Un-Bridaled

While a lot of Chick Lit seems to be mediocre, this was not the case with UN-BRIDALED. It is Chloe Sach's wedding, and when her soon-to-be husband, Mark Hutchinson, tries to break the glass in the napkin by stepping on it during the ceremony, she freaks when the glass does not break, but shoots out of the napkin and flies across the room. Voices in her head tell Chloe to do only one thing - run! And she does. She runs away from the wedding and goes into hiding.

Now, Chloe needs to deal with the aftermath of what she’s just done. She knows she doesn't want to be married to Mark, but she hasn't really figured out why. What she does realize is that no one else is upset about the turn of events, except for Mark and his mother. She no longer has a place to live, so she ends up moving into her grandmother's deceased sister's (Aunt Laura) old cottage. It's a quaint little place, and Chloe helps her grandmother renovate it. In the process she meets Etienne, a very disgusting French man (he is not what she envisioned him to be) and his nephew Tucker, who are hired to redo the cottage. They are one of numerous characters that supply the humor in the story.

She also now has two dogs, because Mark did not want to keep poor Aziza, the dog he took in to be a companion to Jesse, Chloe’s dog. When Chloe notices that Jesse has started to limp, Chloe takes him to the local vet and meets the very good-looking Doctor Daniel Stein. The two are definitely attracted to each other and a potential romance begins.

Still in a funk from the “un-wedding”, Chloe knocks down a kitchen wall in a fit of rage and discovers a metal box. Inside are love letters from a man named Jesse to her Aunt Laura. This opens up a slew of questions, which her grandmother refuses to answer. In fact, she becomes agitated. It is one of the few times Chloe and her grandmother have argued. Chloe knows there's a story behind the love letters, and she won’t give up until she finds out what it is.

UN-BRIDALED is a chick lit book that has something for everybody. It has humor, a lot of crazy antics from the main character, a potential love interest, and a mystery that will have the reader intrigued until it is solved. While Chloe was a somewhat exasperating heroine who wasn’t sure what she wanted, there are other important characters in the book that balance her out. There is Clarissa, Chloe's best friend who also happens to be a lesbian. Then there is Rafe, Chloe's brother and Lily, their mother, who was absent emotionally and physically while they grew up, as well as in their adult life. Chloe always felt that Lily never loved her the way a mother loves a child. For some reason Lily treats Chloe like dirt. It was their grandmother that helped raise the two, and so Chloe had more of a bond with their grandmother than with anyone else. Their father was living in Florida with a young wife and he didn't seem to have any real connection with either of them, so Rafe and Chloe were pretty much “stuck” with their grandmother, because it didn’t seem as if their parents were interested in them.

While at first UN-BRIDALED seemed to be a typical chick lit story, it was deeper than that as the reader will see. Chloe goes through a lot of soul searching, and questions her family background as she tries to understand who the mystery man Jesse is. She knows his existence is important to the family, yet her grandmother refuses to explain his story. Chloe also has questions about her relationship with her mother, wondering why her mother didn’t seem to love her. It comes as a shock when Chloe finally finds the letter that explains who Jesse is, and it changes everything. It answers so many questions, giving Chloe closure and understanding. The reader will also shed a number of tears before the book is over, with scenes that round out the story and bring everyone together.

Overall, this reviewer enjoyed UN-BRIDALED as an above average chick lit novel. It had enough going for it that will keep one interested until the very last page. Crazy characters, interesting plot, and the type of story that doesn’t come across as the typical shallow chick-lit novel. UN-BRIDALED comes recommended.

August 2006