Welcome to my review of The Wedding Crasher by Abigail Mann. I am reading particularly slowly this month as I have a lot on and am consequently quite tired (with no naps, unfortunately), so this may be a result of that, but this book, with its beautiful cover and the great blurb, was not at all what I expected.
One reluctant photographer. One high society wedding. And a whole lot of chaos.
Poppy got married young. Too young in fact, and she put her dreams aside for love. Fast-forward eight years(ish) and now it’s time to reclaim her life and first love – photography.
What better way to celebrate her new-found freedom than a blissful week alone on an island with just her camera for company. Until her best friend has a catastrophe with the high-profile wedding she’s planning and begs Poppy to help. After all, she owes her.
Poppy doesn’t expect to recognise the groom as an old friend, nor for the bride to get cold feet but what’s a wedding without a little drama. And as the wedding week – yes, week – gets underway, Poppy might find happiness again, just not in the way she expected.
If you love Mhairi McFarlane, Marian Keyes and Beth O’Leary, you will love Abigail Mann.
Abigail is a comedy writer living in London and surviving on a diet of three-shot coffee, bourbons, and vegetarian sausage rolls. She was born and brought up in Norfolk, which she says is to blame for the sardonic humour that runs through her novels. Abigail was the runner up in 2019’s Comedy Women in Print award for THE LONELY FAJITA: her first novel.
Abigail takes inspiration from unconventional cross-sections of modern society and the impact this has on identity and the relationships we create. She wrote her first novel after teaching literature for a number of years and whilst working in the fast-paced co-working spaces of East London. Nowadays, she writes anywhere with a desk and access to coffee, aided by noise-cancelling headphones and the sound of a stormy sea.
You can find out lots more about her on Instagram @abigailemann and on her website www.abigailemann.com
Releasing tomorrow, 17th March 2022!
The Wedding Crasher by Abigail Mann is described as a “moving and funny”, “hilarious” Romcom. Still, this story focuses more on Poppy, a young teacher photographer who separates from her husband, Josh. Poppy gets roped into helping her friend Lola by photographing a week-long wedding on a private island that turns out to be owned by a friend of the past and “the one that got away” Will.
This took me days to read, and I found it slow-paced and overly drawn out. I did finish it but didn’t find that I enjoyed it particularly. I haven’t read anything by Abigail Mann previously, but I have heard of her and her great reviews, so I was pretty excited to read this pre-release.
I found that while this jumps around from past to present scenes, it wasn’t done well enough to hang together entirely and felt a little chaotic. To the point that it felt a little like the author was unsure which storyline to focus on, and I felt a little lost at times as to what was actually relevant. This wasn’t the fun and flirty novel I had expected and is actually quite sad and focused more on failed relationships and Poppys confusion. I wanted more drama between Poppy and Will, but it didn’t come as I expected.
The characters were a bit of a mixed bunch. I didn’t warm to Poppy; I felt she needed to grow a backbone and stand up for herself and what she wanted more. Also, she felt irritating, a sheep who would happily follow anyone without consideration for herself. However, I think this reflected her relationship with Josh and how he had treated her for years. His gaslighting of her had led to this almost damp personality. I felt sorry for her but wanted to see her come through and become strong again.
Josh is obviously a horrible character. He and Poppy still live and work together, and she has gone away to forget him, but he still contacts her and seems obsessed with her; He’s very controlling. Will is poppy’s university friend who was her “one that got away”, but they hadn’t dated or similar she just went off with Josh instead because he was more available, it seemed. His finance Ottilie was portrayed as a bridezilla, but she seemed to be quite self-obsessed and almost absent due to her constant meditation and disappearances. This isn’t too difficult to believe, given her wedding build-up has actually turned into a corporate event.
Lola was my favourite character. She is Poppy’s best friend (often ignored due to Josh’s influence); she is bubbly, fun, consistent and a very supportive friend to Poppy. She is super organised but also super stressed in her work as so much rests on this massive wedding.
The coincidences in the book felt a little too convenient; Poppy has gone to a remote island to photograph Puffins and just happens to run into her best friend on the beach. The likelihood of this is improbable but obviously perfect in the book.
This would be a perfect read if you felt a little sad, maybe a little sorry for yourself and want to commiserate with someone in a similar situation. However, it wasn’t the one for me.
| Title | The Wedding Crasher |
| Author | Abigail Mann |
| Series | N/A |
| Format | eARC |
| Page Count | 400 Pages |
| Genre | Romantic Comedy |
| Publisher | One More Chapter |
| Release Date | 17th March 2022 |
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