.. they lost the damn rings..
Lol
I almost had a heart attack. We ended up getting married with two rings from two of the strongest marriages we know so far and husbands uncle did find the rings in the end :) - memorable it was.
I don't have a funny wedding story, I wish I did.
The only funny wedding story I know is my own. I was so nervous that I laughed through the entire ceremony.
ayancey1974@gmail.com
don't have one to share
I once attempted to make a wedding cake for my grandmother when she found love later in life. My first and last attempt to make a tiered wedding cake. It was lopsided.
My husband and I were asked to leave our reception because we were having too much fun and had stayed too long.
Lag110 at mchsi dot com
I was the flower girl in my uncle's wedding. I don't remember it-- I was about 4-- but there's a video of me running up and down the isles, asking people for gum. ;-)
Not funny, but at our wedding my uncle and his son had to be asked to leave as they were both very drunk.
patoct@yahoo.com
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